ROOM NEAR THE TOP

While the present sees the top brands in watchmaking consolidating their positions, there is certainly room near the top for a few dark horses

- ASHOK SOMAN

If you love watches then we congratulate you for being in the right time, which is actually a bit of a surprise, given what you may have heard about your chances of getting any halfway decent watch (see part I of this story). Then again, we have spent a considerable number of pages (and issues) arguing the opposite, while obliquely illustrating our points with some choice images. Make no mistake though, the watch trade is going gangbusters and selling admirably well. Again, watches with the word smart in them aside, no watch executive would have considered, in 2013, that the watch trade would be doing better in 2023 than in 2005; well, we are concerned mainly with novelties from 2022, but you get the idea. In any case, this has the effect of complicating our annual look at watches that could be great.

Bearing the above in mind, there are a few caveats about low-flying watches that we must note. The main one is that you must not mistake a low-profile brand for one that makes relatively unknown watches that are easily available. This actually informs availability at present, as demonstrated by wait lists at brands such as Parmigiani Fleurier, Czapek & Cie, H. Moser & Cie and Gronefeld. This also extends to so-called enthusiast brands such as Kurono Tokyo, Felipe Pikullik and Baltic, where intense collector interest is filling up the order books rapidly. As a caveat within a caveat, you should also not take this to mean that the above-mentioned brands, or those like them, have no watches for you. If you look past the socalled hero models, you might find something to like there too.