Watches have came a long way in the last few years. Many years back there was no grey area really. You had very expensive Swiss Automatic watches and you had cheap quartz beaters. Today there are hundreds of microbrands that are putting out some quality watches at fantastic prices. The lines have kind of blurred now as you can get 400 dollar watches all day that will hold their own with some of the much more expensive brands.
Sorry my friend, but that trend of Micro brand watches first took place over a decade ago. It's literally the same hype it was back then. Nothing wrong with buying a micro brand watch. But the issue is, the micro brands simply cannot sustain their models in terms of parts availability, servicing, and longevity. Thankfully, I didn't learn that the hard way, but others did. Especially with micro brands like Steinhart, all those years ago. I was there when they first came on the scene. Was a hair's breath from pulling the trigger on their 2nd ever model released to the Public. But I waited. Glad I did.
We're not talking 20 years after a purchase is made. I mean, it was less than 5 years. Folks couldn't get parts for that good-looking watch. Or, other Steinhart models that followed. Being a micro brand, they didn't have the money, the spare parts, nor a network of watchmakers to fix the issues.
As much as I despise the giant conglomerate known as The Swatch Group that swallowed up 19 well-known Swiss watch brands (would have been 20, but Oris employees pooled their money together and bought the company back from TSG). I'm forced to admit that yes, there are advantages to being part of said giant conglomerate. Every issue that micro brands suffer from, non-existent for the brands that are under TSG massive umbrella. Parts availability, servicing, turn-around times for servicing. No need to wait
months for a new batch of replacement parts to become available. Yes, MONTHS! That actually happened with Steinhart and other micro brands.
To be honest, that entire scandal, along with a few others involving micro brands is why I personally steer clear of them. Longevity? Even just 5 years down the road, is a toss-up. Maybe, maybe not; in terms of your favorite micro brand model still being functional on your wrist. I can't entirely blame Gunther either. Steinhart being a micro brand.... It's like any other small business. Teething issues are to be expected. Even afterwards, that one vendor supplying (for example) cases; might decide to increase their prices. A well-known, large, traditional brand? No problem at all. A micro brand that can't afford such a price increase? Oh! They're screwed!
A delivery delay of a couple of months on a popular back-ordered model, suddenly becomes a delay of nearly a year, or longer! As that micro brand now has to scramble to find a new, more affordable 3rd-party vendor; just for that one part. Micro brands have very tight margins. Traditional watch brands that have been around for centuries, don't. A price increase from one vendor is a very mild irritation, for them. For a micro brand, it could utterly destroy their business, their reputation, or both! Just that one thing.
I'm sorry but when folks online who know my background ask for watch recommendations, I don't recommend any micro brands. They might be selling well today. In a few years, out of business completely. I do ask several questions before giving out a recommendation. But I emphasize to steer clear of micro brands, and I tell them why. I mean, imagine a father asking for a recommendation for his son who will soon graduate, and has a great corporate job waiting for him. I'm not going to recommend a micro brand model that in less than 10 years is going to be a useless, non-functioning, light-duty paperweight tucked away in a drawer somewhere because the parts couldn't be found to keep it running. Unfortunately, that right there is a very realistic probability. I'm just not. It's going to be something from a centuries-long, established, traditional brand. With parts availability common as dirt. Keep the watch running for decades.
Micro brands love to hype themselves up as new and exciting. Problem is, they've been doing that for over a decade now. And, a lot of them have fallen short on their promises.
