Luxury watches are expensive things, there's no way around it. But every penny is worth it, we can assure you. Not only is the way they're manufactured extraordinarily labour-intensive, demanding exquisite craftsmanship seldom found beyond the valleys of the Swiss Jura, but just a little TLC will mean your wristwatch will tick forever; potentially accruing in value, even. In terms of mechanical objects, only a fully restored vintage Ferrari is capable of that. In terms of cost per wear, that new pair of Manolos is starting to seem mighty splashy... So how much to spend, and what will that get you?

Like holidays or property, that age-old adage applies with a wristwatch: spend as much as you can afford because you'll never regret it. But whatever that figure is, rest assured that with a 'proper' wristwatch, you will always get your money's worth.

Watch snobs be gone; a few hundred quid will get you a very decent piece of wristwear, with all the after-sales support you'd expect from a watch ten times the price. What's more, this sector is increasingly populated by the big fashion brands, including Gucci and Bomberg.

These designs are executed with a flair that's rare in the higher echelons. You'll struggle to find a Swiss automatic movement below a grand so you'll need to save a little more for something more traditional and crafted. But the rest of the watch will be well built, and the choice of styles is broader than ever.

This is where it can get overwhelming, as many make their first big horological investment in this price range and don't want to get it wrong. So do your research, take your time, come into a ROX boutique, talk to one of our friendly experts. The good news is that many of Swiss watchmaking's enduring classics fall into this category, and you'll never go wrong purchasing one, whether it's a TAG Heuer Carrera or TUDOR Heritage Black Bay.

This is venturing into serious collector territory, so well done for getting this far! Below £5,000 you can expect a rock-solid, standard-issue Swiss automatic mechanical movement driving things beneath the dial. However, above £5,000 you're venturing into “manufacture” status, meaning brands which craft the majority of the components in-house. Movements and case designs will be exclusive to them, and exacting hand-polish will be applied to the tiniest part as icing on the cake. Think Hublot, Zenith revered heritage in spades, innovation to rival NASA, and every single watch the result of months of painstaking work at the hands of some extraordinarily skilled individuals.

Buy a watch at ROX, and whatever you spend, you will always end up with something fabulous on your wrist. But what speaks to you, and what does it say about you? There’s no getting around it; the brand you endorse is important. You’re forging a long-term relationship. Just make sure of one thing, though: it’s always you that’s wearing the watch, not the other way around. You’ll know as soon as you try it on.

You can view our buying guides below.

With the precise time displayed everywhere in our “always on” digital age, wearing a watch is no longer about telling the time – it is an emotional urge; an investment into something eternal. Everything disposable consumerism isn't, in other words. That said, a wristwatch is rather handy for telling the time… and after a while you'll feel naked without it.

So, you'll want one for every eventuality, or at least one that straddles a few of life's regular scenarios. An easy choice for the office is a black leather strap and a clean, silver dial. But when Saturday comes, you may also want a watch that looks appropriate while trimming the hedge – in which case, a metal bracelet instead of leather makes it perfect for both.

People joke about a chronograph only being good for timing an egg – but if you do have soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, then a chronograph is far more convenient than finding the stopwatch app on your phone (and smearing yolk on your screen). Alternatively, a diving watch is useful for diving, yes, but if you harbour an abject fear of open water it still serves as an all-purpose, wear-it-and-forget-about-it watch for all conditions. And when Monday comes round again, a diving watch can indeed commute with confidence. Just look at TUDOR's noble Heritage Black Bay .

Obviously, “one watch to rule them all” will only stretch so far – which is where the notion of a watch wardrobe comes in. It takes years of steady, considered investment, but a solid line-up for the top of your dresser (or sock drawer) looks something like this:

An arms race is on in watchmaking right now, and it's all about materials science. Given that the underlying technological principles of a mechanical watch haven't changed much in two centuries, and aren't likely to anytime soon, one of the few ways beyond design in which watchmakers can innovate is to introduce novel, high-tech metals, composites, alloys and ceramics to the mix.

In the case of silicon, which is being used more and more for its self-lubricating and anti-magnetic properties, the moving parts inside can benefit. But it's mostly to do with the packaging; the humble watch case. Deciding what sort of case to go for is a big part of purchasing a watch, and recent advances in materials science mean you're no longer confined to that simple choice of stainless steel or gold.

If you’re showing your new watch to a #watchnerd (yes, it’s a thing), the first thing they’ll do, instead of admiring the dial, is to turn it over. To pass muster with these #snobs (not so much of a thing), a “proper” watch will be powered by a mechanical movement and they’ll know because it will usually be displayed through a clear caseback – much like a Ferrari’s mid-mounted V8 engine, growling through its glass cowling. Now, imagine you had Ferrari designing a Hublot watch…

A mechanical movement is a beguiling thing to behold as well as listen to, ticking away at 28,800 vibrations per hour. It’s hundred-odd tiny parts are all machined laboriously and precisely from steel or brass, polished to varying degrees of shimmer and shine, then hand-assembled by one of the world’s most skilled workforces in light-drenched mountain-top ateliers.

There’s romance, heritage and eternity all to be found in a Swiss movement’s constellation of parts – its wheels, cogs, springs and levers squeezed into a space the size of a five-franc coin. A joyous anachronism in this digital world. But such precise micro-engineering comes at a price. If you can’t afford it, or simply don’t care for mechanics, have no fear – there’s no shame in a quartz movement, despite what those snobs tell you. Quartz will only lose a minute a year, and will never need to be wound up (until the battery runs out of course). It’s also darned clever in its own right, with more and more of its own rose-tinted heritage.

Automatic for the People

An automatic mechanical movement is the most common, fitted with an off-kilter weight, or “rotor” that swings with the movement of your arm and keeps the winding barrel tightly wound. The winding spring powers a gear train to which hours, minutes and seconds hands are attached. The movement of the geartrain is regulated by the ticking “escapement” at the other end.

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Manually wound mechanical movements are increasingly popular, as the lack of rotor permits a clearer view into that mesmerising constellation of moving parts.

Battery Included

Quartz technology was first reduced to the size of a wristwatch as recently as the Sixties, using the 32kHz vibration of the crystal when a current passes through to regulate the “tick” of a watch – the infinitely more precise equivalent of the 4Hz oscillating balance wheel ticking in a mechanical movement.

There’s a lot of confusing jargon to watches – partly because watchmaking is so innately technical; partly because there is so much additional functionality, whether you need it or not. Indeed, horology is probably the only field of engineering where complicating something, rather than simplifying, is permissible – encouraged, even. And sure enough, the collective term for tricksy mechanical gizmos like tourbillons, chronographs and perpetual calendars is “complications”.

It doesn’t have to be complicated though – and owning a watch with a complication can be a wonderful change from the time alone. It enlivens the dial, and it enlivens a conversation.

Chronometer

A watch that’s been ‘regulated’ to extraordinary lengths by a watchmaker, rendering it extremely precise (but not necessarily ‘accurate’ – that depends on whether you’ve set the time properly). The Swiss ‘COSC’ board only awards chronometer certificates to a mechanical watch if it loses less than four seconds or gains less than six seconds a day.

Chronograph

Derived from the Greek ‘to draw the time’, ‘chronograph’ is actually a misnomer left from when clocks made a mark on paper to indicate the start and end of a time period. The modern incarnation – effectively a stopwatch combined with your watch – should really be called a ‘chronoscope’, as elapsed time is viewed. It’s the most visceral and adrenaline-fuelled of all the complications, given its motorsport origins and the satisfying tactility of operating the pushbuttons.

Flyback

A chronograph that can be reset to zero while running and instantly restarted. Originally developed for pilots who have little time to fiddle with buttons while commencing the return leg of their mission.

Automatic

A mechanical watch whose spring is wound by a rotor mounted on the movement inside. Every time you move your wrist, the rotor swings on its axis, winding the watch gradually via a ratchet system.

Power Reserve

Indicates how ‘full’ or ‘empty’ your mainspring is – very useful for non-automatic watches, which need to be manually wound.

GMT

A watch with a second hour hand indicating the time in another timezone – ‘hometime’ for perennial globetrotters. Not to be confused with:

Worldtimer

On demand, instantly indicates the time in any given timezone – often represented around the dial by major cities, whose names watchmakers like to customise with famous golf courses, stock exchanges, favourite hotels or – in one memorable case – the names of the customer’s every global girlfriend…

Perpetual Calendar

Always indicates the correct day, month and year without adjustment, even taking into account leap years – until 2100 that is, when we skip a leap year.

Tourbillion

An even more complicated complication, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet over 200 years ago. Evens out the deleterious effect of gravity on the delicate balance spring by rotating the entire balance assembly in a cage once every minute. Watching this flea-circus merry-go-round is a hypnotic spectacle.

Moonphase

A clock or watch’s moonphase depicts the wax and wane of the Moon with a small silver Moon, encircled by a ring corresponding to the section of the Moon visible from the Earth. Once properly set, this indicator is able to keep an accurate track of the Moon’s phases for at least 122 years.

Ultra-Thin

Despite appearing to be a simpler affair than ever, the ultra-thin watch is considered a complication, up there with a rattrapante or minute repeater. Why? Because the technical challenge a thin movement poses is vast, from super-fiddly hand assembly to engineering a wafer-thin geartrain that still whirrs away steadily despite a lack of mass.

We’re all preoccupied by the watches themselves, but what about the thing that adorns the other 75% of your wrist? The strap, so many of us forget, is a potent expression of your personality and must co-ordinate with the rest of your ensemble, not to mention complexion and wrist size.

Following sporadic examples of “wristlets” made for ladies in the late 19th century, what cemented the wristwatch as a preferable alternative to the pocket watch was the First World War, when soldiers on the front line began soldering wire lugs to their traditional timepieces in order to affix makeshift fabric straps (something to which Bell & Ross’s ‘WWI’ Heritage pieces make clever reference).

The cool kids are now realising how cost-effective and just plain effective a new strap is in livening up their trusty old ticker. Switch from steel bracelet to nylon ‘NATO’ strap and watch your watch turn from sober boardroom uniform to natty beach toy.

Be careful though; there are sartorial rules to be respected and observed, principally concerning the match of leather strap to one’s belt (black with black, brown with brown), always resorting to steel bracelet when in doubt. And, of course, never rubber with a suit, just as you would never wear trainers with a suit (both crimes that continue to be committed…).

Buying for the love of your life, and don’t want to mess up? Three words, people: research, research, research!

Whether it’s your husband, wife, father or dogsitter, be prepared to put a lot of thought into this, as it’s an incredibly personal gesture. A watch is worn closer than underwear, and worn more often in some cases.