25 of the Best Boutique Watch Companies You Should Know

New up and comers and Kickstarters
Post Reply
User avatar
JAS1125
Administrator
Posts: 1494
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:00 pm

25 of the Best Boutique Watch Companies You Should Know

Post by JAS1125 » Sat Apr 06, 2019 5:35 am

James Stacey, in an excellent essay published on Hodinkee in August of 2018, laid out a conundrum in the watchmaking world: watch fans want to buy “microbrand” watches, yet brands hate the moniker.

“[Microbrand] operates as a blanket term for small watch brands that operate online, which lumps quality producers in with scam artists and get-rich-quick schemes,” Stacey wrote, while at the same time, insisting that it was a useful term (legitimate enough to be found on Wikipedia) that could be applied to quality brands.

So what is a “microbrand”? We can likely agree on several parameters: It’s a brand that is independently owned, often run by a single person or a team of a few people; that produces watches in small batches, at a rate of several hundred to several thousand a year; that often outsources at least one significant part of its watches to be made elsewhere, whether in Asia or Switzerland; and that “cuts out the middleman” by selling its watches online, straight to consumers (though some will also sell in retail locations)


https://gearpatrol.com/2019/02/22/favor ... ch-brands/
Image
User avatar
temerityb
Banned!
Posts: 719
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:00 pm

Re: 25 of the Best Boutique Watch Companies You Should Know

Post by temerityb » Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:17 am

At least Stacey calls out a lot of micros for what they really are in his lead. Refreshing!

I like Dan Henry and Mercer. I've actually gotten a chance to see and handle most of the watches in the article because of the Wind & Wound Watch Fairs that come to NYC every fall, and it features mostly microbrands. Don't be fooled by some of these others; the quality just isn't there.
“Jewelry isn’t really my thing, but I’ve always got my eye on people’s watches.” – Clive Owen
Post Reply