0:00 so we spent a lot of time keeping up with some of the bigger players in the watch industry on this channel but like many of you I'm also a huge fan of micr Brands and smaller scale Independents So today we're going to be Shifting the focus and look at some of the rising stars in the micr brand and independent scene that I predict that will have big leaps in the future so just some ground rules on what's going to qualify to be on this list this has to be a brand that has a true business case of wanting to grow it can't just be a company that I like the watches of that's not going to cut it I'm thinking about that but it also has to be able to strike a cord with people in the community and beyond that to scale to the next level these brands are going to be at different stages in their growth path so they're not going to be all just upstarts some might be a bit more mature compared to others but we're also not going to be
0:46 looking at brands that have gone through this dramatic sense of growth uh in recent times we're really looking at brands that have most of their growth in front of them so with that being the case I'm not going to mention like a brand like Christopher Ward because that's pretty obvious they just experienced a tremendous amount of growth in the last couple of years so to say that they're going to keep going in that same degree not as much of a hot take compared to some of the other takes that I could come up with they're now over 30 million in turnover I mean it's pretty ridiculous numbers in a short period of time also a brand like Simone Brett yes they're not doing it the same production scale but this is a brand that's pretty well loved by independent collectors they now have a 5-year weight list so it's not really a hot take for me to go ahead and say that they're going to probably have a path to growth in the Years to come and then one final point is I'm not going to be looking at
1:32 brands that have a path to rebirth like Universal genev brightling comes in they take over leadership of that brand in name not a hot take to say that that brand has a different trajectory now than they did just a few years ago we're going to break this down into basically two parts the first part will be more micr Brands smaller scale uh looking at companies that are producing watches in the $1,000 to $2,000 tier and below and then at the end we'll look at more independent bespoke watch making at that tier that can go upwards of $20,000 and above now for our first micro brand we have one from France this is definitely not a name that many are not going to be
2:18 unfamiliar with but I think there's a good reason why they should be on this list here we have Baltic so Baltic was created by etn Malik coming up with the name BK as a tribute to his Father's Root in Poland and launched on Kickstarter with his first two models the Miota powered automatic threehand HMS an art deco take on a refined field watch and then the by compact a manual chronograph in 36.5 mm and 38 mm case variants with classic Refined Looks and a seagull st1901 caliber on the inside now unlike many of the watches being crowdfunded at the time that lean dramatically towards fast fashion Baltic developed an Enthusiast Centric Focus that was very authentic the French brand had restrained design they had vintage styling and were well speced for the
3:04 price from there they had their Aquas scaf diver the Aquas scaf GMT the tri compacts the Mr series which I like a lot and then several others that have always managed to land with the collector Community I actually can't think of a Baltic watch that didn't manage to land at the time of release so with Baltic why the path to growth for a brand like this they've seen a lot of Industry adoption and is there more growth for them in the future I would argue yes and the reasons for this is partially because of how quickly they were adopted as an industry uh daple for the micro brand community and I would even say that they're now going into more of the independent realm with what they're putting forward you had a lot of coverage from media Outlets that felt pretty authentic I think people that cover Baltic have a lot of authentic
3:51 reasons behind why they're talking about them it doesn't feel fabricated their design style is also very clean and recognizable uh yes there's a bit of some inspired takes with what they're going for but where that starts to show on the business side and where I think this brand could be very successful and continuing to grow is there's definitely an entrepreneurial Spirit behind this brand with uh where they seem to want to go next they have three different retail locations for a brand of this size that's not something you do unless you have a growth path and a thought about where your business is going they have a location in Paris they have a location in in New York they also have a location in London so they are spreading things out when it comes to their retail their product mix is also Diversified what I
4:39 am looking at for a brand that is trying to continue to elevate what they're doing you also can't be a one-trick pony you have to be able to have multiple products that are going to do the heavy lifting if you just have one product that's doing it that makes you susceptible to falling under or having some rough times if trends go in a different direction every single one of balch's collections does a good amount of the lifting there's not one hero product that I think of when looking at baltech there are five different watches that come to my mind and that is a great place to be as a brand if you're trying to go to the next level Baltic has also been accepted by a lot of the industry Elites which you know to some people who cares about that but that does have some cache for
5:24 collectors or certain types of collectors one example of this was their participation in only watch multiple times there was a watch that went way past the estimated price when they initially did this I think it was in 2021 it hammered in at 50,000 Swiss Franks for one of their watches this just a mono Pusher seagull movement it was a crazier time back then for watches no question about it but to be able to command that price for a brand that was at that time around 5 years old is pretty remarkable further they've also sampled around with different levels of complication they had for only watch as well a vet caliber and this was a perpetual calendar watch it also sold at only watch and nobody battered than I seeing Baltic have a perpetual calendar so this is where I see this brand continuing to grow there's someone that can get away with doing some more
6:10 complicated things a lot of early upstart brands are maybe scared of going up Market in some degree I don't think Baltic is going to abandon what they're doing and I would highly recommend that they don't do that stay true to what your core is but maybe dabble with some different concepts I think this fet example is a reason to show that there is some more potential if they wanted to sample with some different [Music] ideas so Japan is responsible for producing a ridiculous amount of watches on an annual basis but the challenge with it is as a consumer as well as looking at the nation in totality is you really only have a couple brands that are doing a lot of the heavy lifting you have Citizen and Seiko that people
6:56 commonly will think of but the enthusiasm for Japanese watchmaking is absolutely there so it is somewhat of a heads scratcher to not see other brands getting into the mix especially at the more attainable end of things now we have seen some independent names come into the fold as of late but one of the most notable ones has to be kuo Kyoto now unlike other young brands from Japan kuo focuses on the sub $1,000 Market the Brand's concept was formed in 2010 when the founder Kenji uchimura was a student in London where he was inspired to create his own brand after falling in love with vintage watches in the shops throughout the city he found work after graduation at a watch shop in Kyoto and then launched his own brand kuo in 2020 starting with the old Smith 90-1 a 35mm vintage style watch
7:44 assembled in Kyoto with a small seconds display a dome crystal and a quo movement on the inside further models followed in the field aviation and dress watch Styles including mechanical versions of the old Smith in steel and bronze the dressy Royal Smith featuring a Miota 9 series movement on the inside and even more recently a dual Crown dive watch known as the sombrero with a 38 mm case and rotating internal bezel the lineup taken as a whole retains its retro charm with special attention given to kuo's interesting dials and with rave reviews from collectors you have in-house assembly and Service as well in Kyoto so they have their own Workshop now so there's a lot to like and things to keep an eye on for this brand but why the prediction for growth where do I see this brand going I think the number one reason why I see a lot of potential with
8:30 this brand is that under $1,000 yes there's plenty to think about from Japan but they come primarily from two Brands Citizen and Seiko what about other independent names there are so many to think of from any country really you can think about Germany you can think about you know the UK we just recently talked about uh the United States there's so many different brands get lost in especially at the attainable tier but where is the independent micr brand Community from Japan you have all the resources in this country there's an appetite for it and there's a story to tell this is one of these brands that really stands out and it has this authentic story to Japan and the watchmaking that's being done there also this Brand's really only been producing watches for five or so years and the
9:16 growth has been very aggressive I look on marketing digital communication like what is a brand doing this is a brand that runs as they're going through conventional and unconventional ways to try to position their products and that shows me that that's a brand that's trying to grow that's not something that every single brand will do a lot of Brands will think they're above running ads because it just feels like too commercial for the art of the watchmaking but kuo seems like a brand that wants to grow and if I'm going to make a prediction about brands that are going to do this uh that has to be one of the things I'm looking for do you actually want it and further it seems like they have aspirations to go outside of the Japanese Market one thing that is very specific about just any Goods that come from Japan is and I mean this in a good way it's an insular country when it
10:01 comes to commercial activity at times where when you're looking to buy something from Japan you usually have to go through unorthodox ways to acquiring those goods as somebody who's wearing some Japanese denim right now uh I know the pain when it comes to things that I like from Japan I can't always get them but kuo is not falling victim to the same ideas they seem to want to scale out their production and having ways in which they sell that can be available to a global audience so this next brand is one that I have been a fan of personally even on the early days of this channel I interviewed the founder in random Park in New York City back in the day when this channel was just getting started and his company was just getting started I've always watched uh from afar and been a fan this
10:48 is the Brew watch company so this is founded by Jonathan farer back in 2015 and the Brew design philosophy is deeply connected to the coffee theme finding Inspirations from Italian espresso machines and has a light-hearted spirit that permeates throughout he came up with his first watch the squared case Special Blend complete with coffee bean logo and launched it on Kickstarter from his apartment quickly surpassing his $355,000 funding window many Unique Designs followed including the retrograph chronograph series and the fan favorite metric which really took the brand to the next level so why the path to growth for a brand like Brew which is really caught on as one of the most known micro brands I would say in the entire United States I think it comes down to Jonathan first Jonathan is
11:35 a very talented person as an operator of a watch brand but also has all the skills and knowhow to effectively bring something to Market The Brew watch design is very recognizable when I see a brew watch and I actually see them out and about which is a whole another reason why I want to include them is I just see them everywhere there's clearly a lot being produced and he's selling a lot of them but you have to have a unique identity that is a approachable by Enthusiast but you also have to be able to speak the language to those that are not into watches and I think he's done a phenomenal job at Bridging the Gap between two very different types of consumers the product is also well positioned when it comes to price majority of the watch is coming under $500 he also in the micr brand Community there are like these iconic micr brand
12:21 watches I think the metric is absolutely one of those pieces it is recognizable it has a distinct silhouette it's well finished Jonathan clearly knows how to find an amazing manufacturer and different partners to help him create these pieces and the production volume seems to be there I mean this is a brand that I would suspect now is in the thousands and thousands and thousands of watches a year being sold and you don't get to that number unless you are producing the right things uh you have someone at the top that is finding the way to bring things to Market in an effective way they've also been able to navigate the world of collaborations Alton Brown that collab that was pretty random but cool to see adoption from somebody that I would say is a taste maker very prominent collector in the community for years and then even from
13:07 just the taste makers of the industry a lot of Buy in on that part and then also celebrities I saw Idris Elba wearing a brew metric in uh some type of press interview I mean ridiculous the fact that a brand like this is getting attention from these type of people I think brew has all the core fundamentals to continue to level up in the years to come so next up is a Swiss brand it's an Insider brand it's known as alborn so this is a fairly new brand started in 2024 so I'm really making my prediction here founded by a industry veteran and designer we have Sebastian sha mon where formerly he helped resurge the brands Arnold and sun and the Angelus brand also at the company is the head of
13:53 design we have Fabian colad who is the movement designer who previously worked at celita lju Pere and Angeles their first release was a Mna Labs collab known as the Maxi graph it's a vintage inspired yacht timer with its own proprietary execution of an abosch movement caliber powering a 10-minute countdown timer and running indicator their second release was the type 10 chronograph a fictional prequel to the famous Brigade type 20 featuring a bright red monel Pusher at 930 and the crown at 10:30 with The Pusher becoming something of a calling card for the brand having already appeared on the Maxi graph priced under $5,000 both models are limited production with plans for future models still in the works while still small albor have made some pretty big ways with the Retro styling
14:38 and creative use of a Bosch calibers that keep prices well below many watches with in-house movements so why are they included on this list Alba shorn small brand only started in 2024 why uh for me easy though you have the right people at the top to make these decisions it comes down to experience and knowhow and they have the right people to do it further the the actual ability to know what is possible there's a lot of ideas out there but once you start to mechanically try to put it into practice that's a whole different animal he'll know both of the ways in which he's able to push these ideas forward but ultimately brands of this size it's about having access to calibers if you look at a watch under $55,000 what really dictating the design for the most part is the movement and most movements that
15:23 are available are also available to other brands out there you in this case have early access to calibers also ways to go about modifying calibers in a distinct way you have the resources of Selita that you can lean on if needed I mean this is a huge cheat code for growth for the future and although they've only been around for around a year I could see them having a quick trajectory in the years to come also the value for money for a complicated watch there's a lot of things going on for a watch that's using a more a Bosch caliber I mean take a look this is not just your run-of-the-mill it looks way more expensive and this had a different name on the dial you might be thinking okay that's A10 to $20,000 watch no questions
16:09 asked so I'm actually going to have two different French brands on this list here we have Saka another paris-based micro brand that's been on a roll as of late and really raised their profile since they launched in 2019 starting with their www model and elevated take on the field watch caka sets themselves apart from many micro brands with their Artful real world usability you have their Des Crown options upscale finishing that is honestly amazing when you are able to handle their watches in person this was quickly followed up by the 300 met 533 dive watch and in 2022 the CC chronometer certified 8315 GMT model which offered brilliantly unique takes on the familiar Trope after the 8835s debut Saka subsequent Sports models were all updated to include CC
16:56 certified so Pride movements and in 2024 they launched their first dress watch the elegant parade which despite its refined appearance and unique case profile still offered up 100 Meers of water resistance so I have Saka on this list this is just a company that I have noticed from afar that I think has a lot of potential in years to come similar to Baltic another fellow French brand you had this quick Ascension in Industry adoption this came from press Outlets this came from collectors around the world they've only been the industry for 5 years and they've managed to elevate their brand in a short period of time they also have shifted to retail they have a full Paris Boutique it looks fantastic from photos I'd love to check this out when I'm ever in the area the
17:42 calibers being CC certified really helps establish them I know you are having to pay a price to be able to get a cc certified caliber you have to send it in for that certification but I think gives a lot of peace of mind for a collector when they're looking at a brand for the first time to know that there's a third party cosign as well as the dials being distinctive and well finished and then the final point that I bring up is they also don't have a single watch that is getting them to those higher Heights with the recent release of the parade and that is such a drastically different take compared to what Saka has been known for up until this point to be able to show that they can stick The Landing in another area and consistently put out a product that is going to have people ask questions and be interested that is
18:28 where you start to truly build a brand anybody can release one watch and do it well but can you do it consistently that's where a brand is built and saraka absolutely doing [Music] it now we turn to naoya and that is a name I really struggle with pronouncing naoya I'm trying my best this is actually a tough one it's a tongue twister so this is a classically influenced watch maker from Japan and they have their own twist on the Romantic traditional European flare so they were founded by namesake founder naoya he's an industry veteran with a career in sales and marketing in Asia for the likes of fpj Bashon constantan jja lult and Ralph Lauren known for
19:13 their designs inspired by vintage Classics from the 30s to the 60s now yahita watches are produced in very limited numbers sold via a lottery system and total production now sits around 100 watches per year their first model was the type one 1B a manual 37 mm small seconds model with finely engraved Brigade numerals that was introduced in 2019 and was embraced by collectors although done in very small numbers ensuing models included the moonphase type 3 B-1 the tank style type 5A and the Hand engrave yellow gold type 1D sl3 engraving and fine and finishing are the Brand's calling cards and naturally production is extremely limited with runs of 20 pieces or less and sometimes as few as single digit production for
20:00 some of their higher end pieces another funny aspect when I was just looking into this brand for the first time on their website they have an about section where they basically lay out the fundamentals of how they were started all the production for every single model to this point it's so carefully crafted it even includes the starting capital for the company on the about page the sell through of all these models by years it just reads like a shareholder presentation which to me screams that that that's a company that wants to take itself seriously and does take itself seriously but then the watchmaking itself they have now in-house capability there was clearly Investments made to bring the right people on board to get buyin from collectors but also to produce products
20:45 that are going to stand out from much of the competition in 2020 H brought on a dedicated watch maker kuk feta who was watchmaking trained in Tokyo and then was also a former watch maker at fpjourne and then in 202 two he hired Kus Canó as an engraver as engraving is a recognizable aspect of their work production for the company has successfully grown and has done at a nice natural rate 2021 they produced 40 watches 2022 70 watches 2023 100 watches and it seems like that is going to be the number of watches that they're going to produce for the years to come and similar to what we mentioned earlier with the under $1,000 tier I think the same thing could be said for the high tier of jaese watchmaking yes there are some more names for higher
21:31 independent Japanese watch makers but I think this brand is specifically positioned to attract certain types of buyers I think the price and positioning is not so bad for a brand of this caliber and what they're doing for a lot of bespoke work and in addition to that I think their watches are very attractive uh beautiful pieces in my [Music] opinion so this next brand is producing some of my favorite watches on the market at this moment this is berneron so the story of buron is one of leaving a perfectly good career to take a risk to try to create another career for yourself but it seems like the gamble was worth it for the co-founders silven berneron and his wife Marie Alex berneron as their young company has
22:18 managed to gain some nice momentum in the last two years so silan has had a successful career as a design manager at richmont and then he shifted over to the chief product officer at bright and he did that during a time where they were really going through a lot of shifts and he was there with a lot of the products that I thought got brightling back on track post 2018 where George Kar took the helm where Marie Alex worked with the watchmaking arm of Chanel in product development their first watch was buran's Mirage it's an asymmetrical case showstopper that looks plucked straight out of a surrealist painting available in 38 and 34 mm versions The Mirage is entirely swissmade with details like Stone dials hands that are entirely Mill and Polished by hand and using a lot of
23:04 gold for the construction all while being exquisitely finished in the process berneron spent around $900,000 in savings just to develop the manual wound caliber before production a rist that is happily paid off the attention to detail is obsessive the shape the ultra thin gold movements is much more difficult to manufacture than a standard round or oval one yet more efficient with 72h hour power reserve and yes they have produced two separate versions one for each of the 2K sizes production is extremely low about 25 pieces annually per model while being sold out for a couple years in advance so why do I think this brand has a lot of potential I mean first off is the fact that they were willing to take a risk uh Switzerland is not a country that is
23:49 about taking big risks all the time uh it's a very conservative calculated nation and they know how to navigate things appropriately to have slow but steady uh pass to growth but this was a leap as an entrepreneur here that I give major kudos to uh to be able to develop these watches High six figures in movement development to get this thing off the ground before you even see a finished product that is something to commend and with great risk is going to come great upside and I think for this it's a hint at the desire for aspiration so fing was born out of the pandemic and started with the Fleming series 1 which is the brainchild of an Enthusiast Thomas Fleming executed by a
24:34 roster of horological Allstars now Fleming's team includes James Kong who you'll recognize as weight listed on Instagram as the art director and coo along with the esteem movement maker Jean Francois mojan of Cyrus and Crono a firm that if you are into high independent watchmaking probably have heard of you also have the dial making prowess of kyri vuan so his firm is is actually helping with the dial production so there is an American connection to this brand there's a Swiss Connection to this brand and it's a pretty cool combination and melting pod of different ideas the original watch the series 1 is a 38.5 mm case and consists of three different variants built in very limited numbers it's manually wound dress watch with detailing like skeletonized lugs that give enough versatility for wear in more
25:21 casual settings the three versions include a tantalum Case Model with a blue aventurine stone dial limited to 25 pieces pieces along with a rose Gold Edition of seven with hand hammered champagne inner sub dials as well as a guet gray outer dial and also a platinum reference with Gia dun in Amber in Brown now prices are not cheap at $50,000 for the tantalum Edition but considering the level of finish on display the people involved in the movement I think there's a lot to admire here from this brand the caliber fm01 was developed by Jean franois mojan and his team based on the c101 that boasts 7 Days of power Reserve so why do I think this brand is poised for some great things to come it has to be the team I mean the team for the movement finishers the dial makers the designers it's as good as any in the
26:08 industry I mean the names that I was able to list off that is a worldclass team and if you have those people behind your brand it's going to be harder to fail and you more than likely are going to be able to push through and produce a phenomenal product additionally they're not stopping with their connections and bringing more people into the wing of development they're working on an integrated model as well known as the series 2 it's in development they're working with legendary designer Emanuel Gatt who is the creator of the AP Royal Oak offshore who's also worked with the likes of Rolex Hermes and PJ for our final brand we have JN Shapiro watches or Joshua Shapiro based
26:53 in Los Angeles California and he is one of the most talented watch makers in dial makers in the world which makes his mission of Reviving American watchmaking to former Heights that much more exciting his first release was the Infinity Series back in 2018 which featured intricate guet dials in both traditional and more exotic materials as an encore in 20121 he created the first tantalum case watch outside of Switzerland a huge mountain to climb given the difficulties of working with that material Shapiro's current model is the Resurgence named for his team's dedication to pushing forward the return to American watchmaker the Resurgence is the most made in the USA watch you can buy today with the dials the cases and nearly every aspect of the movement being produced in his La facility
27:38 currently the only aspects Outsource are the hairsprings the jewels crystals and straps parts that Josh Works diligently to also try to source and find ways to do so in the United States the Resurgence is available with a host of different options starting with the 38 millim cases material customers can specify stainless steel white or rose gold and Exotic Metals like T onium and tantalum which allow a high level of customization letting collectors choose from a range of colors dial furniture and guet patterns including Shapiro's own Infinity weave which is a straight line technique that was created by Shapiro which is his take on a basket weave in a basket weave and is yet to be successfully executed by anybody else in the industry Shapiro has become an authority on the art of guia globally being mentioned frequently as the best or one of the best in the world the
28:25 movements are also spectacular being manually wound in-house calibers with beautiful beveling polish sinks for jewels and also is going to have three separate Bridge layouts that you can choose as an owner what makes it really unique too is all the pivot Points for those Jewels are going to be in the same positions but it's drastically different in appearance based off of the bridge architecture so let's get into why Josh Shapiro I think has an unbelievable path forward first step is just the talent is there this is some of the most impressive work regardless of whether or not it's happening in the United States these are some beautiful watches they might not be to everybody's taste but if you like classic guet dials uh very bespoke work and also like the idea of In-House manufacturing this is some of the most in-house produced products in the entire world let alone in the United
29:11 States further he does have a weit list for his product it's not so far in advance uh really it's coming down to his production capacities because it's so hard to produce his watches he was saying that if he doesn't produce three watches in a month he's behind and he has a whole team dedicated to producing these insurgence models it's just so difficult to produce everything from CN cing parts to doing all the beveling and finishing assembly testing regulation it's difficult and he's trying to navigate that world but I think once he's able to diversify his product mix and change the way in which he can produce them uh some might not being at the same degree as the Resurgence it'll take a lot of stress off the system and then finally he's been able to curate an amazing team of talented people he has
29:56 assemblers component finishers and gravers and Engineers from different walks of life and different backgrounds but to be able to find these level of people and bring them to the United States for watchmaking is pretty hard to accomplish but he's been able to pull this off but all right guys that is my video here today looking at small brands with bigger Futures ahead if you guys enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up subscribe hit the Bell icon this was you know little bit to put together here I had to think about this a bit more I'm putting out my hot takes and what do I think is going to happen in the future which I don't typically do but this was uh my attempt at it also if you have a brand that you think is poised for bigger and better things down the road leave a comment down below don't just leave a comment about a brand that you like I want to hear about a brand that you think has a ton of
30:41 potential as a business case so write a comment down below if you can think of a brand that is uh in a position to gain market share and really Elevate what they are known as today also definitely check out Teddy baller.com Teddy baller.com is an authorized dealer for over 35 brands every purchase from our website comes with quick and fast fulfillment dedicated customer support and a full factory warranty for all the products that we offer also if you have any questions about watches on our website you can hit the little bubble in the bottom right corner reach out to one of my team members on live chat they're there all day long or around 18 hours a day if you have any questions they'd be happy to help you out with any watch that we have on our site how we're able to keep doing what we're doing here is through selling watches the brands don't pay us a dime to produce the content on this channel how this business operates through selling watches online and also
31:26 in our store in Cleveland in Ohio so if you are in the market for watch we'd absolutely love to have your business L to keep doing what we're doing here we love what we do but guys thank you again so much for watching be well and I'll see you all very soon
