Top 5 Microbrands To Discover In December 2025
7 min read
As the current article forms a continuation of our monthly feature on microbrands, and as this is going to be our last such instalment for the current year, it feels natural to recap, in brief, the horological highlights of 2025. The said year has been absolutely relentless in terms of launches, and surprisingly, not only in regards to the pace of watch releases but also in the number of new brands that debuted.
The latter was significantly a contribution of the persistent rise of microbrands.
Agreed, while this paints a very upbeat picture of the year near-bygone, one element of potent gloom was what could be termed as the “financial panic of 2025,” courtesy of the so-called Trump tariffs. It was a standout disruption in the watch industry and although the implicated percentages fluctuated from 31 to 10 to an absurd 39, and now reduced to an acceptable 15, the year in general must’ve felt like a roller coaster ride for the Swiss manufacturers.
Still, it is the once niche but now a bit pervasive independent, and also microbrand, space that is radiating heat at a level ample to tan the sun itself. The said is broadly emerging as a starting point for watch collecting. When it occupies a sort of middle-class, or even in some cases an entry-level segment of pricing, the level of design, exclusivity, and overall factor of differentiation to gain, makes the independents and microbrands a very attractive prospect or a product.
So, here’s a renewal of our monthly instalment on microbrands with a focus on five.
Nalla Neram
Even in purely analytical terms, India poses as the next big growth opportunity for the entire luxury watch industry. The Indian watch market is gradually stepping in as a successor to China and Hong Kong as the key driver of Swiss watch exports. Driven by an expanding middle class and increasing consumer spending, Swiss watch exports to India surged to CHF 274 million in 2024. That’s a 25% increase compared to the year before. Yet, despite such an influence on the horological forefront, Indian watchmaking at large hasn’t ever had any global impact.
But that’s starting to change with brands such as Nalla Neram.
For a brand established near Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and launched by a passionate Krishnamani Raman, Nalla Neram has legitimate Indian roots. Here, the India connect isn’t restricted to the founder’s origins but form the philosophical blueprint for the brand’s debut timepiece, the Kaalam Minutes Timer. The India references, beyond the name which translates to “auspicious time,” are realized via third minute highlights on the peripheral minutes track with reference to the period of “trunk calls,” when long distance phone calls in India were limited to three minutes. Also, the chakra symbol forms a repetitive element on the timepiece, literally front, back, and side.
The Nalla Neram Kaalam Minutes Timer is a cool sports chronograph with wide appeal, despite certain India-specific references. This crafted-in-Switzerland 316L stainless steel timepiece is powered by the very impressive Swiss Made La Joux-Perret L112 caliber. Its dial gets an asymmetrical tricompax layout with a 30-minute counter and a 12-hour timer at 3 and 6 o’clock positions respectively. An alternating double ring registers the minutes with the outer ring measuring the even number minutes while the inner ring is dedicated for the odd number minutes with every third minute colored orange. Currently, the Nalla Neram portfolio is limited to just the Kaalam Minutes Timer watch.
Price: ₹4,99,200 to ₹5,20,000.
Dunselman
Dunselman makes the list of indie watch brands that debuted in 2025 and it’s the contribution of Annelinde Dunselman, a Dutch watchmaker. She made her debut with the not-so-botanical Black Tulip which combines a beautiful hand-crafted movement with a niche complication. Annelinde Dunselman has elaborately worked behind the scenes at major manufacturers such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Grönefeld, and Philippe Narbel. With the launch of the Black Tulip, her dreams of an eponymous brand are realized in a superlative manner.
Annelinde Dunselman’s Black Tulip took the better part of two and a half years to develop and the result combines a unique in-house-developed caliber with an abundance of floral themes from the motif of stylized tulips that adorn its dial. The watch measures 38mm in diameter and has been finished to the nines, especially on its hand-wound caliber D202.5, which features a zero-reset mechanism and boasts an impressive 100 hours of power reserve. It gets beveled angles, polished screws, media-blasted bridges, and positief relief engraved barrel wheel.
The debut Black Tulip will be limited to 10 pieces and forms the aesthetic fulcrum upon which Annelinde’s future direction pivots.
Price: ₹44,76,700 approx.
L’Atelier Bernard
The independent watch brand L’Atelier Bernard is also a recent debut and one with a very ambitious horological realization. The brand is the conception of not one but two Bernards - Bernard Van Ormelingen and Bernard Braboretz. Both are Belgian-origin watchmakers based in Fleurier and have introduced their debut timepiece, “The Owl.” This watch is a remarkable realization of very traditional horological techniques exhibited via a flair of bold creativity.
The signature hallmarks of The Owl are established by its inverted-movement architecture, a duplex escapement, hand-cut guilloché on the double symmetrical barrels, traditional gold inlay work on the barrel bridge, and the crown at 12 o’clock. This debut timepiece measuring 39mm across was announced as a limited edition of just six pieces and has been paired with a boxed sapphire crystal on its steel case. Its chief element of horological rarity is the unconventional duplex escapement mechanism which traces its roots to old pocket watch movements. In brief technical terms, it can be described as a deadbeat tangential impulse escapement and its adoption in a contemporary timekeeper makes it a true rarity. Its balance beats at an equally unusual 1.5 Hz frequency and offers 45 hours of power reserve on a full wind.
Price: ₹1,70,00,130 approx.
Raúl Tena
Right now is what’s probably the golden age of independent watchmaking and microbrands alike. The scope and expanse of wildly creative and exceptionally innovative yield has been an impressive given of the said and in all of this, Raúl Tena stands as a creator of bespoke timekeepers combining métiers d’art and haute horlogerie in truly delectable realizations. Born in Spain, Raúl Tena is a former aeronautical engineer with a background in music and art. Although his products have been many, the Pearl Diver is his true inaugural eponymous opus and follows his signature three-dimensional time sculpture form.
The Pearl Diver as well as his former contraptions have been very collaborative in this realization and the recent creation carries insightful contribution of key master watchmakers and artisans, including Olivier Kuhn, Atelier Miniare, Télôs workshops, Voutilainen & Cattin, Comblémine and Kari Voutilainen. The limited to five pieces Pearl Diver is a 44mm watch featuring a handmade gold pearl diver sculpture on its dial with an actual pearl from the Persian Gulf. It’s powered by the manual wound RT01 movement and combines a jumping hour function with trailing retrograde minutes complication. Its twin barrel architecture delivers over 60 hours of mechanical autonomy.
Price: ₹ 1,81,33,472 approx.
Sartory Billard
Sartory Billard was conceived as a personal project by industrial designer Armand Billard and his colleague and friend Ludovic Sartory in 2015. Now, the brand is solely owned by the former and operates from the workshop set up at his home in Moselle, France. Some of its work is complemented by the operations at a separate Swiss facility based in Sainte-Croix. The brand’s most popular timepiece is the SB04 which debuted in 2020 which followed the initial experimental SB01, SB02 and SB03 models.
The Sartory Billard SB04 is a heavily bespoke timepiece and poses a rare opportunity for collectors to intricately customize their watches. Inside every SB04 is the self-winding G100 caliber from La Joux-Perret. The brand moved a bit upmarket with the SB05 model from 2022 which features a manual-wind caliber 7380 with a 90-hour power reserve, again from La Joux-Perret. Every SB05 is 100 percent made to order.
Sartory Billard’s most ambitious model however is the SB06. It’s a budget-be-damned timekeeper which steps into the world of complicated haute horlogerie in two iterations. The first one is an in-house flying tourbillon watch with conventional display for hours and minutes. The other one takes time display quirks a notch up with its hour hand that gets an extended arm on the opposite side for displaying day and night time hours via their sun and moon-tipped ends on the upper dial hemisphere. The hour hand has been geared to a half speed, so it makes one rotation every 24 hours. In 2024, this piece was nominated in the Tourbillon category at the GPHG awards.
Price: ₹3,16,323 to ₹1,01,22,336.
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