The dress watch is perhaps the hardest watch to master. It has to be simple, it has to be manual wind, it has to have no complications—small seconds at a push—and it has to be small, both in diameter, but more importantly, thickness. This leaves very little for a watchmaker to hide behind, only the quality of the watchmaking itself left to do the talking. How do the very best brands in the world do it?

Being the best known and most popular luxury watch brand in the world, Rolex watches have little trouble selling themselves. Many, many people are quite happy to buy one just because it says ‘Rolex’ on it, paying little mind to what that name really stands for. Well, before you buy a Rolex, here are three things you should know.

Ever since it was discovered that combining iron, chromium and carbon made a material that could be used to make almost anything, stainless steel has been king of construction. It’s strong, it’s malleable, its hardy—and that’s why it’s also used for making watches. What more could you ask than that? Well, apparently you can get watches made of other, more exotic materials as well. But why?

Doppelchronograph, rattrapante, split-second—you’ve probably heard of one if not all of these terms, and maybe you even know that they all mean the same thing. But what exactly is a split-second chronograph, and how on Earth do they work?

Two years ago, we investigated just how far fake watches have come when we compared a real Rolex Submariner with a fake one. For anyone thinking that fake watches were the easy-to-spot domain of the seaside tat shop, we demonstrated that it’s harder to spot a fake than you might think. Two years on, and it’s got even harder.

Sometimes answers are so obvious it’s barely worth asking the questions. If you want a sporty two-plus-two, for example, that handles like a racer yet will happily sit in a Monday morning queue, you get a 911. Or, if you want a 3-hander that’s both rugged and elegant, you get a DateJust. It’s practically written in the stars, but yet—sometimes what seems to be the right answer isn’t always the best answer. That’s why cars like the McLaren 540C, Aston Martin Vantage and Audi R8 exist, and it’s why the watches you’re about to see exist as well.

The world timer is one of those complications that’s actually pretty useful. For someone who travels or liaises with people in other countries frequently, a quick wrist-worn reminder of who’s awake and who’s asleep can be the difference between sealing the deal and calling the CEO of a multinational corporation when they’re at home … in bed … asleep. Many competent world timers include a globe to aid use, but the trouble is, the two-dimensional nature of the dial doesn’t lend itself to the sphericity of our planet—Montblanc, however, thinks it’s found a solution.

It’s time for another trip into the world of our imaginations as we wonder what it’s like to buy whatever watch we want. And why not make it three while we’re at? For this dream watch collection, we’ve assumed the persona of a traditionalist, someone who likes their watches with a more classical taste—but with a bit of a twist.

If you’ve been watching these videos then there’s a high chance that sooner or later you’re going to buy a watch. Maybe it’ll be your first, and doubtful it will be your last; either way, it’s a decision that requires careful deliberation before jumping into. Easier said than done, however, so let us do some of the hard work for you and leave you to enjoy the rest: and by that I mean here is a list of five more watches that you should avoid.

There’s not a whole lot that watchmaking has to throw at us that we would be surprised by these days. Tudor’s P01, for example, that was close—but it really was only a matter of time before that unusual prototype was dusted off and wheeled out. What with whole watches being made from sapphire and dials with spiders in them, it’s come to the point where we’ve seen practically everything—and that makes the secrets of the three chronographs we’ve got coming up all the more surprising.

Mechanical watchmaking is full of compromise. There’s only so much that can be done with wheels and springs in a space smaller than a matchbox, and that leads to some little quirks and eccentricities that are all part and parcel of owning one of these little ticking devices. But has Ulysse Nardin managed to conquer the trickiest quirk of all?

Think of Nomos and think of the German brand that gives you bang for the buck. A few thousand pounds spent with Nomos gets you a substantial list of must-haves and desirables, including minimalist Bauhaus design, supreme build quality and a movement made not by someone else, but by Nomos itself. So, imagine what the brand could do with a much bigger budget? Well, wonder no more, because here is just that, the Nomos Lambda. Should rival luxury German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne be worried?

The decade of 1950 was a huge turning point in the economy of the developed world. With the austerity of war falling behind and a bright new future shining ahead, it was an unprecedented period of growth in jobs, technology and living standards that gave people more time and money for the finer things in life than ever before. This is the story of the GMT-Master Root Beer, and how it changed Rolex forever.

Ever since Willy Breitling decided to amalgamate his wristwatches with the bane of the 1940s’ schoolroom, the slide rule, there have been questions over the legitimacy of the brand as a watchmaker. Clearly, it’s a company that makes watches, there’s no disputing that—the concern arises more from the credibility of its impact on the wider world of watchmaking. The question is, are those concerns unfounded, or is there some truth to them?

We’ve all been there, looking at the world’s first luxury sports watch, Audemars Piguet’s game-changing Royal Oak, thinking, “I wish.” For the lucky few who get to own one, they can enjoy the defining work of one of watchmaking’s most influential designers—but not everyone can be so fortunate. But it’s not game over just yet because we’ve got a selection of watches that just might scratch that itch without costing anywhere near as much.

The feud between watchmaking powerhouses Rolex and Omega has been raging for over a century, for so long it’s almost hard to remember how it all begin. Let’s remind ourselves.