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Breitling
Sync this pilot's watch to a smartphone and record data such as flight duration and landing speed or, for those who wish to remain on their runways, lap times.
Exospace B55 Connected Chronograph, 46mm black titanium case, blue rubber strap, £6,650, breitling.com
Omega
The nautical features of this new Seamaster include a helium escape valve, activated during decompression to facilitate use by professional divers.
Seamaster Diver 300M Co-axial Chronometer, 41mm stainless steel case, stainless steel bracelet, £2,770, omegawatches.com
Tag Heuer
In a sporting gesture to match its striking steel and titanium design, Tag's new Carrera with Swiss-made Tourbillon clocks in at a hugely competitive price point considering the engineering.
Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon, 45mm black titanium case, black rubber strap, £12,100, tagheuer.co.uk
Tudor
Guaranteed to a depth of 500m, the Pelagos's luminous dial and large numbers lit the way during tests in the murkiest underwater chasms of Lake Geneva.
Pelagos Blue Chronometer, 42mm titanium case, blue rubber strap, £3,020, tudorwatch.com
Montblanc
With an efficacy the envy of any athlete, the Exo Tourbillon's design and positioning enables the movement to consume a third less energy, thus improving precision.
TimeWalker Exo Tourbillon Minute Chronograph Limited Edition 100, 44mm titanium/carbon fibre/DLC case, black alligator leather strap, £29,900, montblanc.com
Rado
The chronograph dials on this tennis-inspired watch are set at the 15, 30 and 45-minute marks. No wonder Andy Murray chose to wear this ace at Wimbledon.
Hyperchrome Match Point Chronograph Limited Edition, 45mm plasma high-tech ceramic case and bracelet, £3,650, radowatches.com
Bell & Ross
A tribute of sorts to the fearless and flamboyant racing drivers of the Seventies, the BR 126 GT calibrates time and speed to a handsome all-action design.
BR 126 GT, 42mm satin-finished steel case, black Alcantara strap, £3,200, bellross.com
Chopard
From the details on its dial to the silver, black and red livery, this is inspired by Porsche's 919 Hybrid race car, even down to the number produced — 919, to be precise.
Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Edition, 45mm stainless steel case, black rubber strap, £8,320, chopard.co.uk
Audemars Piguet
Simply wearing one of these famed high-performance, masculine models — with trademark "tapisserie" pattern and octagonal bezel — is the mark of a winning mentality.
Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph, 42mm stainless steel case, black rubber strap, £24,400, audemarspiguet.com
Richard Mille
You won't lose your bearings with this explorer's friend. The compass points on the dial can be aligned according to the sun's position (as long as you know which time zone you're in).
RM 60-01 Regatta Flyback Chronograph, 50mm titanium case, black rubber strap, £115,500, richardmille.com
Bremont
The aerodynamic sophistication of the America's Cup's current crop of hydrofoil catamarans – surely the Formula 1 of the high seas – qualifies "pilot's pilot watch brand", Bremont to get involved, as both timekeeper and sponsor of title defenders, Oracle Team USA.
America's Cup Regatta OTUSA chronograph in steel, £4,995, bremont.com
Cartier
No one expected Cartier, that purveyor of all things sartorial and sparkly, to come up with a bona fide diver's watch, but here it is; conforming to every ISO standard criteria and still managing suave sophistication by the boat load.
Calibre de Cartier Diver in steel, £6,350, cartier.co.uk
Hublot
Fine watchmaking's bad-boy disruptor has teamed up with flamboyant Fiat scion Lapo Elkann and his luxury sunglasses brand on a chronograph made from carbon and woven fiberglass – a sci-fi camouflage inspired by Elkann's camo-wrapped Ferrari 458 Italia.
Big Bang Unico Italia Independent Green Camo in texalium and carbon, £24,300, hublot.com
Patek Philippe
It's the 40th anniversary of a design classic: Patek's rounded-octagon of a sports watch. Designed by the same brains behind Audemars Piguet's own octagonal beauty, the Royal Oak, it was originally in steel – unheard-of for a luxury brand at the time. The pricetag below, however, is because this limited edition is cased up by a hefty chunk of platinum. What's more, all 2,000 are bound to be pre-sold by now.
Nautilus 40th Anniversary Ref. 5711/1P in platinum, £82,310, patek.com
Seiko Astron
Seiko has proved itself as a top-notch watchmaker in almost every guise of late, and an innovative one to boot. The Astron is, in fact, your perfect desert-island watch, as it'll update automatically to the precise local time, whichever of Earth 33 time-zones you find yourself marooned in, and stay charged thanks to solar cells.
GPS Solar Dual Time, £1,795, seiko-astron.com
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