Seven Independent Watch Brands Are Rewriting the Horological Rules

Collectors and enthusiasts alike know there’s more to the world of watches than the big, well-known brands. One of the most exciting things about the watch industry is the independent watch brands that are popping up here, there and everywhere.

Known within the space as micro-brands or independents, they have grown and mastered their craft without help from the larger horological fish. These independent brands have propelled their growth with a focus on artisanship and innovation.

With more and more independent watch brands entering the market, here are seven brands that are increasingly in the spotlight.

Massena Lab

The New York-based Massena Lab was established in 2018 as a collaborative studio for independent watchmakers. William Massena founded the brand with the core idea of creating, designing and developing unique and unusual watches while also partnering with some of the world’s biggest watch brands. Today, in addition to designing with other brands, the label manufactures small batches of its own limited-edition timepieces with prices ranging from $900 to $150,000. From affordable collaboration watches to high-end haute horlogerie, the brand has turned out some of the most compelling watches of the past few years.

Fleming

A new name in the independent watch scene, Fleming is the American-based brainchild of Thomas Fleming and James Kong. The newly launched brand has assembled an impressive cast of Swiss partners, including renowned independent watchmaker Jean-François Mojon and his team at Chronode, as well as the craftsmen of Comblémine, Kari Voutilainen’s dial manufacturer.

The brand unveiled its inaugural high-end piece this past March, the Series 1 Edition, a dress watch with remarkable attention to detail and lavish craftsmanship which houses cutting-edge Caliber FM-01 movement.

ArtyA

With its wildly unique, thought-provoking, and limited-edition timepieces, ArtyA aims to evoke emotion and tell stories through its timepieces. Crafted in central Geneva, ArtyA watches are designed by avant-garde creator Yvan Arpa, who — after making his own significant contribution to the luxury watch industry — launched his own brand in 2010 under the ArtyA name. Remaining entirely independent, ArtyA watches are one of only a few Swiss brands to have its own manufacturing with a selection of in-house tourbillons, minute repeater and perpetual calendar movements. 

Cyrus Geneve

The independent Swiss watch manufacturer Cyrus was founded by a family of Swiss entrepreneurs with a long tradition in the creation of global luxury brands.

Focusing on creative haute horology and daring design, the brand is about creating small batches of watches to maintain exclusivity and originality in mechanical watch engineering. Engineered by Mojon, each creation combines cutting-edge design with innovative mechanics. The most alluring collections range from the Klepcys Vertical Tourbillon Skeleton to the Klepcys Chronograph and alarm, each of which has a dynamic pioneering spirit.

Urwerk

Urwerk has been making traditionalists’ jaws drop since its inception in 1997. A collaboration between watchmaker Felix Baumgartner and designer Martin Frei, Urwerk is built on the principle of crafting Haute Horlogerie watches using traditional craftsmanship and futuristic looks. Most of the brand’s timepieces are space-age looking and offer complicated displays of time. With its atelier split between Geneva and Zurich, It has become one of the most sought-after independent brands by collectors and the brand has even starred on the wrist of Robert Downey Jr. in his role as Tony Stark in the franchise film series, “Ironman.”

With its volatile approach to watchmaking, the brand has both shaken traditionalists and won the respect of collectors, and is poised for many more creative surprises in the years to come.

Toledano & Chan

Micro-brands are thriving within the watch space, and this past May a new brand has come to fruition via the collaboration of New York-based visual artist and watch collector Phil Toledano and Hong Kong watch designer Alfred Chan.

Having bonded via Instagram over their passion for brutalist architecture, the relationship led to the inception of B/1, a Brutalist-inspired timepiece drawing its design cues from the window structure of the Breuer building, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1966, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The brand’s inaugural B/1 timepiece, which sold out in just minutes of launching, captivated watch enthusiasts with its unique dial shape and references to the King Midas Rolex of the ’70s, which is incorporated into an integrated stainless steel bracelet and houses a Swiss-made Sellita SW100 automatic movement.

Nomos Glashütte

Commonly referred to as Nomos, the brand was established by Roland Schwertner in 1990, just two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Inspired by the Bauhaus art movement, almost every single detail has been meticulously made in Germany. Their signature models such as the Club, Metro and Tangente, have won more than 140 international awards, including the prestigious German Design Award in 2017, as well as the last six consecutive iF Design Awards.

The brand made its Watches and Wonders debut in 2024 with a series of watches that perfectly encapsulates the brand’s ethos and style, with hints of 1980s-inflected postmodernism and Bauhaus references resulting in an assortment of the Tangente model in 38 colors.