When it comes to buying luxury watches, it has to be said that the sky’s the limit – it might seem crazy to some, but there is almost no upper boundary to what one can spend on a watch. Pursuing extreme rarity, exotic materials and any level of customisation will lead you to a six or seven-figure price tag at several brands. But, importantly for the majority of us, you can buy a great many of the most well-known, admired and respected watch designs for less than £5,000. Hardly small change, we know, but any one of these would last you for life and serve you well – although we make no apologies if they turn out to be just the first step on your path to full-blown watch addiction.

Reintroduced to the Rolex roster in 2007, the Milgauss quickly became one of the hottest watches offered by the Crown. Buyers were fascinated by the lightning-bolt seconds hand, the size, the smooth bezel, the antimagnetic properties and the time-only nature of the watch. Waitlists for models, particularly the version with the green sapphire crystal, were long at a time when most Rolex watches could be purchased on a whim during a visit to a Rolex retailer.

It is something of a paradox – or at least, a truth that reveals a great deal about watch collecting – that horological enthusiasts are obsessed by two apparently mutually exclusive ideals. We are fixated on famous designs, idolising the case shapes that have stood the test of time, such as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak or TAG Heuer Carrera. But at the same time, and especially once you have spent much time pursuing this hobby, you realise that collectors crave something individual, or at least, rare enough that you are vanishingly unlikely to ever see another in the wild. There is a slim overlap between these two goals: an exclusive, perhaps customised, version of a hero design. And we at MR PORTER are delighted to unveil a stunning selection of rare examples. None of these watches will ever exist in quantities surpassing a couple of dozen, and most are so scarce they won’t even reach double digits.

When it comes to buying luxury watches, it has to be said that the sky’s the limit – it might seem crazy to some, but there is almost no upper boundary to what one can spend on a watch. Pursuing extreme rarity, exotic materials and any level of customisation will lead you to a six or seven-figure price tag at several brands. But, importantly for the majority of us, you can buy a great many of the most well-known, admired and respected watch designs for less than £5,000. Hardly small change, we know, but any one of these would last you for life and serve you well – although we make no apologies if they turn out to be just the first step on your path to full-blown watch addiction.

Reintroduced to the Rolex roster in 2007, the Milgauss quickly became one of the hottest watches offered by the Crown. Buyers were fascinated by the lightning-bolt seconds hand, the size, the smooth bezel, the antimagnetic properties and the time-only nature of the watch. Waitlists for models, particularly the version with the green sapphire crystal, were long at a time when most Rolex watches could be purchased on a whim during a visit to a Rolex retailer.