In the past I’ve owned a Techne sparrowhawk II, Steinhart Nav-B Chrono II, Vintage GMT, Ocean2 and a Glycine Incursore Arco and moved them all on. With all my watches I tend to do a ridiculous amount of research (part of the fun) before purchasing and don’t purchase on a whim. My current ‘collection’ is only two watches a Seiko Spork & an Oris BC3, both I consider keepers, mainly due to my style preference and the quality vs cost.

So to my question, can boutique / micro brand watches be as good as their mass market competitors, in my below £500 price range?

There are many other small brands out there which I’d like to sample, the PRS-25 and the Kemmner Turtle are still high on my list… but I’m starting to wonder if I should just stick with the big boys.

My reason for moving on each of the watches has been as varied as the watches themselves, but on reflection quality vs cost seems to be a factor in each. All my watches are / have been second hand, and in my experience second hand mass market watches seem to be better value for money, mainly due the larger price drop from new.

Anyone found a micro brand watch that they think is exceptional value for money (second hand)?