Looking for something a little bit different" There are upstart watch brands everywhere: these are some of the best

By Justin Mastine-Frost

Throughout the last decade, the watch industry has seen an incredible boom of upstarts in the watch industry, especially at the more approachable end of the spectrum. In those earlier days, self-driven entrepreneurial watch enthusiasts deployed their hard-earned savings, found the appropriately-skilled manufacturing partners, and released waves of new watches into the universe hoping that their fellow enthusiasts would appreciate their vision.
Since the dawn of Kickstarter that model has further evolved. On one hand, those with the vision to strike out on their own no longer have to part with the significant up-front costs. On the other hand, and as anyone who?s ever looked up watches on crowdfunding sites know all too well, for every one good crowdfunded watch, there are dozens if not hundreds of cheap, heavily marketed, poorly designed pieces of schlock all touting themselves as ?a new and innovative way to tell time?. Kickstarter rants aside, there?s good reason why these kinds of brands continue to see significant success. In the earlier years, especially in the time of the recession which caused a great slowing of the luxury watch market, the watch industry?s heavy hitters quickly dialled back their investment in new models, instead launching new dial variants and casing options for things already in their roster. In many wa...