The big-name brands in the luxury watch business—behemoths like Cartier, Rolex and Patek Philippe—need no introduction.
Over the past five years, however, a much different kind of watchmaker has emerged to capture watch lovers’ attention. Known as independent watchmakers, they are typically small, independently owned artisanal makers and brands producing a limited number of high-end mechanical watches per year, mostly for the cognoscenti. And collectors are utterly besotted with them.
Just ask Chris Daaboul. A dozen years ago, the founder of EsperLuxe, a retailer in the Boston area that specializes in independent watchmaking, stumbled on a cohort of daring young makers at the Baselworld watch fair in Switzerland, and was enthralled with their inventiveness and creativity. But it took a pandemic—and the subsequent spike in interest in high-end watches—to create the mania that characterizes the independents sector now.
Below, he explains why the category—led by names such as F.P. Journe, Kari Voutilainen, Philippe Dufour, De Bethune, MB&F, H. Moser & Cie. and Rexhep Rexhepi—has caught fire.
“When the market got really hot and people couldn’t get the mainstream stuff anymore — I’m talking the end of 2020, ’21, ’22, ’23 — they started looking at alternative options, and they started discovering the world of independent watchmaking,” Daaboul tells Gem + Jewel. “And when they did, some of them were like, ‘This is better than anything I’ve ever experienced before.’
“Number two, social media. Social media has revolutionized the way people shop, the way people explore and find new things regardless of the market or industry. And that was certainly the case for independent watchmaking.
“Number three is there are some leaders in the indie watchmaking space that have provided a sense of [financial] validation for the segment. Journe, Rexhep, Kari, De Bethune. And then MB&F and Urwerk to a certain extent. Not every model, but these provide a sense of comfort that if you buy it and want to sell it, you’re not going to take a bath. There is now an actual market. There are comps. And look, some models are going to perform a lot better than others. And some brands are going to perform a lot better than others. But overall, it’s lifted up the entire segment of the industry.”
For newcomers to the indie scene, we’ve provided a short guide to 10 independent brands and makers worth knowing.
De Bethune DB28 XS Purple Rain
Based in the Swiss village of L’Auberson, in the Jura mountains, the brand is built on the technical achievements of master watchmaker Denis Flageollet, who co-founded it in 2002 and now runs the company with CEO Pierre Jacques. Horological innovation, however, is only one part of De Bethune’s appeal. Unique colors (like the brand’s signature cobalt blue) and offbeat shapes combine to create a sci-fi aesthetic that gives the timepieces a dual identity: classic horology with a cosmic twist.
F.P. Journe FFC Calibre 1300.3
Widely regarded as the 21st century heir to the intellectual style of watchmaking associated with the British watchmaking legend George Daniels, François-Paul Journe is in a league of his own. Based in Geneva, the French watchmaker founded his eponymous brand in 1999. Twenty-five years later, his elegant, complicated, instantly recognizably wristwatches often fetch well above retail value on the secondary market.
The brainchild of English watchmaker Stephen Forsey and French watchmaker Robert Greubel, this indie label is best known for its mechanically complex timepieces and its sizable, distinctive cases—with eye-watering prices to match.
Grönefeld 1941 Remontoire
Bart and Tim Grönefeld, aka “The Horological Brothers,” founded their brand in 2008, in Oldenzaal, the Netherlands. With the 2016 release of their third model, the 1941 Remontoire, an award-winning wristwatch with a constant force mechanism, they leapt into watchmaking’s big leagues. Today, the waiting list for the brothers’ expertly finished timepieces is consistently oversubscribed.
H. Moser Streamliner Centre Seconds Matrix Green
Known as much for its sense of humor as for its minimalist approach to watchmaking, the Swiss-German brand has been run by the Meylan family of Schaffhausen since 2012. In that time, H. Moser has introduced watches that take controversial watch subjects (such as the definition of Swiss-made) and poke fun at them while still producing pieces beloved by collectors, who are besotted with the brand’s trademark fumé dials.
Kari Voutilainen TMZ CSW
A Finnish watchmaker now based in Motiers, Switzerland, Voutilainen has been quietly producing watches—for his own label, as well as for others—since 2002. Famed for his creative, classic-yet-unexpected dials, especially custom examples made on commission, he is a collector darling. But you’ll have to take a number. The wait for one of his pieces can stretch for years.
MB&F HM8 Mark 2
When Max Büsser founded his avant-garde brand in 2005 (the name stands for Maximilian Büsser & Friends), the concept of collaboration was still foreign to the historically secretive Swiss watch trade. Two decades later, Büsser’s wildly eclectic collection of Horological Machines is considered foundational to the very concept of independent watchmaking — so much so that Chanel recently acquired a 25% stake in the brand.
In 1992, Dufour presented a grand sonnerie watch at the Baselworld fair in Switzerland; the chiming model was the first time such a complicated mechanism, which chimes the hours and quarters upon activation, was made to wear on the wrist. Asian collectors went mad for it, but the mania was nothing compared with what happened to Dufour after he introduced his time-only Simplicity model in 2000. Today, collectors routinely wait years for a Dufour masterpiece.
AkriviA Chronographe à Sonnerie
A watchmaking wunderkind, the Kosovo-born watchmaker, whose name is pronounced Ray-jep Ray-jepee, cut his teeth as an apprentice at Patek Philippe and F.P. Journe before opening his own workshop in Geneva in 2012. He built a brand, AkriviA, producing no more than 30 watches a year the old-fashioned way, with one watchmaker hand-making each piece from start to finish.
Urkwerk EMC
Founded by master watchmaker Felix Baumgartner and designer and artist Martin Frei in 1997, the brand has never strayed from the philosophical approach to timekeeping baked into its name (“Ur — it’s like going to the origin, to the beginning of time,” Frei, who was inspired by the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, where timekeeping began, told the New York Times.) The edgy, futuristic timepieces that are Urwerk’s calling card—like the UR-103, which debuted in 2003 and featured the brand’s now signature satellite-based time display (inspired by antique clocks, no less)—continue to set the brand apart in an increasingly crowded field.
