Watch and learn – the things that big brands should learn from microbrands

Buffy Acacia

If you’ve only been a watch enthusiast for a handful of years, you may not understand just how significant the proliferation of microbrands has been for the industry. It wasn’t so long ago that if you only had $250 to spend on a watch, it was hard to find anything other than some department store quartz rubbish. There were some solid options from the budget-friendly Japanese brands, but you had to know where to find them. Now, we’re spoiled with titanium cases, sapphire crystals, reliable mechanical movements, all for incredible prices. Here’s what the big brands need to learn from microbrands to keep their respect and prestige.

On-the-fly bracelet adjustment

To be clear, microbrands didn’t invent on-the-fly bracelet adjustment at all. Big name brands like Omega and Rolex have been using it for years, and when it was introduced, it felt like a truly special experience that only luxury watches could offer. Now, mas-produced bracelet clasps with built-in on-the-fly adjustment are finding their way into the catalogues of hundreds of microbrands whose components are mostly made in China. The brands’ bracelets themselves can be as unique as they like, but as long as the size of the clasp matches up, on-the-fly adjustment can be included with the clasp without an unreasonable price increase. Christopher Ward has been implementing on-the-fly adjustment for several years now, and its bracelets are some of the best-respected on the market.

Now that it’s becoming more common, it’s also becoming more painful to see respected brands that haven’t caught up with the trend yet. A new clasp system may be difficult and expensive to implement when all of your manufacturing is set up in a certain way, however, it feels like many high-end brands are falling behind. After all, what is a customer supposed to think when they find a watch that’s a tenth of the price of a luxury one, yet has better features? It’s now common knowledge that wrists expand and contract throughout the day, and having the ability to pop an extra couple of millimetres without tools is incredibly helpful for comfort and convenience. At least Akio Naito, President of Seiko, has said such a clasp is under development there.

Accessible brand communities

Buying a watch from a large company can sometimes feel like standing alone at the foot of a mountain. Their lofty presence almost gives them an otherworldly quality that makes us feel lucky to buy from them, and grateful for the opportunity. On the other hand, even if a microbrand operates within a luxury price bracket, the feeling of gratitude is directed at the customer. Not only that, but the community that supports that business usually ends up having some input into the watches themselves, whether it’s from customer service that actually listens, or polls that crowdsource design choices and colour palettes.

Some microbrands even allow their communities to have direct contact with the founders, which makes sense when it’s a one-person operation. Although that will never be feasible for a large company, the sense that your comments and feedback are being heard and acted upon is invaluable. Beyond that, all brands should actively try to cultivate positive communities. Luxury forums can be intimidating and uninviting, or even the comment sections on social media. It’s never really about price, but the attitudes surrounding the watches. Code41 is a fantastic example of a brand democratising luxury watchmaking, even going as far as having 100% cost and profit margin transparency.

Freedom of design within brand identities

Leafing through the big-box brand catalogues, there are so many examples that feel like they don’t actually have a distinct identity. They may have two or three flagship models that are popular, but then there will be many that just seem to fill in the gaps. Microbrands not only have total freedom to design whatever they want, but their business models depend on every new release being a hit. That leads to an all killer, no filler vibe that often captures a much stronger brand identity, even if the individual watches are very different. Using Studio Underd0g as an example, its design language is holistic and consistent across models that are all incredibly unique.

We have seen some big brands breaking the mould lately, such as Doxa’s voyage into the world of Clive Cussler, and it’s becoming more evident that experimental finishing techniques, case materials, or even shapes are being prioritised above classical stoicism. If larger manufacturers are afraid to wander outside the identity they’ve established for themselves, perhaps they’ve backed themselves into a corner.