Beyond the Mainstream: Exploring the World of Rare and Independent Watchmakers

Chasing the exceptional in timekeeping and timepiece collecting is a passage through many unknowns. For many collectors, the enticement of a Rolex, Patek Philippe or an Audemars Piguet is undeniable. These and many other manufacturers reign supreme, commanding a significant hold on market share percentage. Their prestige, harvested by many decades of iconic designs and superlative craftsmanship has cast an insatiable market demand that often outpaces supply. The result? A relentless pursuit often culminating in the frustrating experience of being placed on a seemingly endless waitlist.

Yet, within the exclusive cast of high watchmaking flick lies a vast, unexplored landscape of hidden horology. Beyond the well-trodden paths are independent watchmakers and lesser-known brands that craft timepieces with an artisanal and technical brilliance that often surpasses their more illustrious counterparts that command market share, define hype and enjoy unrestricted exposure. These watchmakers often eclipse the mainstream behemoths in both artisanal craftsmanship and technical innovation, offering something truly unique to the discerning collector. Their unique perspective on the art of timekeeping expresses much more than the fleeting passage of seconds, minutes or hours, it conveys the soul of time and the devotion of the artisan. In doing so, they push the boundaries of haute horlogerie and create masterpieces that outdo the more commercially inclined manufacturers.

So, while the pull of the mainstream is undeniable, it is in the exploration of the lesser known where the true brilliance of watch collecting lies. By venturing beyond the well-worn paths, one discovers a world of timekeeping wonders, where every second is not merely measured, but celebrated as art. So, let's explore the horological world’s rarest that get somewhat lost within the glam of the so-called titans.

Hervé Schlüchter

When a wristwatch presents an amalgam of the finesse of traditional crafts and classical timekeeping precision, achieved through time-honored solutions, it makes a perfect use case for a wearable rarity. The early 1900s witnessed the genesis of marine grade pocket chronometers and when I stumbled upon the Hervé Schlüchter L’Essentiel ‘Philosophical Regulator’, it sums up as a wrist-friendly high-grade chronometer. Although the ideation of this timepiece draws inspiration from Antide Janvier’s regulator from the 1800s, this 39mm regulator style timepiece which the watchmaker, Hervé Schlüchter - a Philippe Dufour protégé, explains as a “philosophical mechanical instrument” could best be expressed as a wearable pocket watch.

The birth of Ateliers Hervé Schlüchter coincided with a romantic celestial phenomenon, the Spring Equinox of March 2022. Mindful of heritage and tutored in movement finishing by Philippe Dufour and in engine turning by Georges Brodbeck, Schlüchter found his independent Maison under the motto, Creare Durare - to create to last. The mpetus for his creation L’Essentiel was sparked by an unfortunate event in his life. Following his father’s passing away in 2016, Hervé Schlüchter decided to forego the comforts of stable employment he enjoyed at Bovet and create his own eponymous brand. The atelier operates out of a 19th Century mansion in Bienne and employs a petite team of skilled artisans. The inceptive creation, the L’Essentiel is the first opus of a horological trilogy which the Maison refers to as “Tree of Life.” In the trilogy, the L’Essentiel will be followed by the L’Essentiel Tourbillon and the L’Existence. For now, the stand alone masterpiece presents the manifestation of traditional crafts executed at the finest level while deliberately preferring an old-fashioned and unhurried way of doing things.

Antoine Preziuso

Nothing and absolutely nothing in the horological world equals the ‘creation of beauty’ as well as an Antoine Preziuso timepiece. While everyone chases mechanical innovation, Preziuso sought to research in advanced aesthetics and created timepieces such as the Stardust Tourbillon - a 1 of 1 piece is paved with 2052 of some of the world’s smallest cut diamonds all set meticulously with hand. Based in Geneva, Antoine Preziuso had brief stints with Patek Philippe as well as Antiquorum and in 1986 had his name on a wristwatch for the first time. Prominent as the master of tourbillons, Antoine Preziuso carried forward a family tradition and together with his son Florian, who heads production unit in Geneva, created the “Tourbillon of Tourbillons” which won the Innovation Watch Prize in GPHG 2015. For Antoine Preziuso, his originality as a true independent is his prestige and his eponymous brand is a family affair. Wife May manages the business and daughter Laura crafts mechanical jewelry.

Antoine Preziuso’s creations are distinguished by their unique amalgam of Latin artisanal tradition and Swiss workmanship. Together, they yield a wealth of outstanding creations that are extremely expressive and refuse to be restricted by the constraints of conventions. If otherwise, how could we get a timepiece with three tourbillons revolving together as a tourbillon.

Petermann Bédat

The brilliance of Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat serves as a sigh of relief and preserves the notion that the future of Swiss high watchmaking is in safe hands. Their opus, Petermann Bédat is an artisanal realization of a unique blending of old with the new. The duo met in 2007 in their first year at the Ecole d'Horlogerie de Genève and post graduation, reunited at A. Lange & Söhne. Upon return to their native land, they found their own manufacture - Petermann Bédat, a stone’s throw away from the workshop of Dominique Renaud, of Renaud Papi. The movement development expertise of the prolific neighbor melded with the perfection seeking ethos of the young watchmakers and the Maison has yielded two complex examples of high horology, the Reference 2941 featuring the in-house dead-beat second caliber 171 and the Reference 2941, a monopusher split-seconds chronograph with a jumping minute counter. The former took home the Horological Revelation Prize at the prestigious GPHG awards in 2020.

Both examples stand as testimonies to the artisanal and technical competence of the duo and in the intricate complexity of their mechanisms, allow a nuanced expression of timekeeping perfection executed at exacting standards and definitive of high watchmaking.

Krayon

Like many Cabinotiers of his age, Remi Maillat, founder of Krayon, departed from a popular brand to set up an independent manufacture. Having worked with Cartier high-complications department for a number of years, Remi founded Krayon in 2013. His watchmaking career found genesis as an engineer and movement developer and the early Krayon manufacture was an engineering studio involved with movement development for other brands. The brand debuted its own timepiece creations with the very complex Everywhere watch in 2017 followed by the Anywhere watch in 2020 which was a logical and philosophical progression from the Everywhere.

The Krayon Everywhere is more than just a watch, it’s a wearable programmable astronomical computer with a very unique astronomical complication. The timepiece displays the correct time of sunrise and sunset along with the durations of daylight and nighttime hours for anywhere in the world. The Krayon Anywhere watch also displays a similar complication but with limited adjustability. Here, the latitude for a specific location to display its Sunrise/Sunset information must be set by a watchmaker. Considering the development and execution of the Everywhere and Anywhere timepieces, Krayon has cemented a repute as one of the most groundbreaking astronomical complications manufacturers and is surely one to keep an eye on.

Eva Leube

Watchmaking is definitely tradition-inclined and largely a male dominated space. Breaking the mold is independent watchmaker Eva Leube, a former watchmaker at Rolex, Ulysse Nardin and Thomas Prescher. Born in Germany, Eva has been places to refine her watchmaking craft and has worked with Rolex for 6 years. In 2011, she unveiled her Ari timepiece, a curved timepiece designed to gracefully wrap around the wrist. More than a watch, it is a mechanical cuff where not only the case is curved, the caliber too arches gracefully offering a wonderful aside from the conventional movement layout and architecture. This is a timepiece designed to wrap around the wrist and there’s no question that it's one of the most elegant expressions of traditional watchmaking.

The appeal of the lesser-known horological artisans is a celebration of their devotion to tradition. Where everything is subjective, the entice of keeping a tradition alive by offering a nuanced expression of the timekeeping craft garners universal appreciation. It is the humility and dedication of the artisan, whether known or lesser-known that offers a somewhat pleasant aside to the very hyped commercially-inclined creations where the pursuit of perfection gets lost. It is the rare that cast an enchanting brilliance and tell a wonderful tale of time’s perseverance.