From Anonimo to U-Boat, these are our favorite Italian watch brands right now. See if you find your next favorite in our list of Italian watches.
Delicious food, incredible gelato, fashionable clothing, and beautiful watches. What’s not to like about Italy? But with Italy’s reputation of putting form over function, you may think Italian watches would be all looks and poor quality. Well, think again.
There are several luxury Italian watchmakers that are on par with what you can find in both watches from Switzerland and German watches. Yep, that’s right. With more than 40 Italian watch brands on the market, there are plenty of stylish high-quality timepieces to choose from. Just take a look at our current favorites for men!
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The Best Italian Watch Brands
1. Bvlgari
Founded in Rome in 1884 by immigrant Greek watchmaker Sotirios Voulgaris, Bvlgari has become world famous for their luxury goods. Bvlgari is a huge and extensive brand that sells everything from jewelry to handbags. Their Swiss subsidiary Bvlgari Haute Horlogerie SA manufactures everything from the ground up to a very high spec.
Bvlgari currently has four collections for men; Octo, Bvlgari Bvlgari, and Haute Horlogerie. They also have several collections for women including the Serpenti and Lucea collections. Even though I’m not much into fashion brands I have to say the Bvlgari Bvlgari line is appealing and has a truly timeless feel. Check them out here! The Bvlgari Bvlgari, ref. 1013132, pictured above with a 41mm bronze case and blue dial is particularly fetching.
2. Breil
Breil was started Milan in 1939 and is a fashion forward brand that is named after a Swiss municipality. It was founded in Milan in 1939 by Innocente Binda, and it’s still in the family (owned by the Binda Group).
Breil watches do not fall in the category of high horology, but they have a few interesting designs. I find the curved lugs on the watch pictured above to be rather unique.
The brand has some automatic movement watches, but mostly sells Japanese quartz movement watches priced from $100 to $500 dollars. Available here.
3. Filippo Loreti
Although technically not a true Italian Watch Brand, Filippo Loreti is inspired by the Roman Empire and pays homage to Italian style and design. This international company started in 2015 with a crowdfunded project that received 1 million in funding for their first watch. This is a great article about Filippo’s funding projects, here. One of Filippo Loreti’s brand tenets was to make luxury watches accessible to everyone. They have accomplished this with in-house design, direct manufacturing relationships and DTC (direct to customer) marketing and sales.
Loreti’s watches start at about $70 USD for the womans quartz marble line and go up to $650 for the mens limited edition automatic Arsenal Black Gold. They have a decent selection on Amazon as well.
At these prices Filippo Loreti is worth checking out especially for limited edition watches. Check out my review of the Ascari Moss Rose Gold.
4. Ennebi
Established in 2004 Ennebi designs and builds “wrist and desk instruments” from their headquarters in Prato, Italy. Most of Ennebi’s designs starting with the Fondale are inspired by work done with the Italian Navy which makes these hand crafted tool watches extremely durable. Ennebi’s watches are large, simple and tough, they are produced in small batches with unique one of a kind details. The 6000 metri – ref. 9712 shown above is a 49.4mm titanium cased beast capable of diving to 6000 meters or almost 20,000 feet!
5. Anonimo
When competing watch brand Panerai was sold and moved to Switzerland in 1997, Federico Massacesi seized the opportunity and purchased the manufacturing facilities in Florence Italy. Massacesi was able to maintain the core group of Panerai watchmakers in Florence and Tuscany, and together they created Anonimo. Signor Massacesi wanted to focus on quality and not on branding, that’s why Anonimo (anonymous in English) is such a fitting name.
After a buyout and a move to Switzerland in 2013 (technically they are no longer an Italian watch company), Anonimo has reduced its number of models and they are now selling three collections; the Militare, Nautilo, and Epurato. All three collections consist of handcrafted high-quality watches with self-winding mechanical movements. They are designed as military watches and for deep sea diving.
6. Gucci
Italian fashion icon, Gucci, was established by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921. With more than €4 billion in revenues in 2008, Gucci is a whale in the fashion industry. Not surprisingly, they are also in the market of making watches. With prices at a few hundred dollars, Gucci’s timepieces are cheaper than some of the other brands on this list. And maybe that’s just right. You get a cool-looking watch, absolutely, but you don’t get the handcrafted super-quality pieces that some of the others have to offer. They have a pretty good selection of watches up on Amazon.
7. Meccaniche Veloci
Meccaniche Veloci was started in 2006 in Vicenza by a group of creative designers. With a modern, refreshing, and very different design, they have brought motorsport into the world of wristwatches. Meccaniche Veloci loosely translates to Fast Machines, and the most popular collection (Quattro Valvole) looks like the pistons of a car engine. They also like to incorporate materials used in racing into their timepieces. Technically speaking, MV isn’t 100% Italian though. The watches are made in Switzerland but designed and marketed in Italy. I chose to include MV to my list anyway, because their watches are so interesting, beautiful, and fun to look at.
8. Meccaniche Veneziane
Meccaniche Veneziane is a newer brand from Italy that feature their own Swiss mechanical movement. There caliber MV145 looks to be a version of the ETA 2824 or Sellita SW200, just repackaged for Meccaniche Veneziane. The brand currently has three collections the Redentore, Nereide, Nereide GMT and the Arsenale which is coming soon.
All the collections utilize the MV145 movement except the Nereide and Nereide GMT which is using the MV297 which I’m assuming is a variation of the MV145 along with a GMT complication. Prices range from just under $500 to almost $1500. I have to say I do like some of the color ways they are offering. My favorite is the Nereide GMT Basalto Crema above for $1380.
9. Officina del Tempo
Brothers Roberto and Giorgio Emili launched Officina del Tempo at the turn of the millennium in their hometown of Senigallia. Inspired by racing, sailing, and big business, Officina del Tempo can now boast of having eleven collections in their impressive lineup. The two brothers have really expanded operations quickly. I personally like that they have made quality one of their priorities. They put a lot of effort into every little detail from assembly to packaging. Apart from the movements which are mostly quartz, everything else is made in Italy. The OT1051-1241NOO pictured above is a big 44-48mm watch from their Racing line, but there are some other watches like the one below on Amazon.
10. Panerai
No listing of Italian watches would be complete without including Panerai. Pronounced pun-eh-rye, this luxury watch manufacture was started in Florence Italy by Giovanni Panerai in 1860. After becoming an official supplier to Royal Italian Navy, Panerai developed a line of diving watches that were produced by Rolex using pocket watch movements. Panerai offically moved to Switzerland in 1997, so technically they are no longer an Italian brand, but we will make an exception this time. The collections include the Submersible, Luminor, Luminor Due and the Radiomar.
I have to say these are some of my favorite watches, not that I can afford the price tags. Models start around $4,000 and quickly run into the $20,000 plus range. My current favorite(above) is the PAM00927 or the Luminor Due 42mm in Steel with the blue sun brushed dial, only $7,200. If you are so inclined Amazon has a nice selection to choose from, here!
11. Salvatore Ferragamo
Salvatore Ferragamo is yet another luxury goods company from Florence, established in 1928. Since they makes a whole range of different consumer products, they can’t be watchmaking specialists. In fact, they use licensing agreements and partnerships to have other companies manufacture the watches for them. But apart from not having the manufacturing process in-house, they make some beautiful and interesting timepieces. On Amazon, here!
12. Squale Watches
Based in Milan, Squale Watches have a long history going back to their start by Charles von Büren in Neuchatel Switzerland in 1946. Even though Squale watches are Swiss-made watches, I’m including them in the Italian watches post because the brand was purchased by von Bürens friends and distributors the Maggi family from Italy. The currently line up for the brand includes the Matic, 1521, 1545 and the Tiger, all professional grade dive watches. The Squale Matic 600 meter shown above is an updated version of the original Squalematic dive watch from the 1970’s.
13. U-Boat
Based in Tuscany (in the small town of Lucca), U-Boat makes big brash Italian luxury watches.
U-Boat was founded by Italo Fontana, with a dream of materializing his grandfather Ilvo Fontana’s sketches and designs from the 1940s. The fact that Italo is a watch aficionado with a desire to experiment with both materials and unusual techniques (i.e. acid baths) has really set U-Boat apart from other brands.
The U-42 50 GMT 8095 pictured above is a Massive 50mm Titanium cased beast boasting U-Boats signature 9′ oclock crown.
Features you could expect are large watch faces, Swiss movements, and vintage designs. His watches are getting more and more attention, even from outside the world of horology enthusiasts. Celebrities like Tom Cruise and David Beckham wear timepieces from U-Boat. You can safely say that Italo Fontana’s dream has come true especially with U-Boat watches starting at 1,600 Euros and up. If you want to avoid the shipping and European tariffs you can always get your U-Boat on Amazon, from $2,000 to $20,000, here!
14. WeWOOD
I first saw this brand while we were in Barcelona, it was at little boutique down by the harbor were all the mega yachts were docked. When we got back, I ordered one from Amazon for about $100 bucks, about a third of what they were selling for in Barcelona. It was incredibly light and with an inexpensive quartz movement it kept good time. The wooden bracelet mine came on was one of the neatest parts of the watch. WeWOOD started in Florence in 2009 and are say they are the first to create a watch out of wood. Amazon has a great selection starting at $60 and up, here.
