My micro brand favorites are ..

That Leica is awesome!

If Montblanc and Mido are micro brands, then so are Longines and Panerai.

Mido cannot be classified as a micro brand and I doubt if CW or Yema are either.

Agreed. Neither is Leica. They are a €400 million company.

Montblanc???????? Owned by a parent company that had revenue of €20bn in 2023…

Leica is questionable as micro brand as well. That’s a giant company with watches just being one of the products (probably smallest product group after cameras, lenses, etc.)

So let's clarify this list...

Yema - not technically a microbrand. As Yema was organized in 1948. Yes, the brand has been revived in the current era, but it is still a heritage brand.

Baltic - true microbrand based in France.

Mido - definitely not a microbrand. Mido is a heritage Swiss brand that has been in continuous operation since 1918 and is a member of the Swatch Group.

Brew - true microbrand based in NYC in the USA.

Anordain - true microbrand based in Scotland in the UK.

Studio Underdog - true microbrand based in the UK.

Christopher Ward - started as a microbrand, but is now more the size of an independent with much capitalization behind the brand including operations in the UK and Switzerland.

Montblanc - definitely not a microbrand. The Minerva operations with Montblanc have been in continuous operation since 1858. Montblanc the pen company began making watches in 1997. The combined Montblanc/Minerva is owned by The Richemont Group.

Leica - is not truly a microbrand as the company was founded in 1869 and started to enter the watch market in recent years after building their camera and related business for more than a century.

Hope the above information helps with context.

Now for some fun...

Here are some vintage Yema watches from the 1960s/1970s...

Here are a couple of vintage Midos...

Here are a number of vintage Minerva/Montblanc from the 1940s to the 1960s...

Great vintage collection, congrats!

My favourite micro is Omega 🤣👍🏻

These are all micro brands in my book. I guess my definition would start with market share. Beyond that in my mind they are the ones most competitively past up in their pricing segments in order to attain more notable brands. I list them because they are the ones I would consider above all others in the micro brand segment. If you do not consider them micro brands that’s fine. I absolutely do. It’s great they have history. I’m aware. If I selected it then that’s what earned their recognition.