Independents

Tim Jackson
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I think a little data here might help

Hi Mostel,
One of the often misunderstood aspects of the watch business, is the degree to which our Independent watchmakers and micro brands farm out making of the parts, whether it be dials, cases, hands or varying movement parts. This is the reason for the often dizzying heights prices have got to.

I know that other than the jewels and the sapphire crystal, Roger and his three other artisan craftsmen make everything else in their workshop on the Isle of Man. I know this is not the case with the other guys you mention. It is not that Roger could not use outside guys to produce parts to speed up the process or do it less expensively, he has just chosen the path of completely old school English hand made watchmaking in a similar vein to what his mentor George Daniels suggested was a worthwhile pursuit of the horological art of watchmaking. It just costs more to do it this way and the majority of the watch buying public will not go there. At a production level of 8-10 watches a year, his market is extremely narrow.

All the top end Independent watchmakers to my mind produce superb and vastly superior products to the big brands, and I suggest they have to evaluated on a completely different basis, because they are not really the same type of product. It is natural to try to compare in order to understand and in some cases justify the value, but I think each and everyone has to judged on it's own merits. Not easy to do, although with today's access to info via the web, this has become easier than in the past prior to our new world with info flying around. Plus you can call or email them and ask about their process of making their horological art. They are usually happy to help with this type of info.

Hopefully I have helped shed some light on why!!!

Cheers,
Tim