Some microbrand watches have reached such a level of quality and acceptance among collectors that the price difference compared to major brands begins to blur. Are these prices justified?

Remember that microbrands don't have much in the way of overhead expenses, so they can afford to charge less. Large brands like Seiko, Swatch Group, etc., have lots of overhead, so they need to charge enough to cover those costs. Ad in the fact that most large brands also use an AD network, that has overhead, and needs to make money from each watch, and it becomes pretty clear why large brands need to charge more for each watch just to take home the same amount of profit as a microbrand.

Well big brands have scale and usually their margins are higher so they could (just could) afford to do so if they wanted to. Now, microbrands don´t have scale and have to absorb at the early stages all fixed costs of production to reach some scale and start having profits. So demand could push their prices up (which I believe in some cases that is what is happening) and probably those prices could not be justified.

If I make 300 watches and charge $100 for them, but discover people will pay $500 for them, I'd be silly to not charge $500.

People who paid $100 might think the price is too high, but the market said a higher price was more appropriate.

What @alfredo said, plus the fact that large manufacturers sell consumer products. Something that primarily needs to look good without being too daring. Heritage, technical specs or other considerations take a backseat to the watch looking good, which makes it marketable.

Microbrands on the other hand almost have to serve niche markets, which leads to a distinctly different type of watch.

This makes price comparisons problematic, as you are comparing two different products.

Exactly…now, we have to remember that value for the money is always a constant and hype distorts that perception both in big (I.e. Swatch with the Moonswatch) and micro brands (not dare to tell which ones 😜)

Not when you can get exactly the same watches (or the parts to make one) from AliExpress for a 10th of the price.

I wouldn't trust a microbrand on aesthetic plainly yet. Service to me is more important. I'm willing to pay a premium for that in the long run when dealing with the kind of numbers one usually does with luxury watches

I think we're entering the vague definition of the term "microbrand" again. This can be anything from an AliExpress manufacturer to a small but well-established shop. I would not have an issue with a small European manufacturer that has been around for a century. A website with a "brand story" is a different question.

Think of this like children at school. One child studies for 100s of hours for a test ( R and D ) comes up with original ideas based on all their research and studying ( watch designs ). They are well know for being an outstanding student for years throughout the entire school ( prestige ). Then a second student ( micro brand ) copies their homework without a real understanding out even why they are answering things a certain way. They just new to copy student 1s formuler. They also don’t have a bring future as they have no original creativity and drive even though their test answers look the same.

Well that could be the case of homages. Microbrands in my opinion are artists in some way bringing new concepts and designs with their own spirit and soul.

Some of them