Editors' Picks: Our Favorite Independent Watchmakers

Every watch collector or enthusiast has that moment when they begin to get "indie-curious." It’s almost a trope at this point but after a few years focused on mainstream brands and big players, one’s eye starts to wander as curiosity grows over what else is out there. Sure, names like F.P. Journe and Richard Mille get all the glory but what is independent watchmaking really about? Freedom of design, smaller batches, and a focus on the more obscure aspects of watchmaking are just a couple of the reasons we get drawn into the world of independent watchmakers. In many ways, this is the next step if you're into microbrands (which you can learn everything about here). Here we asked our editorial team to pick their favorite indie and the choices run the gamut from accessible to “billionaires are on the waitlist.” So, without further ado here are our favorite independent watch brands.

Take a walk through old town Geneva and you may not feel like you're experiencing the full breadth and experience of Swiss watchmaking that you were told about for years (this typically takes place in the Swiss valley and other areas outside of the city proper), but if you take just the right turns you may find yourself peering through the windows of the workshop of the most exciting young names in true watchmaking. Rexhep Rexhepi has worked in houses of names like Patek and F.P. Journe before going independent to create his brand Akrivia, a brand with a certain futuristic avant-garde-ism that put him on the highly competitive map of independent watchmakers.

Nearly in tandem, however, he created his namesake brand which reset – at least in this writer's mind – what true independent haute horology is and can be. In the years that I have been following Rexhep, what has struck me most is the way he approaches craft and creation. The late Jen-Pierre Hagmann was his casemaker, and every component of the process was essentially handled in-house. To witness Rexhep create watches like the  Chronomètre Contemporaine and the new Chronograph flyback feels like taking a step back into the days when watchmaking occurred in old Swiss cottages in the shadows of the Alps. We throw the word timeless around quite often in this industry, but what I find the most striking about Rexhep's approach to independent watchmaking is his sense of timelessness, but more than that, his flawless execution of it.

The category of independent watchmaking, especially if you take brands more on the indie or micro side of the equation into account, has only gotten more competitive in recent years. Choosing just a singular one among the many fierce contenders out there is quite a big ask. While I have a pretty long list of brands I keep my eye on, I’m going to go with a more recent personal fascination with Kurono Tokyo. 

What draws me to this brand in particular among others is, largely, the ethos behind it. The brainchild of master watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, Kurono Tokyo is guided by the pursuit of making the artisanal more accessible. Branching beyond the handcrafted bespoke watches Asaoka is famous (and with prices typically starting in the five-figure range), the brand delivers the artisan’s signature design language at a very different, and much more attainable, price point. 

In its relatively short life, Kurono Tokyo has released its pieces on an extremely limited edition basis, with collections selling out almost instantly after being announced. While the brand’s style in its early years has been defined by a mix of traditional Japanese design elements with Art Deco flair, it recently announced its first diver, which is just as thoughtful, and possibly more experimental, than anything it's ever attempted thus far. Water resistant up to 300 meters, the ‘Diver’s” is essentially a two–for-one watchmaking deal. Not only do you have a 35mm, quite formal cushion-shaped “inner” watch (another first for the brand) ready for a night out on the town, but there is a cleverly designed outer case which can be screwed off and on. The outer case throws the bezel necessary for serious dives into the mix, and, with the included “Duoseal” tool handy, the case can be twisted to secure the watch to depths up to 300 meters. Recent novelty aside, my current favorite from the brand remains the salmon-hued Grand Jubilee Calendar, which our own Bilal Khan happens to have in his personal collection.

I might ruffle a few feathers with my pick, but honestly, ruffling feathers is kind of this watchmaker’s thing, their stock in trade. Of course, I’m talking about H. Moser & Cie, a fiercely independent Swiss luxury brand that never tries to tamp down even its most imaginative urges. Moser has an unshakable will to be weird, an often unserious attitude backed up by serious watchmaking chops. Moser clearly loves a good joke, as evidenced by their annual holiday sweater release, but they’ll go as far as building an actual watch as a biting form of commentary. I find the whole thing to be very punk rock, in the best possible way. For example, they’ve removed “Swiss Made” from their watches in protest of that sometimes controversial standard, then introduced the “Swiss Mad Watch” to get their point across. In their words, it was the “most Swiss watch ever created”, with an in-house Swiss movement, a red fume dial evoking the Swiss flag, and a watch case made from actual Swiss cheese blended with resin. This is but one example of their next-level trolling (see the Swiss Icons Watch and the Swiss Alp Watch Final Upgrade for more hijinks), but a sense of humor alone does not a respected watch brand make.

What does it for me is their audacious design sensibility: just because something hasn’t been done before is no reason not to do it. We see endless examples of traditional watchmaking, overstuffed with revered stylistic cues that date back centuries. I have all the respect in the world for the level of virtually bespoke craft required to accomplish this sort of micro-artistry, but like Steve Jobs used to say, sometimes it’s good to “think different”. Personally, the odds of me wearing an oversized dress watch that starts at six figures are about…one in never-teen-thousand. I have no attraction to a timepiece that resembles a wristborne marine chronometer, lovingly crafted with a hairspring made from badger eyelashes, and water resistance of “don’t go outside in a light fog”. A great design for me also needs to be something I’ll actually wear. I mean, otherwise, what are we even doing here?

Moser just continues to deliver for me, and nowhere is this more evident than with their integrated Steamliner series. The watch must be a design icon at this point, having debuted in 2020 with the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph, still my favorite piece the brand has ever made. The case and bracelet are so seamlessly integrated that wearing it gives the sensation that it’s actually become part of your own anatomy. I’m a sucker for a great bracelet (hello, TAG Heuer S/el), and this one is right up there with the best of all time. In fact, the bracelet reminds me of nothing more than the belly of some metallic serpent, such is its biomechanical beauty. 

This doesn’t even scratch the surface when it comes to Moser, as the brand continues to “think different” when it comes to unconventional renditions of conventional complications, such as this flyback chrono that mounts every hand on a single central axis. Then there’s the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar, a similarly deconstructed masterclass in out-of-the-box thinking. Lest you think Moser are merely design-forward, just turn the case over and have a look at their movements: no excuses made, and none needed. They’re gorgeous, and did I mention the Streamliner also happens to be water resistant to 120 meters? All this adds up to a luxury indie that I could conceivably wear as a daily. And as much as I appreciate all the Breguet hands, Roman numeral dials, and heat-blued screws, for me, there’s just no contest. 

When it comes to independent watchmakers based in the United States, there is Roland G. Murphy, and then there is, really, everyone else. At least, that’s the calculus if we’re talking about watches with a legitimate “Made in America” pedigree, from movement to case to dial. Murphy’s RGM Watch Company, named for the initials of its founder, is the first American watch company to serially produce a mechanical watch movement since 1969 — the same year that Lancaster, PA-based Hamilton pulled up stakes for its current HQ in Switzerland. 

Murphy, formerly Hamilton’s Technical Manager, founded his eponymous company in Lancaster County, a historical hotbed of watchmaking, in 1992, and it is still based there today. After several years of producing watches with outsourced movements, RGM made the watch industry, and the worldwide watch-enthusiast community, take notice when it created, essentially from scratch, the groundbreaking Caliber 801 in 2007 —  a horological milestone that no other watchmaker in the United States had achieved in nearly 40 years. Just three years later, Murphy followed it up with an even loftier achievement, the Pennsylvania Tourbillon and its manually wound Caliber MM2, still the only serially produced tourbillon movement in North America. The brand’s first tonneau-shaped movement, the moon-phase equipped Caliber 20, followed in 2016. Adding to all of these efforts on the technical side, RGM has also made great strides in decorative techniques, producing its guilloché dials on antique rose engines, and, more recently, dabbling in cloisonné enameling and marquetry.  

Murphy and his small staff of watchmakers make fewer than 300 watches per year at RGM’s headquarters in Mount Joy, PA, including a handful of bespoke pieces — which, this year, includes the RGM Teddy Baldassarre Edition, now sold out, which features a multi-part, engine-turned guilloché dial with a blue galvanic treatment, a hybrid sword-and-leaf handset, a heavily decorated automatic movement from Switzerland’s Schwarz-Etienne, and a luxurious alligator strap from France’s Jean Rousseau. 

My love for German horology runs deep. German watch designs just have this clinical, no-nonsense honesty to them. The Bauhaus aesthetic, where every single line, curve, and numeral has a specific job to do, is exactly why NOMOS Glashutte had to be my personal pick for this independent lineup.

Just a couple of months after the Berlin Wall fell, Roland Schwertner set up shop in Glashütte, bringing a totally fresh and modern vision to the historic watchmaking town. Fast forward to today, and this brand is pulling off things that most brands can only dream of at this price point. 95% of its movements are made in-house, including its own proprietary escapement, the "Swing System." In the watch world, that is serious flex territory. But here’s the best part: despite all that impressive independent engineering, NOMOS has never taken itself too seriously. Just look at what it dropped recently. The Tangente 38 Date collection launched with an insane 31 limited-edition color palette to choose from – that’s one for every day of the month. The brand injected this classic with a dose of pure fun, proving it isn’t afraid to play outside the box.

Then you have the Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer. The neon-turquoise "Trace" edition is an absolute killer on the wrist, and even more impressively, NOMOS packed a fully in-house worldtimer complication into its sub-10mm-thick case. It’s incredibly sporty, highly capable, and genuinely comfortable to wear, much like every model in the Club collection.

What really sets NOMOS apart for me, though, is the balance it strikes between restraint and personality. There’s a discipline to everything it does. Nothing feels unnecessary or overdesigned, yet the watches never come across as cold or sterile. Even the manufacturer’s most experimental releases still feel rooted in Glashütte tradition. NOMOS is one of the rare brands where I feel I could wear almost any piece from the catalog every day and never get bored, because the design language is so consistent, unisex, and expressive.

Otsuka Lotec No. 6

My favorite independent watchmaker is one that I only discovered recently (read: the past few years): Otsuka Lotec. The winner of the GPHG “Challenge” award for best watch under $3,000 with “No. 6”- Otsuka Lotec makes really interesting watches for approachable prices (given their exotic nature). 

Otsuka Lotec No. 8

Much like Erin’s pick of Kurono Tokyo, I have a similar rationale for my own pick on this list. Of course, there is a lot to appreciate with a classic high-horology independent brand; but an independent that delivers a product inside the 5-figure mark is especially attractive. Otsuka Lotec’s head honcho, Jiro Katayama, really leans into his background in industrial design to influence the design brief of the brand’s catalog. Watches like the No. 5, No. 6 (my personal favorite), and the No. 8 - among others- all deliver something wholly unique at a price point that belies their real-life presence.

Otsuka Lotec No. 5
Katayama accomplishes this by often using a Miyota base and building inventive modules atop the proven mechanics, and further presenting the resulting timepiece in imaginative cases. Every piece feels unique in itself, but they all feel cohesive to the decidedly Japanese Brutalist whole. Sometimes we want a watch that can put up with daily life, and maybe a little more, without missing a beat. Sometimes we want a watch that speaks a certain language or fits a special occasion, standing out of the crowd, or standing out to make a specific statement. Otsuka Lotec accomplishes both without breaking a sweat and feels like a breath of fresh air when often it feels like we end up swimming in the same old waters.