While no one can quite agree on exactly what a microbrand is when it comes to watches, everyone’s sure that these smaller production, upstart operations are making some of the most interesting and exciting designs in watches today. Unencumbered by the weight of history and infrastructure, brands like Baltic, Furlan Marri, Studio Underd0g and Atelier Wen are capable of challenging the bigger brands, offering exciting, nimble designs and responding rapidly to changing trends.

Of course, the flip side of this is that it can be hard to keep up with the seemingly weekly stream of new brands. Today, we’ve taken some of the hard work out of sorting through all the newcomers, with five brands you need to pay attention to.

SpaceOne

Guillaume Laidet and Théo Auffret are the powerhouse duo behind SpaceOne, who released their first watch in 2023, and have followed it up with the Tellurium. While the brand might be new, there’s some real credibility behind the offering. Laidet has extensive experience with young brands; he’s one of the teams behind Vulcain and Nivada, and Auffret is a GPHG-nominated and Journe Award-winning master watchmaker who’s only just getting started.

The SpaceOne Tellurium is an impressively complicated piece, with a futuristic case that displays — under its broad domed sapphire — a calendar watch with an unusual display called a heliocentric tellurium, which tracks the moon’s orbit around the earth, and earth’s orbit around the sun. Essentially, it’s a pared-back planetarium, but one that comes in at 2,990 Euros. It’s an innovative, impressive package with a whimsical display right at its heart.

Wren

The brainchild of Craig Karger, the man behind the popular Wrist Enthusiast Instagram account, Wren (see what he did there), offers a smartly designed take on the diver that’s got plenty of flourishes. The overall shape and style is pretty classic, but the details on the 41mm Diver One are elevated. The flat-link bracelet gives the watch a sleek overall package, and the dial is clearly a labour of love.

The brushed gradient finish, which shifts from vivid turquoise to inky black, is lovely and provides a nice visual cohesion with the black sapphire bezel. On top of that, the dial is made in the sandwich style, adding literal depth, and a vintage feel thanks to the beige lume colour. Another nice touch is that the case has been PVD-coated, not to colour it but instead to give it an extra layer of hardness. It’s a solid package, and priced well at USD 895.

Isotope

Founded in 2016 by José and Joana Miranda, Isotope is one of the more established entries in this article, but the brand has achieved something quite remarkable in a short time, developing a design language that is incredibly distinct while also being stylistically versatile. The retro-infused nostalgic notes that Isotope plays always feel current and relevant, be that on one of their poppier works or the more pared-back tool models.

Case in point (if you’ll forgive the self-promotion) is the Isotope x Revolution Mercury, a mirrored beauty inspired by the eponymous liquid metal. The resulting watch is as stark as it is stunning, and completely modern.

Anoma

Anoma’s debut watch is only a few months old, but already its getting attention from all the right types of people. Built on the premise that we need a more daring and creative watch design, the Anoma A1 certainly delivers something different.

Inspired by modernist sculpture, the A1 is a softened, pebble-like triangle that feels both simple and complex, thanks to its shape-in-shape design that offers a wearing experience far outside the norms of conventional wristwatches. The first series has been sold out, with the next batch delivering in early 2025. Personally, I want to know if they plan to iterate on the triangle, or branch out into other shapes.

Maen

The Dutch brand Maen has been around since 2017, and they’ve had quite a prolific output in a few short years. Early on, they leant into heavily vintage-inspired numbers, but their latest design — the Manhattan Ultra Thin, a 39mm watch that offers something a little different.

At USD1,123, this 6.9mm-thin watch wouldn’t look out of place in a 1970s sports watch lineup, but Maen has managed to create a smart design that doesn’t feel like it belongs to any particular era, which means it feels at home anywhere. It’s an accomplished piece of watch design that really feels like a brand finding its groove. And, if you’ve ever wanted to get into the world of ultra-thin watches, this is a great way to dip your toes in the water.