Here are the best watches we've found this month

If you were born after 1980, your first watch probably had an alarm function, but back in the Fifties an alarm watch was a rarified piece of kit. The first one with enduring appeal was the Memovox from Jaeger-LeCoultre, a very high end brand that is tough to pronounce without making French speakers laugh. The Memovox was unveiled in 1950, with two crowns to separate the winding and setting mechanisms for the alarm and the time. This modern version has an automatic movement in a 40mm stainless steel case, water resistant to 50m. The pleasing alarm sounds like a distant school bell.

£13,700; jaeger-lecoultre.com

Rolex provided modified watches to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay for their attempts at Everest. There is no proof they were worn to the summit in 1953, but those watches were the forerunners to the go-anywhere Explorer. Automatic movement in 40mm steel case, water resistant to 100m.

£6,450; rolex.com

British brand Bremont is only 20 years old, but the inspiration for this watch comes from the Le Mans crushing C-Type of the early Fifties. With dashboard instrument-style chronograph subdials and purring cat on the caseback. Automatic movement in 43mm steel case, water resistant to 200m.

£5,695; bremont.com

Nivada Grenchen was an early adopter of the self winding movement and in 1950 made the Antarctic, an automatic watch used on US Navy expeditions to the south pole.This modern diving version houses its automatic movement in a 38mm steel case that is water resistant to a hefty 200m.

£700; nivadagrenchenofficial.com