A good watch is often considered to be one of the finest instances of craftsmanship on the planet. The best watches, the timeless classics, can cost a small fortune. They're more than timepieces; they're small marvels of human ingenuity that you can't rightly put value on.

One of the world's finest watch brands is Bulgari. For over 100 years, Bulgari has been a driving force of innovation in the watch-making world. Their brand has expanded to include clothes, other jewelry, fragrances, and more, but to most, they'll always be craftsmen of fine timepieces.

Although their brand is pushing over 100 years old, their legacy dates back thousands of years. The Bulgari family is a direct descendent of an ancient line of Greek silversmiths. If predisposition plays any factor at all in the way people live their lives, the Bulgari's were destined to be craftsmen.

In the late 1800s, the Bulgari's set up shop in Sistina, Roma, and expanded on their previous business of crafting silver. For the first decade in business in their new location, the Bulgari's made decent progress, becoming a well known name around the small town.

The 1900s would be the start of an upswing for the brand. With the help of his sons, Costantino and Giorgio, Bulgari opened a shop in via Condotti, which is still the brand's flagship store to date.

As time went on, the Bulgari brand was refined. With Costantino and Giorgio aging and becoming quite the craftsmen themselves, they eventually took over the business in the early 1900s. They would add to their father's style, encrusting watches with jewelry and precious stones, and in the 1950s, Bulgari broke out of the classic “French” mold buyers had put them in, and started to offer something brand new and exciting.

During the 1970s, Bulgari was doing well enough to expand internationally. Never one to miss an opportunity, the brothers took their enterprise to Paris, Monte Carlo, Geneva, and New York City.

Although their pieces weren't an instant success, they were among the first advertised on a broad scale in America. This helped to promote their sales in the US, and internationally, Europe was more than willing to give Bulgari the time of day. Their watches were among the world's bestsellers in the 70s and 80s.

Bulgari exemplifies the art of watch-making, bringing plenty of style with their Ergon, Diagono, Assioma, Bvlgari, and Zero collections, to name a few, not to mention the many other luxury items sold under the brand's name.

To date, there are over 230 retail locations around the globe, with each standing on its own as a quality purveyor of custom goods. At the low end, a Bulgari watch will cost you around $1,000. For their best work, like classic timepieces, Bulgari watches can easily reach into the hundreds of thousands.