Rolex raised prices. Asia’s indies moved in

Rolex once symbolized success for many Asian households, particularly the two-tone Datejust. On January 1, the brand raised US prices for the third time in a year, an average rise of about 7% that fell hardest on precious metal and two-tone references, with some solid gold models up close to 10%. A second increase on June 1 added roughly 5% to gold and left steel alone. The yellow gold Day-Date 40 now lists at about $50,400, up from $48,000 in January, while the stainless steel Daytona holds at $16,900 and other steel sports models have not moved since January’s 6% adjustment. Record gold prices and a 15% US tariff on Swiss imports drove both rounds. That headroom has pulled the microbrand wave beyond the US and Europe into Asia. Some of the new labels build close Rolex and Cartier homages. Others answer to nothing but their makers’ taste and the cultures they came out of. Why microbrand no longer describes Asia’s independent watch labels Ivan Chua launched Vario in Singapore in 2016. Phone fatigue sent him back to the watches in his drawer, and straps came before any watch of his own. “I stopped wearing watches as a teen and used my phone. I decided to use my phone less, found my old watch, changed the battery. But the straps had crumbled after 20 years in a drawer. I am a designer, so I made graphic straps and put them on crowdfunding,” Chua said. A customer’s request to remodel a watch turned the strap maker into a brand owner. A decade on, he sees clear regional differences in the microbrand market across Europe, the US, and Asia. “Singaporeans are different. Some buy luxury watches. But others do not look at brands. They look at the make and whether the design looks nice. In Hong Kong, most people wear branded, Panerai, Rolex. Everybody needs to show off. But Singapore, we are less materialistic,” Chua said. The US and Europe still hold most of the microbrand market, but new labels are surfacing across Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and India. For Chua, the category label never mattered as much as the freedom to design. “Over the past 10 years, many microbrands have grown to produce 10,000, 20,000 watches a year. Can you still call them microbrands? The label is evolving. Some so-called microbrands are now much bigger. Not big brands [anymore], but bigger,” he said. Gen Z collectors are reshaping who buys independent watches in Asia Younger collectors are not the only new arrivals. A generation of younger watchmakers is coming up behind them. “Most of my buyers are 40 to 50, tourists or business travelers who visit my studio. But we also get young professionals new to the workforce, buying my watch,” Chua said. Yu Ando runs AndoAndoAndo from Helsinki, having left Tottori for Finland years before he started designing watches. He said buyers want something they have not seen before. “In Finland, people lean toward old [customs], known things, and the same may hold for Japan. But rapidly growing Asian countries, while valuing history, also seek renovation, innovation, new things, something different, something they have never seen,” Ando said. Data from Indie Watches put 65% of microbrand buyers in their early career, earning $75,000 to $125,000, most of them Gen Z. Many are learning what goes into a watch before they spend at luxury prices. Microbrand distribution is also forecast to shift. North America and Europe accounted for 85% at the time of release, a share projected to fall to 70% by 2030 as India, Brazil, Southeast Asia and South Africa take up the difference. Markus Winter, founder and co-CEO of Tokyo-based cultural insights firm Yuzu Kyodai, said the expansion will hold as Chinese brands work harder to win domestic buyers. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry recorded a 1.7% fall in Swiss watch exports in 2025, with mainland China down 12.1% and Hong Kong down 6.5% — a second consecutive annual decline. Chinese brands have been picking up some of that slack. Behrens, founded in Shenzhen in 2012, now sells across Asia, the Middle East and the US, while CIGA Design became the first Chinese brand to win at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2021. “Chinese microbrands have dispelled the ‘made in China is inferior’ myth, and that is the appeal. Their [microbrand] fans are curious and buy into stories, craft, and making. So the target demographic has little doubt. The wider public will be harder to reach, but selling an unknown brand is the indie watchmaker’s challenge,” Winter said. Winter said the old markers of luxury — scarce designs, heritage names, country of origin — now count for less with buyers than what the watch is actually made of. “Traditional trademarks have lost some shine with younger consumers. ‘Made in Switzerland’ or ‘Made in Japan’ means less today than it once did. The label still counts for something, but with reviews, social content, and so much information just a click away, people no longer need that old shorthand,” he added. Community over scale as Japanese independents court loyal collectors AndoAndoAndo makes 600 to 800 watches a year, which puts it nowhere near the household names and is not meant to. Ando said community matters more to him than scale. The Japanese native said the US and Europe lead his sales and that Japan, the market he wants, has stayed shut. Buyers there are loyal to Citizen and Seiko, and a small foreign-registered brand has little to prise them away with. “Japan lacks [exhibition] platforms for microbrands to present themselves, so AndoAndoAndo has not attended any,” he said. Waitlists and lotteries: how exclusivity starts to feel like exclusion Winter said the category has earned more respect than it gets. Some independents now allocate by waitlist or lottery, the way the scarcest legacy brands do, and Naoya Hida & Co. has become the reference point — a maker whose exclusivity rests on craft rather than marketing. “Sometimes brands come across as too full of themselves. Naoya Hida & Co. used to run a simple, fair lottery. This year, they introduced a more complicated application system where buyers submit an essay on why they want the watch and list the brands they like and own. That shift has started to feel more like exclusion than exclusivity. I have spoken to fans who have since turned away and found other brands,” Winter said. Nothing from the majors has slowed the independents so far. Swatch and Audemars Piguet drew queues in May with the Royal Pop, eight bioceramic pocket watches at about $400, and the microbrand pipeline kept filling regardless. “Microbrand growth will continue across APAC, and Chinese brands will take a larger share. But, I would not call it dominance [yet]. Japanese brands will hold their ground. The real challenge is sustaining value in a region where success once meant a Rolex on the wrist,” Winter said.

Rolex raised prices. Asia’s indies moved in

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Rolex raised prices. Asia’s indies moved in

How Bottega Veneta weaved China’s forever it bag