based on its own merits rather than the brand itself and I just did it again two days ago when I bought a Glashutte Original Senator Excellence which I preferred over the Patek Philippe 5196G because the former fitted my wrist better and actually had a more attractive dial in my opinion. However, I must confess that sometimes one takes a risk buying a watch merely for its merits and ignoring the brand because one then suffers with the resale value of the watch. Now, most of us buy watches to keep and enjoy but sometimes we need to sell our watches to buy other watches and it is quite painful when the watch has fallen dramatically in value even though we ourselves know it is a great watch such as Montblancs with Minerva movements ( as stated by Nico above). I have had three Montblancs with exceptional Minerva movements and irrespective of how rare or well finished the watches may be, the watches do not command the respect that they do deserve, If the same watches were branded Patek Philippe, they would be among the most coveted in the market!
Your analogy of the Honda NSX amused me as I had the privilege of owning two (at different times) and they remain the best and most enjoyable cars I have ever owned or driven. And I say this having owned Porsches, Aston Martins, a Rolls Royce Corniche and a Maserati. The fact that it was a Honda did not stop me from buying it as it was an incredible car by any standards. But the fact remains that if it wore the Ferrari badge, it would have sold so much better. And hats off to the car fraternity because these cars are now sought after icons with prices to match. I only hope great watches from less illustrious brands will be recognised in the same fashion that the Honda NSX is today.