Israel
Itay Noy
This independent Israeli watchmaker has created one watch model a year, in a limited series, since the year 2000. His workshop is in the old town of Jaffa, where each timepiece is assembled by hand, to order. He produces around 120 watches per year, recognisable by their dynamic dials and their in-house modules and complications. Itay Noy has won nine prizes, including the Andy Award, the Israeli Ministry of Culture Award and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation award. Since 2005 he has taught watchmaking and design at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.
Canada
Beauregard
Beauregard is the only independent watch brand aimed exclusively at women. It offers an artistic dialogue between precious gemstones and the art of watchmaking. Its creations are the product of a collaboration between a high jewellery workshop in the heart of Montreal, and exceptional partners based in the Swiss Jura. The project is the brainchild of Alexandre Beauregard, who is as obsessed with technical precision as he is with aesthetics. He designs hundreds of models, exploring different styles, remaining as devoted to watchmaking as he is to nature. The Lili collection provides the perfect illustration, with its rectangular case in gold and its dial in the shape of a flower made of gemstones, its 33 petals unfolding on a bed of diamonds.
Belgium
Ressence
Founded in 2010 by industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, Ressence has the ambitious goal of reinventing watchmaking. It all began with the Zero Series, which debuted a completely new dial concept representing time on a series of rotating discs. Traditional hands have been eliminated – instead, the time is read as you would read words on paper. This simplification continued with the TYPE 1, which got rid of the crown, thus creating a truly ambidextrous watch. The TYPE 2 introduced the world’s first automatic crown, doing away with the need to make manual adjustments. Finally, the TYPE 3 went even further, filling the watch with oil to remove refraction through the crystal and reinforcing the watch’s three-dimensional appearance.
France
Trilobe
Gautier Massonneau launched the creative and independent watchmaker Trilobe in France in 2018, impelled by a desire to shake up the traditional codes of watchmaking. His idea was to provide a new vision of time and an innovative way of telling time on three rotating discs with fixed indexes. Welcome to a new classic, characterised by a continual quest for innovation and differentiation.
Netherlands
Grönefeld
The history of this brand begins in 1912 in Oldenzaal in the Netherlands, where Johan Grönefeld set up his watchmaking workshop. Bart and Tim, Johan’s grandchildren, spent their childhood in the workshop and the family shop, and graduated from the most prestigious technical colleges in the Netherlands. Their thirst for knowledge took them to Switzerland, where they learned how to create grand complications. In 2008, back in the Netherlands, they brought a new dimension to Grönefeld with manufacture movements, including the calibre driving the 1941 Grönegraaf.
Italy
Panerai
Panerai was founded in 1860 in Florence, where it comprised a workshop, a boutique and, later, a watchmaking school. It started out providing precision instruments to the Italian navy, including frogmen commandos. The watches produced during this period, including the Luminor and Radiomir models, were categorised as military secrets for many years, until 1997, when the brand was bought by the Richemont Group and launched on the international market. Today, Panerai is a renowned manufacture that combines Italian design with Swiss watchmaking expertise.
Australia
Bausele
Bausele was founded in 2011 in Sydney by Christophe Hoppe, who dreamed of creating a watch brand for the country he loved. Bausele (a contraction of Beyond Australian Elements), reflects the Aussie lifestyle, its elements, its vast landscapes and its incredible wildlife. In 2015 Bausele was the first and only Australian brand to exhibit at Baselworld. In 2016 the company partnered with the Sydney Opera House to produce a special watch. The business took off and Bausele entered the French, US and Japanese markets, alongside generating online sales in over 40 countries. In 2020 Bausele was chosen to create the official watch to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Christophe Hoppe’s design flair, combined with his knowledge of and access to cutting-edge Swiss technologies, are the foundations of Bausele’s success. He considers every component and designs high-quality watches at affordable prices. The company is currently focusing on a new version of the official RAAF watch, of which the company’s founder is extremely proud. “We are delighted to present this latest watch, a limited edition that celebrates our extraordinary collaboration with the Royal Australian Air Force. With just 200 available, this watch bearing the Air Force’s new emblem is a treat for collectors.”
United Kingdom
Bremont
Nick and Giles English founded Bremont in 2002, and began producing vintage-inspired pilots’ watches. Over time, the company invested heavily in manufacturing equipment, and in 2021 moved to an ultra-modern facility. All Bremont watches, which are made exclusively in the United Kingdom, are now either chronometer-certified by the COSC, or meet ISO standards. Bremont has positioned itself in the adventure and exploration segment by making tool watches developed in collaboration with professionals and modern-day explorers.
Russia
Gelfman
Founded by entrepreneur and collector Ilya Gelfman in 2014, Gelfman reflects the mindset of a creative watchmaker who is not afraid to try out new forms of self-expression. His watches are a successful blend of avant-garde creativity with haute horlogerie execution. His primary concept is that of a retro-futurist electronic digital watch that shows the time on Nixie tubes (cold cathode neon readout tubes). The IN-16 Nixie uses two vintage Nixie tubes that were made in the 1980s. It combines avant-garde, retro-futurist, cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic design elements, while the steel case is machined and finished according to the most stringent watchmaking standards. Encouraged by the success of this watchmaking “UFO”, Gelfman is looking to expand its horizons, and has already started work on some new projects, which we can expect to be as bold and unconventional as the IN-16 Nixie. Watch this space.
