MICROBRANDS BY COUNTRY (not all inclusive list of micro-brands*)

roadwarrior

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Small list doesn't cover many

Many watch microbrands are small startups that use a third party factory to manufacture their watches for them, typically in either Switzerland or China.

DECIMA WATCH COMPANY

Decima is the only watch microbrand we know of hailing from Albana, no small feat considering Albanian businesses can't list on Kickstarter or many other crowdfunding platforms. The Microbrand Store™ was instrumental in helping Decima to launch the production of their first watch, the Decima Scylla.
AUSTRALIA

MELBOURNE WATCH COMPANY

As you can probably guess from the name of this watch microbrand, they're based in Melbourne, Australia, where they have a showroom and do all of their assembly and servicing in-house. Melbourne Watch Company have developed quite a reputation for producing stylish microbrand dress watches.
AUSTRIA

VIRIBUS UNITIS WATCHES

Viribus Unitis are situated deep in the Vienna Forest and this microbrand's dive watches are inspired by the history of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
CHINA

BALLAST WATCHES

Ballast, along with it's many sibling brands such as Spinnaker, is not actually a microbrand but one of many brands owned by a Chinese-based international conglomerate with it's own factory. As is becoming more common with Chinese factories, the brand is marketed to microbrand watch collectors, so we've often been asked to carry their watches. Moving forwards, The Microbrand Store will probably not be purchasing additional stock for this brand as we prefer to support true microbrands.

PHOIBOS

Emily and Ethan are the young couple behind Phoibos, a watch microbrand from China. Sadly we had to pull our support of this microbrand when they stopped honoring their warranty agreement when they switched factories, with a noticeably corresponding drop in quality. Situations like this is one of the reasons why The Microbrand Store includes it's own watch warranty as a supplement alongside any warranty a microbrand offers, just in case a microbrand doesn't step up as they should.

SPINNAKER WATCHES

Spinnaker, along with it's many sibling brands such as Ballast, is not actually a microbrand but one of many brands owned by a Chinese-based international conglomerate with it's own factory. As is becoming more common with Chinese factories, the brand is marketed to microbrand watch collectors, so we've often been asked to carry their watches. Moving forwards, The Microbrand Store will probably not be purchasing additional stock for this brand as we prefer to support true microbrands.

TACS

TACS are probably most famous for their Lens series of watches, designed to look like and be a homage to vintage cameras, with an absolutely amazing attention to detail. This brand was founded by Yoshiaki Motegi, ("Yoshi",) a Japanese gentleman with an eye for detailed design that we think has helped set the TACS brand apart from many others. The brand is rightly proud of TACS' Japanese heritage, and state Made in Japan on their watch case backs, but it should be noted that although the movements on their watches that we sell are made in Japan, the TACS watch brand is run by Creative Choice Limited, a company based in China, with its own assembly factory and bricks and mortar retail store. We loved this brand's Vintage Lens II offerings so much that we've made an exception and decided to stock their best watch models. Please check them out. You won't be disappointed!
GERMANY

MANUFAKTUR WALDHOFF

It's tempting to call this watch microbrand a Swiss-German hybrid, since one of the two partners behind the brand lives and works in Switzerland, where he designs the watches and handles marketing. However the assembly and production is handled by the other partner in Pforzheim, Germany, the capital of German watchmaking. This is where he has his own factory since he's been a watchmaker for decades, and has worked on a number of luxury Swiss and German brands after getting his start at Stowa, one of the most famous German watch brands.
ITALY

MECCANICHE VENEZIANE

Initially this seemed like a great Italian watch microbrand to partner with, the two brothers running the brand hailing from the Venice region of Italy, the straps handcrafted in Tuscany, and the solid walnut presentation boxes being hand made in Italy too. With several successful Kickstarter campaigns behind them, and a recent GMT watch campaign having over 800 backers on Kickstarter, it seemed Meccaniche Veneziane were poised for success. Instead we've found that we've had to drop this brand like a hot potato, and refund most of our customers who pre-ordered the GMT model.

VIQUERIA ITALIAN WATCH COMPANY

Viqueria Italian Watch Company are based near Milan in the Italian city of Voghera, whose name in ancient Roman times was Viqueria. As well as using a local watchmaker to assemble and regulate their watches, the two Italian friends who both reside in Voghera and run this microbrand, have also been running 2DStraps for a number of years, quite a well known Italian leather watch straps startup. Apart from the rich colors that authentic Italian watch microbrands seem to do best, Viqueria customers have been spoiled even further with high quality Italian leather straps from 2DStraps.
NEW ZEALAND

DRAKEN WATCHES LTD.

Draken Watches are very much inspired by the landscape of South Africa, such as the Draken Kalahari, a field watch taking its name from the Kalahari desert. This is because the creator behind the brand hails from that region. He now however lives in New Zealand, which is where this watch microbrand operates from. We still think that's really cool as Draken Watches are our only New Zealand based microbrand, and we can't wait to see some dive watches inspired by the likes of Milford Sound!
SINGAPORE

It should be no surprise that we have more watch microbrands in Singapore than any other city, or indeed any other country for that matter! Singapore is the Mecca of microbrands, and some of the top names here like BOLDR, Gruppo Gamma, and Zelos will be very familiar to microbrand watch aficionados.

ADVISOR WATCH COMPANY

Advisor Watch Company were one of the lesser known Singaporean watch microbrands when the microbrand launched its the first two Advisor Astrohelm models, large California dial timepieces with very high sapphire crystal domes. That seems to be changing now, and deservedly so, when the brand launched their Advisor Ascent series. Who knew skull-themed watches would be so popular?!

ARCTURUS WATCHES

Arcturus' first watch, a large art deco dress watch was an instant hit and an immediate sell out. Our pre-order quantity went in a flash and we couldn't get any more except second hand, which also sold as fast as we could get them. To this day the mother-of-pearl LC1 (Lion City model #1, named after Singapura, which means Lion City) is sought after and can carry a premium on the second hand market. Sadly the founder of the brand was unable to successfully bring his next model to market as he'd just passed his bar exams and was starting a career as a lawyer. So for now this brand is dormant but we really hope to see it erupt again on the Singapore microbrand watch scene in future.

BOLDR SUPPLY COMPANY

BOLDR are very well known for their deliciously chunky Odyssey series of large 45½mm tool watches, but there are plenty of other models that have been hits in a variety of styles including their Expedition field watches, for example. This watch microbrand gives the other top Singaporean microbrands some stiff competition and is a brand worth watching.

GRUPPO GAMMA

Out of all of our microbrands, this is the pack leader, the one to beat, with exceptional quality that can't easily be explained. You have to handle a Gruppo Gamma timepiece to feel how butter smooth the crown is when winding, or how everything feels just right. Many movements have been regulated to an average accuracy of 0 seconds per day, and the watches themselves are gorgeous, especially the large California dial watches that this watch microbrand is famous for.

NEMINUS LABS

We've included Neminus here as the brand likes to promote itself as Singaporean, and indeed the brand owner does come from Singapore. However, he now resides in Taiwan, which is where Neminus ship from so we classify this watch microbrand as Taiwanese.

VENTURO

Venturo is a new spin off microbrand from the grand master of them all, Gruppo Gamma. A new microbrand and a slightly new direction, Venturo launched with an affordable but elegant field watch while still retaining the highest level of quality that Gruppo Gamma are renowned for.

ZELOS WATCHES

Probably the most successful of all of the Singaporean watch microbrands in terms of number of watches sold, Zelos often sell out quickly and can seemingly never produce enough watches, despite the steady stream of new models coming out all the time. Zelos spin-off microbrands include Axios, Ventus, and Vilhelm. Despite the high volume, we still have them pegged as a microbrand since they don't produce their watches in house and it's pretty much just the creator or creator and a couple of associates for the spin offs. Amazingly, given the scale and outsourcing, quality has been consistently very high.
SWITZERLAND

DIRENZO WATCHES

Direnzo Watches has a special claim to fame, the Direnzo DRZ_02 having been chosen as our microbrand watch of the year for 2019. We weren't the only ones to pick out this amazing timepiece as the watch of the year, so little wonder it sold out so quickly. As well as being Swiss Made, the founder and creator behind this brand lives in Switzerland, and is able to visit the production factory as needed.

STRATON WATCH COMPANY

Since launching in 2015, Straton Watch Company has built a solid reputation as the number one go-to choice for those looking to get a 1970s inspired vintage-style automotive racing chronograph. Straton Watch Company have defined their niche in the microbrand watch world, and with every release, they seem to raise the bar higher and higher. It's not uncommon for these timepieces to sell out fairly quickly.

SWISS WATCH COMPANY

As well as being as Swiss as can be, with a Swiss founder, a Swiss company/corporation in situ, Swiss mechanical movements, and manufacture in Switzerland, the Swiss Watch Company can also be said to be an American brand. The founder of this watch microbrand moved to the United States and launched the Swiss Watch Company there in 1995, which he now operates with his two sons. The history behind SWC, the Swiss Watch Company, is rather different to typical watch microbrands too, since the founder behind this microbrand got his start in the watchmaking industry working in Quality Assurance for the Swatch group, which owns a number of famous watch brands such as Blancpain, Breguet, ETA, Glashütte Original, Harry Winston, Longines, Omega, Tissot, and RADO. He has been able to focus his luxury watch expertise on SWC's own line of watches, which often average around zero seconds per day accuracy.
TAIWAN

ELEGANTSIS

Founded in 1999, Elegantsis has been around a lot longer than most watch microbrands, and have built a solid reputation in their home market, where among other things, they've focused on producing military timepieces. 2016 was their breakout year when they began selling in other countries through various third party retailers, but they still remain a smaller-sized business.

NEMINUS LABS

The hallmark of any Neminus Labs watch is the imaginative design and great attention to detail on the theme being portrayed on the watch, (space exploration for example,) combined with going above and beyond quality-wise. As such, Neminus have produced some very distinctive Swiss Made deep dive watches that have become quite collectible, and we can't wait to see each new release.

VALIMOR WATCHES

If you enjoy the romance of the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table then Valimor is probably for you. The brand name itself stands for "VALIant" and "arMOR", and the arms and armor theme is very much picked up in Valimor's timepieces, which feature intricate scale armor carvings/engravings around the bezels, sword-shaped hands, and a scratch resistant patented custom antiquing process for the watch cases unique to this microbrand. Many Valimor dials are made from unusual gemstones and other materials you don't commonly find on a watch.
UNITED KINGDOM

MR. JONES WATCHES

Mr. Jones Watches are a small, artisinal, London-based microbrand that have been producing their own line of watches for over ten years now. Fun, quirky, and with very unique complications, Mr. Jones watches are deliberately designed to be conversation starters that make folks smile, where sometimes even telling the time can be secondary to wearing an entertaining work of art. Unlike most microbrands, Mr. Jones Watches print many of their own dials in-house, and assemble their own watches, almost all of which have unique and clever custom complications.
UNITED STATES

CELESTE WATCH COMPANY

Situated in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Celeste Watch Company is not your typical watch microbrand. Founded by Celeste Wong, a passionate watch addict and respected engineer, educator and author, (with 22 books to her name, including a best seller,) Celeste Watch Company is an all-female owned and operated business. All of the watches are assembled in-house, and the meticulous work of laser cutting and inlaying each dial with natural materials such as abalone and mother-of-pearl to make up each dial illustration can take twelve hours or more per watch. The hand-made locally sourced goatskin watch straps add another three hours to the time necessary to produce each timepiece.

HEITIS WATCH COMPANY

Heitis Watch Company is a New York based watch microbrand founded in 2015. The microbrand's first Kickstarter offering was an affordable but very stylish pilot watch. Since then, Heitis has continued with an unbroken string of successful Kickstarter campaigns, with the more recent campaigns offering dive watches on stainless steel bracelets and bronze dive watches.

ICONIC TIMEPIECES LLC

Iconic Timepieces LLC is a watch microbrand based in Florida and founded by Ivan Hampton Ennis, who is well known to many microbrand watch afficionados through his YouTube watch review channel: WatchMe Unboxing. This microbrand's first offering was the Iconic Halocline, formerly known as the Iconic Hampton Bay, an innovative dive watch that has really set the standard for Iconic's future.

MERCER WATCH COMPANY

Headquartered in New Jersey, USA, Mercer's offices are just a few miles from where Hugh Mercer, a doctor and Brigadier General in the Continental Army and namesake for the company, met his demise in the Battle of Princeton. This is subtly picked up on by the star motif signature on Mercer's crowns, denoting the one star rank of a brigadier general.

POLAM WATCH COMPANY

The PolAm Watch Company are particularly distinguished by their proud Polish-American heritage. Although a US-based business operating out of Michigan, PolAm watches prominently feature the red and white color scheme found on Polish national symbols such as the Polish flag and coat of arms, with some models also prominently displaying the Polish eagle.

OCEAN CRAWLER

Ocean Crawler LLC is a US-based watch microbrand, currently operating in the New York area. Launched only in 2017, Ocean Crawler's rise to prominence among microbrand watch collectors has been nothing short of meteoric. This watch microbrand has gained a strong reputation for an ever changing array of colorful microbrand dive watches produced in very small limited editions (typically just 100 timepieces) every 75 days or so. Both collectors and retailers alike have learnt to move quickly in order not to miss out on Ocean Crawler's very popular limited editions.

SWISS WATCH COMPANY

As well as being as Swiss as can be, with a Swiss founder and manufacture in Switzerland, the Swiss Watch Company (SWC) can also be said to be an American brand. The founder moved to the United States and formed the Swiss Watch Company there in 1995, initially producing watches for the armed forces and first responders before recently launching his own line of microbrand watches in more recent times, which we're proud to now carry in The Microbrand Store as Swiss Watch Company's first retailer.

https://microbrand.store/pages/watch...nds-by-country

* this list only reflects brands only carried by this store
 
i wonder why they had to drop MECCANICHE VENEZIANE like a hot potato? I haven't heard too many complaints regarding their watches.

There's a link in the paragraph which mentions dropping MV which provides full details as to why. I would also recommend checking out the MV Disapointed group (getting close to 500 upset backers now) if you somehow missed the avalanche of complaints:
https://facebook.com/groups/2829769930580897/

... unless that was tongue-in-cheek of course! ;)

We appreciate the share here but also wanted to point out re manufacturing, since parts of our page were truncated, that some brands such as Ballast, Celeste, Melbourne, Mr. Jones, Ocean Crawler, Spinnaker, Swiss Watch Company, Valimor, and Waldhoff, handle assembly in-house. Viqueria uses a local Italian watchmaker but produce their own straps.

You can see the original page here:
https://microbrand.store/pages/watch...nds-by-country
 
There's a link in the paragraph which mentions dropping MV which provides full details as to why. I would also recommend checking out the MV Disapointed group (getting close to 500 upset backers now) if you somehow missed the avalanche of complaints:
https://facebook.com/groups/2829769930580897/

... unless that was tongue-in-cheek of course! ;)

We appreciate the share here but also wanted to point out re manufacturing, since parts of our page were truncated, that some brands such as Ballast, Celeste, Melbourne, Mr. Jones, Ocean Crawler, Spinnaker, Swiss Watch Company, Valimor, and Waldhoff, handle assembly in-house. Viqueria uses a local Italian watchmaker but produce their own straps.

You can see the original page here:
https://microbrand.store/pages/watch...nds-by-country

The link to the page that was re-posted was already posted in the OP. Some of the best Micro-Brands that have been around for years are not sold by your store, that's too bad for you, but great for our forum members. They are able to get the best prices direct from those companies with no middle man. The upside to your site is the availability for some models that could be sold out.
 
i learned about and concur with the praise for GRUPO GAMMA in SINGAPORE ...makes that silky winding crown... good to get empirical confirmation of what I felt ...their VENTURO spin-off has the same silky wind crown...and the coupons keep coming from NAOKI...stalking GRUPO GAMMA
 
i learned about and concur with the praise for GRUPO GAMMA in SINGAPORE ...makes that silky winding crown... good to get empirical confirmation of what I felt ...their VENTURO spin-off has the same silky wind crown...and the coupons keep coming from NAOKI...stalking GRUPO GAMMA

Don't hold your breath for many if any more deals from GG at your trigger pull comfort zone Scotty. GG prices historically have been know to cause severe cases of trigger finger paralysis.

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The link to the page that was re-posted was already posted in the OP. Some of the best Micro-Brands that have been around for years are not sold by your store, that's too bad for you, but great for our forum members. They are able to get the best prices direct from those companies with no middle man. The upside to your site is the availability for some models that could be sold out.

Thanks for pointing out re the link. Sorry I missed that at the end!

Re not selling some other great microbrands, point taken, but I do think we've done pretty well to rapidly grow to over 30 microbrands now (including some we can't publicly list just yet) in a short time of less than 2 years. Especially so keeping in mind that unlike most watch stores, we don't ever take on consignment, drop ship or make partial payments with the balance to follow. We pre-pay 100% up-front on the spot for all of our stock the moment we've agreed a deal, typically before a microbrand has completed their pre-orders and in advance of say Kickstarter so the brand has the funds in full so know they can pay the factory, and also that helps them a lot with their MOQ negotiations and getting a better rate. The risk is all on us of course with these bulk purchases up-front, particularly with new microbrands on their first campaign, but I think it's the right thing to do as there are plenty of stories of microbrands who've been stood up by retailers after ordering a very large quantity of watches from factories. Straton went public on one such story not too long ago which sounded pretty dire. Anyhow, how we've been able to finance what is probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock at this point is simple - We've reinvested almost everything back every month in more stock and more brands, and I've not taken anything out of the business for myself beyond a token salary to keep Mr. tax man happy. Certainly not enough to survive on or even rent a modest apartment, let alone anything else. Of course there are so many great microbrands out there (as well as a lot of crud) so we won't probably ever have more than some select choices, as we have now, but perhaps in a couple more years you may see 60 microbrands or more possibly. Who knows. I'd like to think so.

On your other point, if all we did was just add extra costs for the end customer as an unnecessary man in the middle, then that'd be aggravating for everyone in the community. However, as a buyer and collector of watches myself, I've been burnt by several bad and experiences with brands that didn't deliver, which in turn planted the seed to get The Microbrand Store launched. Our policy has several different angles that try and take the pain away from customers who want to bail or need help when a project seems to go wrong. We've always instantly given 100% refunds, no questions asked, on any orders (including all pre-orders) right up until the time we package a watch for shipment, so customers can bail if they don't like how things are going. Then when a microbrand doesn't deliver as promised, we've always stepped up and paid ourselves to make things right, even if that means running with a large loss on a project. A random examples of that is a brand that sold a bronze dive watch with several sets of straps promised but didn't deliver any dive straps and delivered mismatched brass hardware for their bronze watches. We sourced and supplied our own dive straps with matching CuSn8 bronze hardware for our customers, fixed other issues including refinishing all of the cases since they were badly finished, were candid throughout as to the situation and gave 100% refunds for anyone who wanted to opt out. We also contacted the factory the microbrand used and had them make some buckles for us and sourced better straps which we also made available. Lots more examples come to mind but Meccaniche Veneziane is a good one where we lost a lot on that as we were completely candid about the top grade ETA GMT being switched to the lowest grade Sellita and movements not being regulated as promised and having really low amplitude. The vast majority of our backers got their refund on the spot when they decided to ask for one (compare that to the Kickstarter backers all having to dispute the charges) and those that stayed in, could either opt to get the watch right away, or have us cover the costs of sending the watches to be completely serviced and regulated. To cut a long story short, quite a few customers have told us they prefer to get their watches through us rather than taking a risk on a crowdfunding campaign, and this is precisely why I started the store.

Undoubtedly the best consumer prices are going to be with the microbrands themselves at the start of their pre-orders. We tell customers that who ask, I mention it in many reviews too, and we also help the brands we carry out by posting reviews during their Kickstarter campaigns to encourage customers to go buy direct instead of waiting to review something once we start carrying it. We also never ever list our own pre-orders while a Kickstart campaign is running so a microbrand can maximize their direct backers to meet their goals. Where our pricing becomes particularly good is after a Kickstarter campaign closes. We list our own pre-orders then at typically the lowest currently available prices, and lower than the microbrands's post-Kickstarter pre-orders. The bottom line is if you missed out on a campaign on Kickstarter, you probably want to check out The Microbrand Store's pre-orders next. Some folks can only back so many watches over a period of time and can be maxed out so that's useful. Others may have heard about things late, and again we provide a useful service that helps customers save money if they didn't get in on the ground floor. There are many other aspects that make us more helpful than leech-like IMHO. We spend thousands of dollars per month on advertising, often when a newer microbrand cannot, which can help lift a microbrand's own sales. When folks shop on a microbrand's site, they already know about the brand. When they come to the store, it's a great opportunity to see other watches apart from the one you originally came to browse so our target audiences can be complimentary. From a microbrand's perspective, we can reach customers who don't know about a microbrand. Then there is all the help we give behind the scenes to help microbrands refine and launch their products. I run a private self-help group for microbrands and freely share whatever I can, and have spent more time helping microbrand owners one-on-one than running the store.

My apologies if the above is wordy. You'd painted a simple picture (I think possibly unintentionally, as I really appreciate how helpful you are to everyone including us,) about how it's good to cut out the middle man. Generally that can hold true, but I hope I've shown that things can sometimes be more complex and nuanced than that. As a store, I feel it's our responsibility to bring something to the table to add some much needed value, particularly in the rather volatile microbrand space, be it our own warranty which we provide on top of the microbrand's manufacturer's warranty, helping customers get good treatment, or candid advice throughout their ownership of one of our watches.
 
Thanks for pointing out re the link. Sorry I missed that at the end!

Re not selling some other great microbrands, point taken, but I do think we've done pretty well to rapidly grow to over 30 microbrands now (including some we can't publicly list just yet) in a short time of less than 2 years. Especially so keeping in mind that unlike most watch stores, we don't ever take on consignment, drop ship or make partial payments with the balance to follow. We pre-pay 100% up-front on the spot for all of our stock the moment we've agreed a deal, typically before a microbrand has completed their pre-orders and in advance of say Kickstarter so the brand has the funds in full so know they can pay the factory, and also that helps them a lot with their MOQ negotiations and getting a better rate. The risk is all on us of course with these bulk purchases up-front, particularly with new microbrands on their first campaign, but I think it's the right thing to do as there are plenty of stories of microbrands who've been stood up by retailers after ordering a very large quantity of watches from factories. Straton went public on one such story not too long ago which sounded pretty dire. Anyhow, how we've been able to finance what is probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock at this point is simple - We've reinvested almost everything back every month in more stock and more brands, and I've not taken anything out of the business for myself beyond a token salary to keep Mr. tax man happy. Certainly not enough to survive on or even rent a modest apartment, let alone anything else. Of course there are so many great microbrands out there (as well as a lot of crud) so we won't probably ever have more than some select choices, as we have now, but perhaps in a couple more years you may see 60 microbrands or more possibly. Who knows. I'd like to think so.

On your other point, if all we did was just add extra costs for the end customer as an unnecessary man in the middle, then that'd be aggravating for everyone in the community. However, as a buyer and collector of watches myself, I've been burnt by several bad and experiences with brands that didn't deliver, which in turn planted the seed to get The Microbrand Store launched. Our policy has several different angles that try and take the pain away from customers who want to bail or need help when a project seems to go wrong. We've always instantly given 100% refunds, no questions asked, on any orders (including all pre-orders) right up until the time we package a watch for shipment, so customers can bail if they don't like how things are going. Then when a microbrand doesn't deliver as promised, we've always stepped up and paid ourselves to make things right, even if that means running with a large loss on a project. A random examples of that is a brand that sold a bronze dive watch with several sets of straps promised but didn't deliver any dive straps and delivered mismatched brass hardware for their bronze watches. We sourced and supplied our own dive straps with matching CuSn8 bronze hardware for our customers, fixed other issues including refinishing all of the cases since they were badly finished, were candid throughout as to the situation and gave 100% refunds for anyone who wanted to opt out. We also contacted the factory the microbrand used and had them make some buckles for us and sourced better straps which we also made available. Lots more examples come to mind but Meccaniche Veneziane is a good one where we lost a lot on that as we were completely candid about the top grade ETA GMT being switched to the lowest grade Sellita and movements not being regulated as promised and having really low amplitude. The vast majority of our backers got their refund on the spot when they decided to ask for one (compare that to the Kickstarter backers all having to dispute the charges) and those that stayed in, could either opt to get the watch right away, or have us cover the costs of sending the watches to be completely serviced and regulated. To cut a long story short, quite a few customers have told us they prefer to get their watches through us rather than taking a risk on a crowdfunding campaign, and this is precisely why I started the store.

Undoubtedly the best consumer prices are going to be with the microbrands themselves at the start of their pre-orders. We tell customers that who ask, I mention it in many reviews too, and we also help the brands we carry out by posting reviews during their Kickstarter campaigns to encourage customers to go buy direct instead of waiting to review something once we start carrying it. We also never ever list our own pre-orders while a Kickstart campaign is running so a microbrand can maximize their direct backers to meet their goals. Where our pricing becomes particularly good is after a Kickstarter campaign closes. We list our own pre-orders then at typically the lowest currently available prices, and lower than the microbrands's post-Kickstarter pre-orders. The bottom line is if you missed out on a campaign on Kickstarter, you probably want to check out The Microbrand Store's pre-orders next. Some folks can only back so many watches over a period of time and can be maxed out so that's useful. Others may have heard about things late, and again we provide a useful service that helps customers save money if they didn't get in on the ground floor. There are many other aspects that make us more helpful than leech-like IMHO. We spend thousands of dollars per month on advertising, often when a newer microbrand cannot, which can help lift a microbrand's own sales. When folks shop on a microbrand's site, they already know about the brand. When they come to the store, it's a great opportunity to see other watches apart from the one you originally came to browse so our target audiences can be complimentary. From a microbrand's perspective, we can reach customers who don't know about a microbrand. Then there is all the help we give behind the scenes to help microbrands refine and launch their products. I run a private self-help group for microbrands and freely share whatever I can, and have spent more time helping microbrand owners one-on-one than running the store.

My apologies if the above is wordy. You'd painted a simple picture (I think possibly unintentionally, as I really appreciate how helpful you are to everyone including us,) about how it's good to cut out the middle man. Generally that can hold true, but I hope I've shown that things can sometimes be more complex and nuanced than that. As a store, I feel it's our responsibility to bring something to the table to add some much needed value, particularly in the rather volatile microbrand space, be it our own warranty which we provide on top of the microbrand's manufacturer's warranty, helping customers get good treatment, or candid advice throughout their ownership of one of our watches.

You've stated your case very well, which I respect. Many of those are things I've understood and one reason why I put the links to your site up. I wouldn't hesitate to buy something from your site that I missed and really wanted, but sold out elsewhere. The markup prices seem to be fair IMO. I also like the fact that you acknowledged Spinnaker and Ballast not being true micro-brands.

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Thanks for the kind comments!

Yes there's a lot of smoke and mirrors marketing in the microbrand industry to be sure, especially from Chinese factory brands trying to front their wares, with some even setting up a Swiss domain name etc. (For Spinnaker and the others you listed, those are typically fronted in the UK.) Right now TACS is the only non-microbrand exception we're willing to stock because we think the design is very cool and quite unique. Even then, the marketing from the brand on that is Made in Japan, but that really only applies to the movement as the business is in China. To my mind that's a negative consideration for the brand but the only one. The quality and support is good and the uniqueness appeals as much as any good microbrand, so we can go along with that as long as we make our customers aware.
 
I can only speak to the Ocean Crawler and glad I grabbed one up.

If of any interest, we've just started a $400 off the RRP flash sale on our Ocean Crawler GMTs at the moment which runs to the end of this month. Wasn't sure if inappropriate so won't post links, images and further details here, but they're up on our Facebook page and Instagram. These are all running Soprod C125 movements that have been regulated as well, so to my mind, make a quite interesting choice.
 
keep on postin' THE MICROBRAND STORE...CODES always welcome- FLASH SALES yup always welcome-

-and info sought...separating the florist from the trees...getting granular with the chinese manufacturing scene... facts regarding the chinese / swiss manufacturing supply chain and compliance with swiss federation rules-

good stuff keep it coming...bunch of addicts here... threads like " why do I keep on buying watches ? " " will I ever have enough watches ? "


uh... no ..never enough...just 1 more watch
 
If of any interest, we've just started a $400 off the RRP flash sale on our Ocean Crawler GMTs at the moment which runs to the end of this month. Wasn't sure if inappropriate so won't post links, images and further details here, but they're up on our Facebook page and Instagram. These are all running Soprod C125 movements that have been regulated as well, so to my mind, make a quite interesting choice.

Please do post the code and info here. Not all our members do Facebook or Instagram.
 
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