Genuine Search for Knowledge - What was the most significant watch in creating the modern microbrand genre?

In case these didn’t turn up. Zach Weiss’s article is a good start.

https://wornandwound.com/decade-in-review-the-rise-of-micro-brands-all-things-vintage-and-tudors-return/

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/understanding-the-rise-of-the-microbrands

First, we have to settle on the definition of a microbrand. That may be tougher than you think. First of all, I think that what is old is new again. The model for the Swiss watch industry before the quartz crisis had hundreds of brands that we would we recognize today as a microbrand: parts from many suppliers, standardized movements, bringing a product to market lower than the more established brands (Eloga, Britix, Onsa and so many others). Even in the U.S. you had a brand like Jaro that made everything in-house and never had a large following.

The 1970's and 1980's shuffled the deck. I don't think that big players in other companies breaking away constitute a microbrand, so no Gerald Genta, Richard Mille, or Raymond Weil. But, what of Shinola? 2011 is early in the microbrand space, but the founder had originally started Fossil.

I think that the industry is reverting back to its pre-1970 model. There was room for many small brands before as now. I view this as similar to the beer industry: too much consolidation created opportunities and niches to fill. When the world's beers were concentrated into several conglomerates and the cost of entry was small (the internet changed this for watches) variety flourished.

I think it really has to do with the confluence of technology, global trade and mass customization in manufacturing.

Greg @Aurelian equates it to the beer industry and makes a solid argument.

I would equate it further to the music industry.

In the 1950s, there were hundreds of small record labels that brought out all forms of new music that the major labels would not touch. They could afford to do this because the cost of recording studios had reached a point where small independent studios like Sun Records could set up shop and the development of the 45RPM record.

For a relatively modest investment, an entrepreneur could launch a record label and get a few hundred/few thousand 45s in the hands of fans of the local bands. And, if luck happened to strike, then the record received local/regional/national airplay making the small label a tidy sum (not that the bands ever saw any of that money).

Then the record industry rolled up all the small labels and the market shifted to the 33 1/2 LP. Albums were more expensive to produce than singles, and the radio stations began the consolidation that eventually shut out all the independents.

Then the internet came into being together with the ability to turn any laptop into a studio. Bands/Artists were no longer limited to seeking a major record label's support to release their music. They also could release a single and were not required to release an album or tour.

Sites like Bandcamp enabled bands/artists to take control of their career and their business.

The combination of Kickstarter/Instagram/YouTube creates a similar structure for microbrand watches. Any crazy idea can be pitched, and if enough people want to purchase one of those watches, then a campaign will launch and the product will be produced. If the popularity of the product gets the hype, then it goes on to the next level.

We have seen this organically with a microbrand like Zelos or more formally funded commercially, as in the case of Furlan Marri, where the hype was purchased instead of occurring organically.

Not sure it matters which microbrand came first, it's more the democratization of mass customization in manufacturing that has enabled the equivalent of "fast fashion" in the watchmaking business.