Top 10 World’s Most Expensive Watches

10. Zadora Timepieces

Manufacturer: Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof

The latest offering by Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof is a bee of oxidised palladium and micro pave. The bee is adorned with black and canary yellow diamonds, pear-shaped emerald eyes with a baroque south sea pearl in its mouth.
Price: $150,000

9. Titanic Watches

Manufacturer: Romain Jerome

A Swiss jeweller is now offering watches made from the hull of the Titanic.
The metal has been mixed with shipbuilding steel to make the casing. The black dials have been made by mixing the recovered coal burned in the Titanic’s furnaces with ceramics.
Price: $152,435

8. Double Tourbillon

Manufacturer: Breguet

The Breguet Double Tourbillion** comes hand-engraved with an image of the solar system.
This double-tourbillon watch has a 95 per cent pure platinum case while the blued-steel Breguet hands are wound manually and do not contain springs.
Price: $329,000

7. Opera One

Manufacturer: Girard-Perregaux

This beautiful platinum timepiece includes an alligator band and features a Westminster minute repeater and tourbillon with three gold bridges, manual winding, 75-hour power reserve and a see-through backing.
The watch has a power reserve indicator, a subsecond complication, a minute repeater and a truly elegant face.
What differentiates Girard-Perregaux’s Opera Three from other luxury watches is its ability to sound passing hours not with a beep but with actual tunes.
Price: $495,000

6. Grande Complication

Manufacturer: Blancpain

This wristwatch has a minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, moon phase and an automatic winding mechanism.
The sleek crocodile wristband further adds to the look. It takes the maker eight to 10 months to piece together all 740 components and only 18 of a limited run of 30 watches have been assembled till now.
Price: $785,000

5. Tecnica Skeleton Chronograph

Manufacturer: Parmigiani Fleurier

This watch hit the market early this year.
Each unit of the watch includes a platinum case and other interesting features like a minute repeater, tourbillon and chronograph, as well as a cathedral chime.
Price: $850,000

4. Classical Billionaire Tourbillion

Manufacturer: Corum

The shimmering wristwatch is adorned with 850 diamonds and boasts a dazzling skeleton dial with skeleton hour and minute hands. The watch is manually wound with 90-hour power reserve and features Caliber CO-372 by Corum and La Joux-Perret.
Rightly named so, the Billionaire Tourbillion comes in many versions with price ranging from $325,000 to $998,000. Only 10 pieces are in production.
Price: $998,000

3. Big Bang Chronograph

Manufacturer: Hublot, Bunter SA

The renowned watchmaker, Hublot, in alliance with a diamond-setting workshop, Bunter SA, designed and developed an elite watch dubbed Big Bang.
The $1-million Big Bang boasts a fully invisible setting that makes the material disappear. Only things that can be seen are the diamonds.
The credit goes to the craftsmen who accomplished the tedious job of making this exclusive watch, which was not feasible a few years ago.
Price: $1 milllion

2. Tour de l’Ile

Manufacturer: Vacheron Constantin

Vacheron Costantin’s Tour de l’Ile was designed in 2005. The collectible piece is also the most complicated double-face watch, and only produced in a limited edition of seven.
This 834-part watch took over 10,000 man-hours to be made and features an 18-carat silver gold dial with a hand-sewn alligator leather band and pink gold buckle.
It touts an original combination of horological complications and astronomical indications forming 16 different points, including a minute repeater, sunset time, perpetual calendar, second time zone, and a tourbillon device.
Price: $1.5 million

1. Joaillerie 101 Manchette

Manufacturer: Jaeger-LeCoultre

Joaillerie 101 Manchette is the

most Expensive watch in the world

In this watch, a unsystematic series of polished or gem-set links (a jewellery puzzle) hides the exalted Calibre 101.
It’ss wonderful to look for the time through the gold, diamonds and onyx cabochons.
The wristwatch is festooned with 576 diamonds and comes in 18-carat white gold. The versions with Onyx have 400 diamonds and 11 onyx cabochons

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Introduction

Ever wondered what are the most expensive places in the world to live? Everyone knows that it costs more to live in some places than others, but just what is the most expensive city in the world to live in. This is a list of the 10 cities in the world where it is most expensive to live in early 2009 as defined by the Economist, although this will most likely change in line with regional economic changes and currency fluctuations.

10. Singapore

Singapore is both a city and country located in south east Asia. The city of just under 5 million people takes up the majority of the country of 710km², leading to an extremely high population density of almost 7000 people per km². It is located on a small island, which lies in one of the busiest waterways in the world which connects east Asia with south Asia, Africa and Europe. The city first started to grow to prominence under European rule because of it's high strategic importance and the city has continued to grow in stature since independence. The city has an extremely strong economy based it's business friendly policies leading to many international corporations having a base here. There is also a thriving high-tech manufacturing part to the economy, and the Port of Singapore is one of the world's busiest ports, particularly in the transhipment of goods. This thriving economy combined with lack of space for expansion leads to Singapore being the tenth most expensive city in the world to live. 

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Singapore Central Business District. Produced by Someformofhuman and published under GNU Free Documentation Licence.

9. Geneva

Geneva is a city nestled between Lake Geneva and The Alps in Switzerland. Although most of the city is in Switzerland, due to the high cost of living in the city proper many people commute in from nearby France. Geneva is famous for being the location where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which govern the handling of prisoners of war. Geneva is also home to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and many United Nations departments are also based here. In addition to being a major city in humanitarian terms, Geneva is also the 6th most important financial centre in the world. All of these factors, along with the fantastic location alongside Lake Geneva and a policy to preserve the city, leads to it having the ninth highest cost of living worldwide. 

Photo originally from www.ork.ch and licenced under Creative Commons "Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 France".

7. Frankfurt

Frankfurt is joint seventh most expensive city to live in along with Helsinki. Frankfurt is a city in Germany, and is located on the Main River, which leads to it's full name Frankfurt am Main. When Germany was divided, it was located in west Germany, and so with berlin isolated became the economic powerhouse of west Germany, and upon re-unification it retained this position. It is the largest financial centre of mainland Europe, and both the European and German central banks are located here, as well as the Frankfurt stock exchange which is one of the biggest in the world. All of this wealth leads to Frankfurt being the joint seventh most expensive city in the world to live in. 

Frankfurt skyline at night. Author Nicolas 17 and published under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

7. Helsinki

In terms of the cost of living, Helsinki is joint seventh most expensive along with Frankfurt. Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, and is located in the far south of the country next to the Gulf of Finland. Despite being at the south of Finland, it is still a very northerly city and so can get very cold in the winter. Helsinki is the economic centre of the Finnish economy, and this partly explains the high cost of living. Helsinki has traditionally had a large shipbuilding industry and this continues to this day, although there are now also more hi-tech industries such as Nokia which is located just outside the city. Along with other Scandinavian countries, Finland has a relatively high tax rate, and this combined with the large amount of wealth generated is probably what results in Helsinki having the joint seventh highest cost of living in the world. 

Helsinki Cathedral and the wider area. Photgraph by Mikko Paananen and modified by Majestic and Ilmari Karonen. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5, Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 and Attribution ShareAlike 1.0.

6. Zurich

Located in Switzerland, Zurich comes sixth on the list of most expensive cities in the world by living costs. Zurich is to Switzerland like New York is to the USA, it is the commercial capital of the country but not the political one. Zurich is home to many top educational institutions, and this helps ensure that the top minds in Switzerland and further afield come to live in Zurich, and it is likely that many of these will spend at least some of their working lives here. A large proportion of the Swiss economy is based on financial services, and many multinational companies such as UBS, Zurich Financial Services and Credit Suisse are based here. In addition, the population of Zurich is very diverse, and this potentially explains why many international companies, such as IBM, Google and Microsoft have facilities here. All of these factors mean that Zurich has a very strong economy, and this results in the 6th highest cost of living worldwide.

The central part of Zurich along with the four main churches. Photo by Ikiwaner distributed under a GNU Free Documentation Licence.

5. Oslo

The city in the world with the fifth highest cost of living is the Norwegian capital city of Oslo. Oslo is Norway's biggest city, both economically and by population. Norway is one of the most developed countries in the world, with a large income from a variety of sources. These include the large offshore oil and gas reserves, maritime engineering and insurance and tourism. Norway has one of the highest average wages for a country in the world, and Oslo has an average even higher than this national average. Due to the high average wage, linked to the fact that many basic commodities such as many foodstuffs are imported, leads to an extremely high cost of living. This is further exaggerated by the very high Norwegian tax rate. Finally there is large public opposition to both the development of the city itself with high-rise buildings and the surrounding areas, resulting in space becoming at a premium. All of these factors combine to make Oslo the fifth most expensive city in the world in which to live. 

This street is the Karl Johan gate with the Royal Palace in the distance. Photo by Mahlum and distributed under GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.2.

4. Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the fourth most expensive city in the world in which to live. Like Helsinki and Oslo which also appear in the top 10 most expensive cities in terms of cost of living, it too is the capital city of a Scandinavian country. In Copenhagen's case the country is Denmark, and like both Oslo and Helsinki, it is not only the political capital city but the dominant city in the country economically and culturally as well. Copenhagen is the location for many international head and regional offices, such as Maersk which has head offices in Copenhagen and Microsoft, for which Copenhagen provides the regional headquarters. Recently Copenhagen, and Denmark as a whole has seen massive growth, both domestically and internationally. For example, the largest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, is a Danish company. All of these factors combined lead to Copenhagen having an extremely strong economy, with the corresponding high wages, which results in it being in fourth position on the list of most expensive cities in terms of cost of living.

The former stock exchange building on an island in Copenhagen. Now a major tourist attraction.

3. Paris

Paris is the capital city of France, and comes in third on the list of most expensive cities in the world. The city of Paris is a rather compact area, although the metropolitan area is much larger and includes many satellite towns. The central area of Paris, and the area with which this cost of living list deals with, refers solely to the city of Paris. Paris is famous for tourism, and whilst this generates a large amount of money for the local economy, it does lead to demands for less development of the older parts of the city. As such this leads to less modern space for both commerce and residences than many other cities, and this pushes up the cost of living. Another factor in the high cost of living is the strong economy of the Paris region, and therefore high average wage. Major industries in Paris include the previously mentioned tourism, as well as finance and high-tech manufacturing. All of these factors combine to give the city of Paris the third highest cost of living worldwide.

Paris at dusk. The Eiffel Tower can be seen near the centre of the screen. Note the reality low-rise nature of the buildings. Photo by Benh LIEU SONG and distributed under GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.2.

2. Osaka-Kobe

The second highest cost of living is for two linked cities in Japan - Osaka and Kobe. As with many Japanese cities, both of these have an extremely high population density, which leads to expensive housing and other costs. Both cities are very large with populations in excess of 1 million. In each city there are a number of different industries, with many large multinational companies having their headquarters in the respective cities. Examples of these include Mitsubishi, Mizuno, Panasonic, Sanyo and Sharp. There is also a relatively large financial industry in both cities, leading to high wages. The high cost of land, as well as high wages, combine to make the Osaka-Kobe region the second most expensive region in the world in which to live.

View of Osaka taken from the Umeda sky building to the north. Photo taken by Flying Toaster and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

1. Tokyo

The Japanese capital city of Tokyo comes first on the list of most expensive cities to live in. In addition to being the top of the list of cities with the highest living costs, it is also the centre of the world's largest metropolitan area by both population andeconomy. This is probably what makes it the most expensive city in the world in which to live. The Tokyo stock exchange is one of the world's largest, and is the largest one in Japan. Many international companies are based in Tokyo, and yet more have regional offices in the city which leads to a lot of highly paid jobs. In addition, the large size of the population leads to massive demand for space, and this is further exacerbated by the fact that Tokyo is surrounded by the Bay of Tokyo and a lot of steep hills and mountains. All of these factors combine to make Tokyo the most expensive city in the world in which to live. 

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Top 10 Cheapest Cities In The World

10 (Joint). Johannesburg

In joint tenth place on the list of cheapest cities in the world is the south African city of Johannesburg. Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa, and has the largest economy of any city within Africa. This is due to the size of the city, as well as the resources which surround it which include both gold and diamonds. In addition, Johannesburg is the hub of Southern African travel. Despite this the cost of living in Johannesburg is very low and this could be due to many reasons. Firstly, due to the city being located in Africa labour is relatively cheap. In addition building for housing occurs quite a lot, and so housing cost can be cheap, especially when compared to cities of a similar size in western nations. Finally currency fluctuations at the time of compiling the stats led to South Africa being cheap. All of these factors combine to position Johannesburg joint tenth on a list of least expensive cities in the world in which to live. 

10 (Joint). Bucharest

Bucharest appears joint tenth on the list of least expensive cities to live in. Along with being the capital of Romania, Bucharest has the largest population of any Romanian city at 2 million, and is the political, cultural and economic heart of the country. Being the major city in Romania leads to the majority of large Romanian businesses being headquartered in the city. In addition many international companies have their national or regional offices in Bucharest or the surrounding regions. The economy grew in the lead up to, and after accession to the European Union, but recently the entire Romanian economy has been affected by the global credit crisis leading to exchange rate changes. As a result of Romania being one of the poorest regions within the European Union, local wages are relatively low, and therefore there is also a low cost for most goods and services which leads to Bucharest having the joint tenth lowest cost of living of any major city worldwide.

9. Pretoria

Pretoria appears joint tenth on the list, along with Bucharest and it's fellow South African city of Johannesburg. Pretoria is one of the three capitals of South Africa, and as such several major companies are located here although the city can sometimes be overshadowed by it's much larger neighbour, Johannesburg. Like Johannesburg, Pretoria is located near to many gold and diamond mines, and so this brings the city a certain degree of wealth. However, despite this the wages are still low by western standards. This combined with good infrastructure leading to low costs and plenty of land for building leads to Pretoria being joint tenth on a list of the least expensive cities in which to live.

8 (Joint). Kiev

The city of Kiev is the joint eighth on the list of inexpensive cities in which to live. Kiev is the capital city of Ukraine which is an eastern European country. A former Soviet nation, it has attempted to switch to a market based economy over the last few years. Heavy industry and agriculture play a big part in the Ukrainian economy, and Kiev is the location of many of these industrial sites. In addition to heavy industry Kiev also has many other economic drivers. As Kiev is by far the largest city in the Ukraine, many Ukrainian and international businesses have headquarters or regional bases in the city. Kiev also has very good infrastructure and this combined with the relatively low cost of property leads to cheap goods and services. As can be seen all of these factors combine to lead to Kiev being joint 8th on a list of the least expensive most expensive cities in the world to live in.

8 (Joint). Asunción

Asunción is the largest city in the South American country of Paraguay, and is also this county's capital. It appears joint 8th on the list of most inexpensive cities in the world in which to live. Asunción is the shortened name for the city - the extended version is Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción which means Our Lady, Holy Mary of the Assumption. Like many other cities in the world, Asunción has grown in size until it's metropolitan area encompasses many other towns and cities. However, it is still relatively small in population size relative to many other South American cities, with a metropolitan population of less than 2 million. As with many capital cities, Asunción has a primarily service based economy, with over 80% of workers finding employment in fields such as teaching, banking and retail. However, considerable manufacturing does take place in Asunción, mainly dealing with the processing of agricultural goods such as cotton, flour and cattle. There has been relatively little economic growth across Paraguay for over 20 years and this has had an effect upon the city of Asunción, with the effect that it has depressed the cost of goods and property. This is a primary reason which leads to Asunción being the joint eighth cheapest city in the world. 

7. Manila

Manila appears seventh on the list of least expensive cities ranked in terms of the cost of living. Manila is the capital city of the Philipines, and is the centre of the country's largest metropolitan area. However, the population of 1.4 million means that Manila is only the second largest city in the Philippines, with Quezon City being first with over 2.5 million inhabitants. Despite the fact that the area where Manila now stands having been the location for settlements for possibly thousands of years, the city really grew under the colonial rule of various countries. These foreign powers included Spain, the UK, the USA and during World War II Japan. Even after independence for the Philippines from US rule in 1946 Manila was not made the capital city until 1976. Nowadays the greater Manila area is at the centre of the economy of the Philippines, and is very diversified. There are industrial plants which manufacture many things including, but not limited to consumer electronics, chemicals and clothing. Tourism is playing an increasing role in the economy of Manila, and each year in excess of a million visitors come. Manila is also the major port for the Philippines, and all forms of retailing from markets through to malls play a big part. Finally there are also all of the governmental offices, and company headquarters which add an additional strand to the city's economy. However, the cost of living in Manila is till relatively low. Goods and services are relatively cheap due to low labour costs. These are due to the large numbers of relatively poorer people who gravitate towards Manila from the more outlying areas of the Philipines every year. Also outside of a few premium areas, the cost of property is low. Finally the Philippines earned a lot of money from remittances sent back by people who worked abroad, but with the global downturn these are starting to fall. Finally recent exchange rate movements have led to it being cheaper when compared with the currencies used by some of the major world economies. All of these factors combine to make Manila the 7th cheapest city in the world to live in. 

6. Tripoli

Tripoli appears sixth on the list of the cheapest cities in the world. Tripoli is both the largest and capital city of the north African country of Libya. The history of Tripoli stretches back thousands of years to before the Roman period. Tripoli has a population of over 1.5 million, and was an economic hub for the north African region for many years up until the mid 1980s. However, Libya was the recipient of various sanctions due to the sponsorship of terrorism which had an impact upon the capital city of Tripoli. However, more recently the country has opened up once again after the lifting of sanctions, leading to Tripoli experiencing increased economic growth. The local economy is multi-layered. Tripoli is the heart of the Libyan economy with the vast majority of major Libyan companies having their headquarters here. Tourism is also a rapidly growing part of the local economy. Tripoli has a relatively well developed infrastructure, with a major port and airport, and this leads to cheap costs associated with transporting of goods. It is this, coupled with the generous local taxation policies which leads to Triploli being the 6th least expensive place in the world in which to live.

5. Kathmandu

The Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu appears fifth on the list of the least expensive cities in the world in which to live. In addition to being the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu is also the largest and most developed city within the country. It is nestled in Kathmandu Valley within the Himalayas mountain range. Until recently Nepal was in a state of war with armed communist insurgents operating throughout the country, which has led to economic growth being retarded. However within the last few years the country has become much more peaceful, leading to quite rapid economic growth. The main industry in Kathmandu is tourism, attracted to the city because of it's uniqueness, as well as the city being a useful gateway to the Himalayan mountain ranges. Within Kathmandu there are a large number of Buddhist Temples and palaces and these are very impressive, and unlike anything in most of the western world. Like the vast majority of cities on this list of the top 10 cheapest cities, Kathmandu had the best infrastructure in the country, and this is what partly explains the low cost of living. In addition, there is a low average wage, which leads to cheaper goods and services. These factors, along with others, lead to Kathmandu occupying 5th place in the countdown of the cheapest major cities in the world.

4. New Delhi

New Delhi appears fourth on the list of the top 10 cheapest cities in the world to live in. The Indian capital, it is a relatively new city having been constructed primarily in the last 100 years. It was originally planned by the British as the seat of governance for the colony of India, and was designed by the distinguished English architect Edwin Lutyens. New Delhi is situated south of Delhi, and was originally separated. However, due to urbanisation, the two cities are now joined into one massive metropolis. The vast majority of statistics which are relevant for New Delhi are part of this wider region, and so this makes it hard to get solid figures for the city. However in population terms New Delhi is relatively small, with a population of just over 300,000 people, although the metropolitan area has the second highest population of any metropolis in India. Being the political heart of such a vast country means that the a large part of the economy of New Delhi is sustained by the administration of the nation. Despite being the political capital of India, the financial capital is Mumbai. However, commerce and services are playing an increasing part in the economy of New Delhi. The local wages within New Delhi are relatively high by Indian standards for many of the residents. In addition, the price of goods and services are low, partly due to low Indian labour costs and partly due to currency fluctuations. These two factors combined lead to New Delhi being the fourth most inexpensive major city in the world in which to live. 

3. Mumbai

The third most expensive city in the world in terms of living costs is Mumbai. Mumbai has the largest population of any city in India, and was previously known as Bombay. In addition, whilst New Delhi is the political capital of India, Mumbai is the commercial and cultural capital of the country. Mumbai is home to the main port in the country, the primary stock exchanges, and Bollywood which is the Indian equivalent of Hollywood. Mumbai is the location for many of the largest Indian companies, and many international companies co-ordinate their activities for the entire southern Asian region from here. All of these factors combine to result in Mumbai having a vibrant local economy with wages approximately three times greater than the Indian average. Goods and services in Mumbai have low costs realtive to local wages due to three primary factors. Firstly local wages are higher than other areas than India, which leads to more income available. Secondly transportation and production of goods is cheap due to the good local infrastructure which includes a major port. Finally, the low wages elsewhere in India leads to low prices for goods and services from outside the Mumbai region. In addition, these low wages lead to a large number of immigrants to Mumbai who often work in unskilled jobs, thus reducing the cost of such goods and services further. These three factors combine to make Mumbai the third cheapest major city in the world to live in. 

2. Tehran

Tehran comes second on the list of the top ten cheapest major cities in the world. Tehran is the capital of Iran, and also has the largest population of any city within this country at over 7 million for the city proper and approximately 15 million for the metropolitan area. Tehran is a city in the shadow of the Alborz mountains, and so part of the local economy is dependent on tourism. However, the primary parts of the economy of Tehran are linked to manufacturing, construction and services. Tehran is the main base for the administration of Iran, and so this leads to many public sector jobs. In addition, Tehran is the business heart of Iran with many Iranian businesses based in the city. Due to the isolated nature of Iran due to it's political regime, very few major western companies do business in the country. This means that many items used in the country are manufactured in and around Tehran including textiles, consumer electronics and vehicles. Finally there are many private sector service based jobs, such as retailing, which account for a large percentage of the workforce in Tehran. This means that there is a relatively diversified economy in Tehran, with employment being across a wide range of industries. In Tehran the tax rate is low compared with many western countries, and so this decreases the cost of living. In addition, energy costs are also very low, partly due to the large fossil fuel reserves of Iran. Tehran also has relatively high wages, particularly compared with elsewhere in Iran and surrounding countries. The low cost of purchasing goods and services, coupled with these regionally high wages, leads to Tehran being the second most inexpensive major city in the world. 

1. Karachi

The least expensive city in the world in which to live is the Pakistani city of Karachi. There are several large cities within Pakistan, but Karachi is the largest with a population which according to the United Nations is in excess of 12 million. Whilst the political capital of Pakistan is Islamabad, Karachi is definitely the economic centre. It is home to the largest port in Pakistan situated in a sheltered natural harbour, and it is this which originally provided the conditions for the city to grow. Whilst the port continues to play an important part in economy of Karachi, the economy has diversified. Karachi is the location for the headquarters for many of the largest Pakistani companies, as well as being the location for the Pakistani offices of many international firms. Manufacturing plays a big part in the local economy, and increasingly outsourcing of services from richer countries plays a part, particularly with call centres. All of these factors combine to result in Karachi having what has been claimed to be the highest average wage of any city in south Asia. However, despite the regionally high wages, Karachi is still located in south Asia, and so many of the prices for goods and services reflect this. In addition the excellent infrastructure links further reduce the price of imported goods. These high wages, coupled with low prices of goods and services, result in Karachi being the cheapest major city in the world in which to live. 

If you could live in any of these cities, which one would you choose?

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