The "Next FP Journe" thread inspired me to start this thread to share and compare notes on brands who are perhaps lesser known in the wider horology community. Let's see if we can build a mini-encyclopedia of cool brands that are either up-and-coming, weird, independent, or perhaps simply overlooked for one reason or another.
Rules: Let's keep the discussion away from more well known brands...which for the purposes of this thread I'm going to define using last year's brand list from Nico Leonard's YouTube channel. I'm not exactly a fan of his, but he has a decent following so if they're on his list it's safe to say the majority of our collective group will likely know of these brands so we'll skip them for the purposes of this thread (alphabetical list below). I had to start somewhere!
A Lange and Sohne, Alpina, Angelus, Aventi, Baume and Mercier, Bell and Ross, Blancpain, Breitling, Bremont, Brequet, Bulova, Bvlgari, Cartier, Casio, Christopher Ward, Chronoswiss, Citizen, Czapek, FP Journe, Federique Constant, Fossil, Frank Meuller, Gerard Parregaux, Grand Seiko, Gronefeld, Gucci, H Moser et Cie, Hamilton, IWC, Invicta, Jaeger-LaCoultre, Jaquet Droz, Laurent Ferrier, Longines, Louis Erard, Louis Monet, Louis Vuitton, Maen, Mont Blanc, Nivada Grenchen, Nomos, Norqain, Omega, Orient, Oris, Panerai, Patek Phillippe, Piaget, Rado, Raymond Weil, Ressence, Roger Dubuis, Rolex, Seiko, Sinn, Swatch, TagHeuer, Timex, Tissot, Trilobe, Tudor, Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin, Venezianico, Zenith, Zodiac
With those removed, there are no further rules. I don't care if it's an expensive brand, cheap brand, more popular or just some dude in the garage next door building high-end watches from scratch. Let's share some names/brands and see if we can bring more awareness to parts of the industry that may not get their dues. Hopefully the collective can help each other locate some new/cool stuff to be on the lookout for.
Here's a starting list from my own accumulated file (just google the below and add "watch" and you'll find 'em!)
Akrivia (Rexhep Rexhepi)
Albishorn
Anderson Geneve
Atelier de Chronometrie Barcelona
Auffret Paris
Berneron
Bernhard Lederer
Charles Frodsham
David Candaux
Felipe Pikullik
Ferdinand Berthoud
Fiona Kruger
Fleming
Garrick
Hajime Asaoka
Haldimann
J Holthinrichs
Jean-Baptiste Viot
JN Shapiro
Kees Engelbarts
Kikuchi Nakagawa
Krayon
Kudoke
Laine
Lang and Heyne
Marco Lang
Naoya Hida
Ondrej Berkus
Ophion
Petermann Bedat
Simon Brette
Space One (this one's for Fed!)
Sylvain Pinaud
Voutilainen
Xhevdet Rexhepi
And closing with some Canadian content...Bradley Taylor and Aaron Sarauer.
I look forward to the rest of you pointing me to your own lists of hidden gems.
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