Anniversary Watches and Why We Love Them

An anniversary is a wonderful thing—the celebration of a moment in time, the creation of something special. Collectors use watches to celebrate personal and professional milestones in their lives and watch brands use the anniversaries of either references or the founding date of their companies to unveil fantastic new creations that pay homage to the past.

Celebrating Milestone Moments in Watchmaking

For today, we’re looking at the latter—those fun, sometimes odd, and often rare anniversary watches launched by some of the brands we love. Though this type of watch has been launched repeatedly throughout the recent decades, for the sake of simplicity we’re focusing on more recent editions here. Our selections are all watches that have launched within the past decade (with one exception), and that have wound up within the The 1916 Company inventory.

PATEK PHILIPPE CHRONOGRAPH 175TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION 5975G-001

We’re coming out of the gates strong on this one, featuring a very rare and interesting Patek Philippe Chronograph—one that launched in 2014, celebrating Patek’s 175th anniversary. This vintage themed multi-scale chronograph is cased in white gold, and measures 40mm across. As eye-catching as its dial is, what draws me in most is its detailed and almost ornate case design. Its stepped profile adds some additional dimensionality to the equation. What’s also special about this chronograph is that it does not function as a regular chronograph at all; you’ll notice when looking at the dial that it’s devoid of subdials. More than anything, this is a short measurement chronograph used for measuring things like pulse, distance, or speed. Interested in other pieces featuring this stunning complication? Explore our entire collection of pre-owned chronographs.

JAEGER-LECOULTRE POLARIS MEMOVOX LIMITED EDITION Q2008470

From a heavy-hitting classic, we move into something that’s a personal favorite on this list—the JLC Polaris Memovox that launched in 2018, alongside a fresh new Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris collection. Its design centers around the Polaris Memovox that came 50 years prior in 1968, which much like this edition was a three-crowned diving alarm watch with both a mechanical alarm and internal timing bezel. Modern mechanical alarm watches are quite rare, and the combination of this complication with a timing bezel and 200m of water resistance makes it a very enjoyable and wearable piece of watchmaking history.

OMEGA SPEEDMASTER MOONWATCH APOLLO 11 50TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION 310.20.42.50.01.001

We really can’t have a list of anniversary watches without stumbling across an Omega Speedmaster somewhere along the way. Hitting the 60-year mark in 2017 was one milestone, but it was last year where the brand crested the 50-year mark since landing on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission that was the big anniversary that captured the world’s attention last year. To celebrate the occasion, other than announcing the then-upcoming return of the caliber 321, Omega released this steel-cased Speedmaster. Its gold accents complement a dark grey dial, with a depiction of Armstrong exiting the lander filling its subdial at 9 o’clock.

Another fan-favorite anniversary watch from Omega is the “Snoopy” Apollo XIII 45th Anniversary limited edition.

GRAND SEIKO SPRING DRIVE 20TH & NISSAN GT-R 50TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION SBGC229

We see watches that celebrate all sorts of strange anniversaries, but this is the only watch I can think of offhand that tackles two separate anniversaries at once—not to mention two anniversaries of two different amounts of time. The SBGC229 Grand Seiko Spring Drive seen here tips its hat both to the anniversary of the brand’s Spring Drive calibers, but also to another Japanese legend; the Nissan GT-R celebrated its 50th anniversary in the same year (2019). Its unique color palette is aligned with the 50th anniversary GT-R, using a blue ceramic outer case supported by a strong titanium inner case. Explore similar pieces from this brand by perusing our collection of Spring Drive watches.

ULYSSE NARDIN CLASSICO SINGLE BUTTON CHRONOGRAPH “PULSOMETER” 175TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION 381-22

With all of the louder and more ostentatious offerings to come from the Ulysse Nardin collections over the years, there’s a cool and calm composure from this 175th anniversary monopusher chronograph that I can’t help but love. Its case profile is slender, and its diameter modest—the piece only measures 37mm across, which is impressive for a modern monopusher. Only 175 of these special pieces were made in yellow gold for the 175th anniversary of Ulysse Nardin in 1998, alongside the same count in white gold and pink gold.

A. LANGE & SOHNE 1815 “200TH ANNIVERSARY F.A. LANGE” BOUTIQUE EDITION 236.049

The whole ‘stealth wealth’ thing is a topic I end up discussing here and there; there are wonderful occasions where a watch is incredibly rare and valuable, without drawing even a subtle glance from anyone but the most knowledgeable of watch enthusiasts. This 200th anniversary F.A. Lange is precisely that. Its plain black dial and what would appear to most as a steel case (it’s actually platinum) don’t draw attention, but the more you examine the detailed finishing of its hands, indices, and case, the clearer it becomes that this is no ordinary run-of-the-mill wristwatch from A. Lange & Sohne.