chintu
504
And Kudoke, Dornblueth, and more...
Oct 10, 2020,21:26 PM
Some real value-plays are out there amongst independents. Prices are still reasonable.
Names that I can heartily recommend are the artisanal independents like Stefan Kudoke ( gphg awardee), Dornbluth ( quintus ; inhouse caliber driven), Beat Haldiman ( with the massive balance wheel as a stand-out feature), Urban Jurgensen ( the only watchmaker to offer a wrist watch with the near impossible to produce detente escapement ), Gronefeld ( affordable principia), MB&F ( for staying true to horological tradition by using traditional materials and hand-finishing and staying away from new-age materials except the UV-liga used only in HM2) .
On De Bethune or Urwerk , I have mixed feelings given their propensity to excessively use new age materials which make me nervous as to long term reliability as well as serviceability and costs.
Nomos and Moser would be a good ones, but they are more industrial finished, while having fantastic inhouse calibers and original designs.
Lang & Heyne would have made it to my list. But the exit of Marco Lang did not inspire confidence in the stability of the company.
Greubel Forsey or Romain Gauthier are beautiful as well, but prices are too far North.
regds