Once you see firsthand what a meticulous process it is to make the finest watches in the world, you'll understand why they start in the five-figure range. And you'll want your own.
With my white lab coat, sterile white gloves, and disposable dustcovers over my shoes, I feel like a brain surgeon in training as I bend over the microscope. But I'm not in a hospital, and the man explaining what I'm looking at is not a doctor. He's a Swiss master watchmaker, I'm in the Patek Philippe watch factory in Geneva, and, as far as I can tell, the only things watchmaking and brain surgery have in common are that they are both extremely technical and involve parts too small to see with the naked eye.

I'm looking at a single gear that's so small on the watchmaker's white-gloved fingertip, it looks like a black speck. Under magnification, though, it's apparent that it is in fact a gear, with more than 30 teeth around it. Since mechanical watches (those without batteries or electronics) are powered by springs, wheels, and gears, friction is an adversary, and in the very finest watches, every possible part is polished for smooth functioning. To my amazement, this includes the space between every single minuscule tooth, and as I look on, the most patient woman in the world uses a tiny file to methodically polish a tiny gear, held with tiny tweezers, under a microscope. In the tray on her desk, there are hundreds of impossibly small gears awaiting their turn, and on either side of her, dozens of other workers polish more gears, along with miniature wheels, metal plates, arms, and screws. Once every little part is meticulously polished and rigorously examined for flaws, they move on to a watchmaker for assembly.