The best underrated independent watchmakers aren’t so underrated anymore. With an increased global interest in watches resulting in longer wait times and often ridiculous secondary market prices for the likes of Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe, horological aficionados and newcomers alike are looking beyond the brands owned by Swatch Group, Richemont, and LVMH. That, and the fact that an intensified interest in watches means that certain timepieces—think Submariners, Royal Oaks, and Nautili—have become somewhat quotidian (despite the manufactured ‘shortages’ of each).
One of the key advantages independent watchmakers have over their parent company-owned counterparts is the ability to innovate and invent without boundaries. As a result, they’re responsible for some of the most striking horological works of the past few decades.
Spanning those with long tenures at some of the most lauded manufactures as well as self-taught prodigies, the best independent watchmakers are stepping out of the shadows of well-marketed conglomerates and becoming household names in their own rights (well, in a certain type of household at least).
From the venerable forces responsible for record-shattering auction prices and genre defining complications to up-and-coming independent watchmakers set to redefine the industry, these are the names you need to know.
Greatest of all time
1. Philippe Dufour
A living legend if ever there was one, Philippe Dufour is responsible for the creation of the grand sonnerie in 1992, found in his seminal Grande et Petite Sonnerie (which has since become the most expensive timepiece ever sold by an independent watchmaker, going under the hammer for $7,630,000USD). The same decade, he created the duality. Presented in 1996, it features twin oscillators linked by a differential that averages out the rate of the two, reducing variations in timekeeping. Hand-crafting a select number of watches a year out of his workshop in Le Sentier, Switzerland, Dufour is perhaps best known for the Simplicity, a restrained timepiece that features a hand-finished movement widely regarded as the most beautiful in contemporary watchmaking.
2. Laurent Ferrier
Following an almost four decade tenure at Patek Philippe, third-generation watchmaker Laurent Ferrier founded his eponymous brand in 2009, aged 63. The following year his debut timepiece, the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral, took home the award for best men’s watch at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (essentially the Oscars of watchmaking). Today, the watchmaker’s most recognisable timepieces are the sporty yet refined cushion-case designs within the Square and Sport collections.
3. Vianney Halter
Every industry needs a rebel, and before there was M&F, H. Moser & Cie., and Bamford, there was Vianney Halter. Since 1998—following a decade spent repairing and restoring antique horological pieces—Halter has been pioneering his own signature style. A love of mechanics and engineering on a deeper level is evident in his pieces, with each timepiece inhabiting its own idiosyncratic ‘universe’. The Vianney Halter Antiqua is akin to a futuristic creation from the Victorian era — a watch from the future that never was. Inspired by the novels of Jules Verne and paying homage to marine chronometers of the past, it sees a perpetual calendar spread over four ‘portholes’. The Trio follows the same tone, this time with a gold ingot featuring four portholes that display a simple calendar with a big date.
4. F.P. Journe
If you know just one name in independent watchmaking, it’s likely this one. François-Paul Journe, better known as F.P. Journe, is one of the defining watchmakers of our time. He launched his eponymous brand in 1999 and since then has become known for his ability to revisit late-18th century (i.e. the golden age of watchmaking) horology while creating timepieces that push the boundaries of today. Inspired by the late great George Daniels, Journe is responsible for reviving several anachronistic mechanisms, such as the resonance system in the Chronomètre à Résonance and the remontoir d’égalité in the Tourbillon Souverain.
Related: What Is A Tourbillon & The Best Tourbillon Watches To Know About
5. Svend Andersen (Andersen Genève)
Danish-born Svend Andersen first struck out as an independent watchmaker in the late 1970s, after almost a decade in the complications division at Patek Philippe. Under Andersen Genève, he is best known for his stunning worldtime watches, using the system established by Louis Cottier in the early 1930s. Andersen is responsible for the development of the Secular Perpetual Calendar, which will show the date without adjustment up to 2400; unlike typical perpetual calendar complications, it accounts for the three future secular years not divisible by 400 (namely, 2100, 2200, and 2300). Alongside Vincent Calabrese, Andersen co-founded the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) in 1985.
Related: Citizen Of The World? These Are The 13 Best World Timers
6. Vincent Calabrese
Co-founder of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, Vincent Calabrese is a watchmaker who doesn’t like to call himself a watchmaker. Creating mechanically complex yet deceptively simple timepieces, Calabrese is responsible for the invention of the Corum Golden Bridge. His Spatial collection further plays with the stacked movement concept, resulting in sculptural mystery watches.
7. Ludovic Ballouard
Following stints at Franck Muller and F.P. Journe, where at the latter he was responsible for assembling the groundbreaking and wildly complicated Sonnerie Souveraine, French watchmaker Ludovic Ballouard struck out on his own in 2009. Approaching horology with a certain wit and irony, Ballouard’s creations play with the concept of time. Conceived during the global financial crisis, the Ludovic Ballouard Upside Down features a unique patented complication that tells the time in an unusual way. Each of the hour numerals is presented upside down, while the present hour which is displayed right side up along with a dot (there’s also a typical minutes hand and small seconds subdial).
8. Michel Parmigiani (Parmigiani Fleurier)
Drawing upon his career restoring antique horological instruments—including pieces from the Patek Philippe museum—Michel Parmigiani began manufacturing his own watches in 1996. While his complex pieces in partnership with Bugatti as well as the creation of the (then) world’s thinnest flying tourbillon in 2015 have earned the brand acclaim, Parmigiani Fleurier is best known for its understated timepieces such as the Tonda PF and the now-discontinued Toric (the latter having been sported by both King Charles and Keanu Reeves) which place emphasis on the details; namely intricate hand-guilloché dials and decorated movements.
9. Roger W. Smith
A former apprentice to the legendary George Daniels, British watchmaker Roger W. Smith continues the tradition of English watchmaking, working out of Daniels’ studio on the Isle of Man. Working to a style similar to Daniels and Breguet, Smith’s timepieces primarily skew traditional, placing an emphasis on exquisite finishings and details like engine-turned dials. Like the seminal Brits before him, Smith also experiments with advancing the limits of the co-axial escapement through his reductionist approach to the design of the escape wheel.
9. Kari Voutilainen
Finnish-born, Switzerland-based watchmaker Kari Voutilainen made his first watch in 1994; a one minute tourbillon with power reserve indication. He launched his eponymous brand in 2002 and introduced the world’s first decimal minute repeater in 2005, which chimes the minutes in units of ten rather than 15 like the minute repeaters before it. While his mechanical prowess is undeniable, Voutilainen is best known for his métiers d’art, including handmade guilloché dials and faultless lacquer. The Kari Voutilainen Ji-Ku, created in partnership with Japanese lacquer artist Tatsuo Kitamura, took home the award for the Artistic Crafts Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2022.
10. Daniel Roth (Daniel Roth & Jean Daniel Nicolas)
Legendary third-generation watchmaker Daniel Roth is of the belief that good things take time. That’s why he only makes two watches a year. Born and raised in the south of France, Roth moved to the Vallé de Joux where he worked for the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, and Breguet; helping rejuvenate the creative direction at the latter.. He founded his eponymous brand in 1989, with the brand subsequently acquired by The Hour Glass in 1994 and Bulgari in 2000 (the brand has now been revived under LVMH). Roth is best known for his intricate tourbillons and his unique ‘ellipsocurvex’ case shape. Under his second brand, Jean Daniel Nicholas (a combination of his son’s name, his name, and his wife’s name), Roth produces the Tourbillon 2 Minutes (identifiable by its ‘batwing’ bridge) in both a classic round and ellipsocurvex case.
11. Andreas Strehler
One of the best independent watchmakers, Andreas Strehler’s career stems from a childhood passion for mechanics. Best known for his unique, intricately crafted movements, Strehler became a Guinness world record holder in 2014 with his Sauterelle à Lune Perpétuelle 2M; the most precise moonphase indication that requires a correction every 2.045 million years. Andreas Strehler timepieces are easily distinguished by their horizontal cushion case shape, with a highlight being the Papillon d’or which features a solid gold bridge in the shape of a butterfly that holds the gear train with its two sapphire crystal gear wheels and supports the dial ring. Equally striking is the Trans-Axial Remontoir Tourbillon which utilises a cage-mounter remontoire to filter power from twin mainspring barrels.
12. Denis Flageollet (De Bethune)
Alongside Italian art and watch collector David Zanetta and industry veteran Pierre Jacques, French master watchmaker Denis Flageollet co-founded De Bethune in 2002. Prior to his independent outing, Flageollet was part of the Techniques Horlogères Appliquées (THA), a team of high-end complication makers co-founded by François‐Paul Journe that designed movements for the likes of Cartier, Franck Muller, and Bucherer. The brand is named after 18th-century French nobleman and revolutionary escapement designer Chevalier De Bethune, fitting given the manufacture initially sought to showcase the great history and tradition of watchmaking, expressed in the elegant debut DB1 Chronograph. Today, De Bethune is known for its avant-garde and futuristic designs as well as its ability to experiment with materials, however this is underpinned by horological tradition. The first De Bethune in-house calibre was introduced in 2004—aptly named DB2004—and introduced the iconic delta/spaceship-shaped balance architecture the brand is now known for.
13. Christiaan Van der Klaauw
Christiaan Van der Klaauw does one thing and does it well: astronomical clocks. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Van der Klaauw studied clockmaking and worked for a producer of Friesian grandfather clocks before becoming an independent horologist in 1974. For the first two decades he solely produced astronomical clocks, before presenting his first wristwatch in 1994, the Satellite du Monde which featured a moonphase and day/night indicator, as well as a complication that shows the place on earth where it is exactly noon at the time you are looking at your watch. The Christiaan Van der Klaauw Real Moon Joure series houses the most accurate moonphase ever made in a mechanical watch, with the 3D miniature moon only requiring a correction once every 11,000 years.
Defining our time
14. Maximilian Büsser (MB&F)
Maximilian Büsser doesn’t create watches, he creates horological machines. An engineer by education, Büsser helped revive Jaeger-LeCoultre in the wake of the quartz crisis and went on to become CEO at Harry Winston Rare Timepieces. Büsser founded MB&F in 2005—the ‘&F’ stands for ‘and friends’, a nod to the collaborative nature of each of the brand’s releases—and since then the brand has produced a series of contemporary horological machines that evoke childhood nostalgia while pushing the boundaries of what a wristwatch can be (think everything from frogs and bulldogs to engines). The M.A.D.1 release distils the MB&F aesthetic into a more wearable (and approachable) timepiece.
15. Stephan Kudoke (Kudoke)
An alumnus of Glashütte Original, Breguet, Blancpain, and Omega, German watchmaker Stephan Kudoke founded his eponymous brand in 2005. His experimentations with skeletonisation and movement decoration have formed the basis of his work at Kudoke, with the brand best known for its artistic timepieces. Kudoke also has its own in-house movement, the Kaliber 1, which features a dramatically large engraved balance cock that contrasts the sobriety of the dial of the timepieces it inhabits.
16. Romain Gauthier
Precision mechanic Romain Gauthier applies his engineering expertise to the world of watchmaking, producing haute horlogerie pieces that have been lauded for their innovative designs and impeccable hand-finishing. Specialising in intricate time-only watches, Romain Gauthier’s in-house movements are among the most elaborately constructed of their kind, with a unique aesthetic defined by sharp angles and an architectural approach. Gauthier’s mechanical expertise sees him supply movements to other watch brands like Chanel.
17. Bart & Tim Grönefeld (Grönefeld)
Third-generation watchmakers, brothers Bart and Tim Grönefeld, continue to uphold the watchmaking history set forth by Johan Grönefeld in 1912. The Dutch manufacture utilises time-honoured techniques to produce its movements which are dedicated to chronometry and precision watchmaking. One of the most innovative Grönefeld timepieces is the One Hertz, which features an independent deadbeat seconds movement with two barrels and two gear trains; one for the hours and minutes and one for the seconds.
18. Robert Greubel & Stephen Forsey (Greubel Forsey)
Since its inception in 2004, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey’s brand Greubel Forsey has pioneered an idiosyncratic three-dimensional style of movement engineering, which often sees the tourbillon take centre stage. Experimenting with chronometry, Greubel Forsey proposed the concept that inclined tourbillons—mounted at an angle less than 90°—would allow for an optimised average timing rate in all positions of the timepiece without compromising on movement size. These days Greubel Forsey continues to innovate in the realm of precision watchmaking, with its balancier component serving as a tourbillon alternative, as seen in the three-dimensional design of the Double Balancier.
19. Konstantin Chaykin
It’s hard to miss a Konstantin Chaykin timepiece, especially when it’s smiling somewhat sinisterly at you. The Russian watchmaker founded his eponymous brand in 2003 and produces both clocks and wristwatches. Chaykin is responsible for having created most complex mechanical clock ever made in the history of Russian clockmaking with the Moscow Computus which calculates the Orthodox Easter dates; the Cinema wristwatch which houses a built-in mini projector; and the Lunokhod wristwatch which sees a spherical moonphase indicator take pride of place on the dial. Despite his myriad inventions, Konstantin Chaykin is best known for his playful Joker watches, which see the eyes of the face indicate the hours and minutes while the mouth houses a moonphase indication.
20. Rémi Maillat (Krayon)
Following a decade in the fine watchmaking team at Cartier, Rémi Maillat founded his brand Krayon in 2013. Since its inception, Krayon has become known for its unique compilations, with movement constructor Maillat creating the universal sunrise and sunset function; a programmable astronomical calendar. Comprising 595 components, the automatic movement is wound by a micro-rotor and shows the sunrise and sunset times in the wearer’s location, with its mechanical complexity requiring it to be calibrated by the manufacture.
21. Armin Strom
Retired watchmaker Armin Strom is known for both skeletonisation and his production of resonance watches, having founded his eponymous brand in 1984. Resonance watches were experimented with during the 18th and 19th centuries in a bid to offer greater chronometric precision and consistency, however Strom has perfected the mechanism through his movements which possess two balance wheels that continuously regulate one another to ensure oscillation-rate stability. The Armin Strom Dual Time Resonance sees two time zones displayed size by side over an openworked dial with a resonance movement. Today, the Armin Strom brand is run by Serge Michel and Claude Greisler, who used to frequent Strom’s workshop when they were kids, with the manufacture continuing to produce its own movements and components in-house.
22. Sylvain Pinaud
Independent horologist Sylvain Pinaud struck out on his own in 2018, after having worked as a prototype technician for several renowned brands. His Monopoussoir Chronograph features an openworked dial that showcases a manually wound movement with a chronograph mechanism utilising a horizontal clutch and column wheel, entirely designed and finished by hand. His second timepiece, Origine, is a time-only ode to the science of horology and sees a unique dial layout with an offset hours and minutes dial next to a small seconds subdial sit atop a free sprung balance wheel at 6 o’clock.
23. Rexhep Rexhepi (Akrivia)
One of the best young independent watchmakers of our generation, Kosovan watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi founded his brand Akrivia in 2012 at the age of 26. Despite his relative youth, he previously apprenticed at Patek Philippe (at the age of 15) before stints at BNB Concept at F.P. Journe. Through Akrivia (which is Greek for ‘precision’), Rexhepi began producing tourbillon movements housed in contemporary cases. However, his mainstream breakthrough came with the ‘Rexhep Rexhepi’ signed Chronomètre Contemporain, a classic time-only style which was acclaimed for its impeccably finished grand feu enamel dial.
24. H. Moser & Cie.
If the ability to invent without boundaries is one of the core benefits of being independent, well, H. Moser & Cie. is certainly benefiting from its independence. The heritage brand was relaunched in 2002 by ex-IWC engineer Dr. Jürgen Lange and Roger Nicholas Balsiger, the great-grandson of H. Moser & Cie’s eponymous founder Heinrich Moser. Unafraid to challenge—or at least laugh at—convention, the past two decades have seen the enfant terrible of the watch industry showcase irreverent timepieces like the Swiss Icons which features the bezel of a Rolex GMT-Master II, the case of an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the crown guard of a Panerai, a Cartier cabochon on the crown, a tourbillon under a Girard-Perregaux style bridge, the dial finishing of a Patek Philippe Nautilus, and branding in the style of IWC (seriously, google it). There’s also the Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black which features a tourbillon…and nothing else. However, it’s H. Moser & Cie.’s beautiful craftsmanship and honouring of tradition in its core collection that sustain the brand, with the minimalist (but not basic) Endeavour line proving sometimes, less is more.
25. Thomas Prescher
Prior to studying watchmaking, Thomas Prescher was an officer in the German Navy. Following stints at IWC, Audemars Piguet, and Gübelin—specialising in the restoration of antique and vintage timepieces while creating custom watches at the latter—Prescher went independent and is now best known for his ultra-complicated timepieces. Think double retrograde complications and triple-axis tourbillons.
26. Peter Speake-Marin (Speake-Marin)
Following a tenure at Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi SA, Peter Speake-Marin founded his namesake brand in 2002. Launching with time-only watches, Speak-Marin now counts jumping hours, perpetual calendars, tourbillons, and minute repeaters among its range. Highlights include the brand’s Haute Horlogerie and Cabinet des Mystères collections. Recently, the brand made its steel sports watch debut with the Ripples collection, which draws inspiration from architectural elements around London.
Related: The Best British Watch Brands Are Doing Things Differently
27. Aaron Becsei (Bexei)
Third generation Hungarian watchmaker Aaron Becsei has brought watchmaking to a country that had been without it for over a century. Applying his studies in engineering and watchmaking to his craft, Becsei is one of the few watchmakers who designs and manufactures everything himself in his atelier; from movement componentry to the crown and buckle. Taking on an artistic tone, Bexei timepieces make strides forward in the realm of traditional watchmaking, with the Primus Tourbillon featuring the first triple-axis tourbillon without ball bearings.
28. Raúl Pagès
Raúl Pagès made his independent debut in 2012, following stints restoring historical horological pieces at Parmigiani and the Patek Philippe Museum. His inaugural horological piece was not a wristwatch, but the Automation Tortoise, a hand-engraved and enamelled tortoise which moves using a mechanism similar to a watch movement. His Régulateur à Détente RP1 marks the introduction of a unique detent escapement, which provides a single direct impulse to the balance in one direction to promote precision timekeeping, rather than the Swiss lever escapement which provides two indirect impulses per cycle.
Enjoyed this article? Check out our Ultimate Guide To Watches here; covering everything from the types of watch movements to watch styles and complications.
Words by T. Angel
Feature image courtesy of A Collected Man
