Independent watch brands to look out for now

As Japanese independent brands go, H.Moser & Cie, under the creative leadership of the Meylan brothers, have carved out a distinctive path of creativity. The Pioneer range is CEO Eduoard Meylan’s creative take on a refined everyday sports watch, this time with a colourful twist. Featuring the electric pairing of a vivid turquoise dial with an orange rubber strap, the Spiced Aqua says it all in two words, embracing the coming summer. This comes as part of a release of three new Pioneer references that include a skeletonised version with a tourbillon and could easily mark the point where your monochrome wrist-shyness ends.

Ming Thein has created a world of minimalism with refined details and a distinctive language that resonates with a diverse range of collectors. With ergonomics in the front seat and a flared lug-touting case design in various guises, the brand’s quietly spoken style language is instantly recognisable, as is the dial art. With a collection starting at less than £4,000, the new 20.01 exists in a more elevated sphere of Ming’s Haute Horlogerie and feels rather special. The Ming 20.01 Series 5 offers equal fascination with its Agenhor-created Chronograph movement as with its intricate dial. This offers the world’s first view of a laser-mosaic in sapphire and lume-filled fused borosilicate, featuring a complex radial pattern and interlocking surfaces in two planes.

Intending to revive traditional watchmaking in the USA, Josh Shapiro has a growing California workshop and a distinctive take on handcrafted wristwear. Shapiro has specialised in traditional guilloche dials and a refined take on classicism. The Infinity Pure is the brand’s first small-cased version of the Infinity series, available in two versions with a svelte 37mm case. It blends traditional artistry with modern design, featuring a signature Infinity Weave guilloché dial, sculpted hands, and a more attainable price than the main Infinity range, thanks to a Swiss heart rather than the main collection’s in-house and hand-finished movement. 

Bovet is known for its dial flamboyance and a quirky crown at 12 o’clock that sets a distinctive signature on their creations.  The 19Thirty 10th Anniversary Special Edition is a more minimal take on the 19Thirty collection, inspired by pocket watches of the 1800s but feeling remarkably modern. The Fleurier case features a large, bow-like shape that embraces the crown, and is a softly polished 42mm design with an elegant 9.05mm thickness. With a spare asymmetric design, the deep blue dial of this Bovet is charmingly different, and in a watch which has 95% of its components produced in-house by the Bovet Manufacture.

Independent watchmaking is about pushing the boundaries of creativity, and often with a resolutely modern twist.  SpaceOne is a small French brand with a furtive imagination and managing to spawn innovation from a small budget. The new WorldTimer is another example of this, with its semi-industrial chic, riffing off the big-cased futurism of brands like Urwerk. Utilising the design skills of Olivier Gamiette and the tech chops of Theo Auffret, SpaceOne manages to apply its space lab aesthetics to a limited design for less than £3,000, which is a significant achievement. The big conversation-starting deconstructed displays are legible despite their quirky nature, and the case is crafted from lightweight Grade 5 titanium.