The watch movement is always considered the most valuable part of a watch as it is the gear that makes the watch functions run using complicated mechanisms. Automatic and mechanical watches, in particular, reflect true watchmaking craftsmanship as it takes time and effort to manufacture one. This is why many watch houses find it as a good advertising model to manufacture exposed gear watches. These particular eye-catching timepieces offer exceptional designs and allow the wearer to catch a glance at the precious movement. Style and innovation – both can be found on exposed gear watches.
Exposed Gear Watches History
The world’s first exposed gear watches or skeleton watches started showing on people’s wrists a long time ago. Andre-Charles Caron, a watchmaker from France, is credited as the inventor of the world’s first skeleton watch around 1760. Many years have passed ever since and many watch brands have followed the rhythm of Andre-Charles Caron. From open heart watches to semi-skeleton to completely “naked” open gear watches – the immense world of watches ensures that you never run out of options.
In today’s article, we have picked the best exposed gear watches for watch lovers of all calibers.
Check them below…
Best Exposed Gear Watches (From Affordable to Untouchable)
- Fossil Forrester Automatic
- Stuhrling Anatol 371 Automatic
- Bulova 98A237 Exposed Gear Watch
- Seiko SSA411J1 Presage Exposed Gear Watch
- Citizen Octavia Open Heart Watch
- Tissot T-Complication Squelette Mechanical
- Hamilton Ventura Skeleton Auto LIMITED EDITION
Fossil Forrester Automatic
Starting our journey to the exposed gear watches realm with this classic and affordable skeleton timepiece. Forrester Automatic from Fossil features an automatic movement with 21 jewels which can be admired thanks to the open dial and an expository case back as well. The watch comes in a stainless-steel case with a brown leather strap. A combination of luminous Arabic numerals and hour markers in a blue darkened dial make the rest of the watch face design. Price the last time I checked: $ 101
Stuhrling Anatol 371 Automatic
Anatol 371 from Stuhrling has no secrets to hide as the watch comes “naked” to the wrist of the watch lovers. The in-house manufactured automatic movement of the watch features a dual-time function for every time precision. The movement can be admired whether from the front of the watch or from the exhibition case back.
The silver-cut blue hour markers and dauphine style watch hands are perfectly combined with the stainless-steel case and a black alligator leather strap. Price the last time I checked: $ 250
Bulova 98A237 Exposed Gear Watch
If you are looking for something more contemporary, almost crazy, then you should take a look at this exposed gear Bulova timepiece. The watch features an automatic movement with 21 jewels that can provide up to 42 hours of power reserve. The movement can be seen from a skull-cut window in front of the watch and from the exhibition case back as well. Sapphire crystal glass, scratch-resistant and anti-reflective also the second strongest material on earth after diamonds is chosen by the manufacturer to display the movement. Price the last time I checked: $ 297.50
Seiko SSA411J1 Presage Open Heart Watch
Next to our exposed gear watches picks comes an automatic watch with manual winding capacity from Seiko – the giant Japanese watch brand. Seiko is world-known for being the inventors of the quartz movement. Even though they boost themselves for it, they still find it good for business to deliver some cutting-edge automatic timepieces. Like this one!
Seiko Presage model SSA411J1 features an automatic movement with 24 jewels and 41 hours of power reserve. From the anti-reflective scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, you can admire an open heart dial that displays a part of the movement. If you want to go deeper into the mechanism, just turn your watch upside down and catch a glance of the movement from the see-through case back. Price the last time I checked: $ 560
Citizen Octavia Open Heart Watch
As we leave behind the best exposed gear watches under 1000 dollars, Citizen Signature Octavia comes next to our list. Octavia is one of the few watches Citizen didn’t apply their Eco-Drive technology in. Contrary to Eco-Drive watches from Citizen, Octavia is an automatic watch that runs using the wearer’s wrist kinetic energy, as usual.
The watch comes in a stainless-steel case and bracelet with a bold black dial which is home to an exhibition window or so-called open heart dial. From the sapphire crystal case, you can take a look at the gold-toned hour markers and watch hands, which come with a thin line of luminous material, to help the wearer keep track of time in dark places too.
If you haven’t figured it out yet if you are going for this watch or not; an exhibition case back, 100 meters of water resistance, and 42 hours of power reserve, might help you make a decision. Price the last time I checked: $ 1.295
Tissot T-Complication Squelette Mechanical
The Tissot T-Compilation Squelette brings to the wearer’s wrist the true Swiss craftsmanship heritage of watchmaking. Featuring a Swiss mechanical movement with 46 hours of power reserve and 17 jewels that you can count by yourself through the anti-reflective scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass. The watch has nothing to hide as it is transparent from both sides.
It comes in a stainless-steel round case and black leather strap with luminous blue indexes and hands as well. Price the last time I checked: $ 1.950
Hamilton Ventura Skeleton Auto LIMITED EDITION
If you have seen Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), you should have probably seen Tony Stark wearing a Hamilton Ventura Skeleton Auto LIMITED EDITION. Yep!!!
The timepiece from Hamilton was first introduced to the world of watches through a fictional movie. The watch also comes with an intricate spiderweb design and an exposed gear dial in pure black.
The watch is limited to only 999 pieces so by the time you will have read this article, they will possibly be gone.
An automatic movement with caliber H-10-S, which provides up to 80 hours of power reserve, can be admired through the sapphire crystal glasses on both sides of the watch. In my opinion, all of these features are enough to call it one of the best exposed gear watches ever manufactured. Price the last time I checked: $ 2245
Didn’t find what you were looking for? Take a look at our other watch collections made for watch lovers of all calibers. Surf mode on!
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