How much watches do the world's tech billionaires wear?

Paul Altieri, CEO and founder of online watch reseller Bob's Clock, told Business Insider that there are two types of billionaires in Silicon Valley. "Some, like Bill Gates, wear $50 watches, and some wear Omegas, Richard Milles, or Rolexes," he said.

The other group is people like Apple CEO Tim Cook and 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, who like the convenience of smartwatches.

According to stylist Victoria Hitchcock, watches have gradually become a tool for personal branding among Silicon Valley's elite. Moreover, not everyone likes to use expensive watches.

A prominent example is Bill Gates. Of all the tech billionaires who wear watches, the Microsoft co-founder is perhaps the most modest, regularly wearing a $50-$60 Casio watch.

Bill Gates used to wear a Casio Duro watch that cost only $50. (Photo: Getty)

The quartz watch is water-resistant and can dive to 200 meters, making it the cheapest diving watch in the world . It is also the watch he wears the most. But he also wore a Tag Heuer Professional 2000 at a conference in the Philippines. Watch Ranker said that Bill Gates wanted the conference audience to guess the price of the watch, and when a participant gave the closest guess of $600 (the actual value is $1,400), the Microsoft founder gave it to him.

Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been spotted wearing a Ulysse Nardin Dual Time for years. The watch has a stainless steel case and bracelet. The Swiss mechanical watch has a 42-hour power reserve and is water-resistant to 100 meters. Business Insider estimates that the discontinued model is worth $12,900.

Amazon boss is a bit more "playful" than Bill Gates when it comes to watches. (Photo: Instagram)

Another tech mogul, Larry Ellison, has been spotted wearing a variety of watches, from Rolex to Panerai. But it seems that the Richard Mille RM005 is his favorite and most valuable watch.

Launched in 2004, this was the brand’s first automatic watch with a semi-instantaneous date function. It features a 37.8mm 18k white gold case with the brand’s signature skeletonized dial and a black leather strap.

The model also features a special rotor structure, allowing the winding mechanism to be optimized and personalized to suit the owner's lifestyle. According to Sotheby's, its price ranges from $100,000 to $200,000.

Larry Ellison is the founder of Oracle, the software and data technology empire. (Photo: X)

Richard Mille is also the watch brand of choice for Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, according to Superwatchman, alongside the Carrera Calibre 1887 SpaceX Chronograph, a SpaceX collaboration with Tag Heuer in 2012.

His Richard Mille 029 is housed in a grey titanium case and bezel, with a black dial, silver hands and a black rubber strap. It uses a skeletonised automatic movement with hours, minutes, seconds, and a large date display at 4 o'clock.

Tesla boss owns a watch worth up to 250,000 USD.

Chrono24 estimates that the value of this model could reach close to $500,000 for the diamond-set versions, with the aforementioned “everyday” model still valued at $250,000.

Finally, the most unsurprising choice on this list is probably Apple CEO Tim Cook. In his position, his watch of choice is clearly the Apple Watch. Last year, he shared that he was proud of the progress Apple had made with the product line, especially highlighting its health-care features.