Jamie Weiss
Unlike several other countries, Australia is not known for its important watchmaking history and industry. As a wealthy country in the Asian Cusp, we are very well served by watch brands and many watch collectors calling Australia home…but we are far from the spiritual homes of Western Europe and industrial powers such as China, Japan and the United States. As a highly populated country at the bottom of the world, Australia’s manufacturing and growing brands have always been a challenge.
But Australians love watches – more than most – and the tyranny of distance has not stopped some entrepreneur types from dropping down their watches. As a leading Australian watch publication and one of the top watch publications around the world, it is our patriotic pleasure to present this incredible list of Australian watch brands worth your time and money.
Baucele
Starting this list is Bausele, a Sydney brand founded in 2011 by Swiss-born watch industry veteran Christoph Hoppe. Baucele was born out of Christo’s disappointment over the lack of Australian watch brands. Using his knowledge and connections in the Swiss watch industry, he sought to create a unique Australian watch brand. By 2015, Bausele was the first Australian brand to display at Baselworld, and in 2023 it was also the first Australian brand to display at Geneva Watch Week.
Bausele’s name is a contraction “beyond Australian elements” and Bausele’s watches are locally designed and made from Swiss components, inspired by Australia’s unique landscape, wildlife and lifestyle. Bausele’s signature design cue is its hollow crown. Each Bausele Watch crown is full of Australia, including Kimberly’s red dust, Bondi Beach sand and military base soil. Bausele has also created multiple collaborations over the years with the Australian Army, the Sydney Opera House and most recently the Hological Provocateur Seconde/Seconde/ in France.
Nicholas Hakko
If you’re an Australian watch lover, you’ve definitely heard of Nicholas Jacco. The Sydney-based masterwatch maker is well known for its online newsletters, a treasure trove of unfiltered opinions about the reality of owning vintage watches, Seiko Railway watches, watch industry, Australian manufacturing and small businesses. He also pursues a truly noble mission. To make 100% manufactured watches in Australia, he began in 2011 in response to a Swiss watch brand restricting the supply of spare parts to independent watch manufacturers like his.
Hakko and his team are able to create amazing colour-like patterns as he not only makes effective damage to the industry, but also do things he has never tried before in the watch industry. Their mission of the era also produces NH Micro, a side job ranked as one of the most advanced precision manufacturers in the Southern Hemisphere, supplying parts to the medical industry and space programs.
Reuben Shoot
Reuben Schools is another Australian watchmaker who does some really impressive things, not just Australian standards, but also global standards. The young Canberran made waves in 2020 when he announced that he was working on a project he had never tried before in Australia. In other words, they created a Tourbillon pocket watch, following George Daniels’ methods, that is, completely under one roof, without assistance. After two years of effort, the completely self-taught watchmaker was ultimately successful.
Schoots has since branched out into the production of series watches, but we are still talking in a very limited number. His Series 1, released in 2023, was a limited run of six watches, and his Series 2, released this year, expanded it to seven. Schoots is also innovating and has developed a unique hand-free finish technique for watch dials. One of the two Schools series has gone on to the auction site Loupe, which has been respected for this over the past 12 months, with impressive results.
Galvin Watch Company
Another Australia-based watchmaker with a globally impressive story is Susan Galvin. Born in Finland but now calling Sydney home, Galvin graduated from Keroseppakuru (Finland’s Watchmaking School) – after becoming redundant during maternity leave with her first child during the Covid-19 pandemic, she founded a brand of her name, turning by-partumism into a success. Galvin Watch Company is now Australia’s first female-led watch brand and one of only a handful of women-led watch brands in the world.
Galvin’s first collection of watches, Alku, raised over $125,000 on Kickstarter and Indiegogo in just 60 days. In 2021, her second watch range, Loimu (another roud success), was released. Garvin watches feature classic aesthetics inspired by Finnish nature and Scandinavian designs: minimal ornament and maximum practicality.
Erebus
Welcome to helloooo! Jody Musgrave, a friendly Scotland-Australian behind the hit YouTube channel Just One Watch, is one of the most beloved figures in the watch community. Affordable watch champion Jody launched his business partner (and mega collector) Stephen Parker and Erebus in 2022, offering watches faithfully, faithfully, informed by years of reviews and collection watch reviews and collections.
Ascent “Gada” Watch has recently joined Erebus’ debut watch collection, the Origin Dive Watch. Jody teased that the third collection, a small take on diving watches, is also moving forward later this year. If it’s like rising and origin, that’s good. Both are standardly created far above the price range, with a wide range of colorful and intricate dials available in both collections.
Second hour
Time+Tide has begun in Melbourne, so you need to include the Melbourne brand! Founded in 2019 by husband and wife duo Peter and Akira Salgison, the second-hour Immediately praised it with the mandala – A stunning example of stamped radial algiroche – ensuring its reputation as a micro brand capable of beautiful complexity. The brand is a number of iterations (now up to MK3) and an additional that is considered a model family based on the success of the Mandala.
However, all two-hour clocks have some commonalities. Beautiful dial, decent specifications, creative use of Lume. The second hour uses a mix of Swiss and Japanese movements, sourced from common names such as ETA, Sellita, Ronda, and Miyota. They are also just one of Australian watch brands that offers private label watchmaking.
Orbit from the sea
Ocean to Orbit is a Melbourne-based micro-brand founded by David Dewitt and Siddhartha Kazami. They are two former car designers who replaced PenningFords and launched their own watch brand with True Lave of Love. In their first attempt, their first product, Lhotse, is particularly impressive. That’s why they created this list.
Named after the fourth most talented mountain in the world, inspired by the climbing clocks of the 50s, unlike many tool watches, it has actually been tested, and the prototype accompanying Nepali climber Purnimashresta is attached to the 2022 name summit. Move on.
Hz clock
Last but not least, founded in Melbourne in 2023, HZ Watches is an Australian micro-brand that embarrassingly defends the quartz movement, making quartz somewhat iconic with an unruly hobby. Another thing that sets Hz apart is a frankly grand value proposition. Micro-branded watches are usually worth it, but the HZ takes things to another level of refinement and accessibility.
Suitable Case: The latest release of HZ, HZ.02 Chronograph. Equipped with the Seiko VK63 Mechaquartz movement (which is displayed atypically via the caseback at the exhibition), the case is decorated with 5 grade 5 titanium, filled with clever small details. Where else in the watch industry do you find such value, mate?
