There are dozens of great watch brands from which to choose your next timepiece. Whether it’s a centuries-old Swiss luxury brand, a value-oriented Japanese company or an upstart microbrand, there is no shortage of brands out there dedicated to the art of watchmaking above all else. But the thing is, you don’t necessarily have to go through a watch brand to get a great watch.
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Products in the Guide
- Apple Watch Ultra 2Read more
- Montblanc Iced Sea 0 Oxygen Deep 4810Read more
- Victorinox I.N.O.X.Read more
- Louis Vuitton TambourRead more
- Hermès H08Read more
- Ridge Titanium Field WatchRead more
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From designer fashion labels to pen and knife makers to the most valuable company in the world, there are a lot of surprising (OK, maybe some of them aren’t that surprising) companies churning out excellent timepieces these days. Some of these watches from non-watch brands are the type that even watch enthusiasts can get behind, thanks to their attractive designs, impressive specs, innovative movements or, in some cases, all of the above.
If you’re looking to go outside the usual suspects of Rolex, Seiko and the like when shopping for your next watch, maybe have a look at the brands below. They’re all best known for making something other than watches, and yet all have shown the ability to make fantastic watches when they want to.
Editor’s Note: You won’t find Cartier or Bulgari in this guide. They are jewelry brands, yes, but they’re also well-known and highly respected watchmakers whose watches have historically been a core part of their business. In other words, I consider them true watch brands.
Apple
![Apple Watch Ultra 2 [GPS + Cellular 49mm] Smartwatch with Rugged Titanium Case & Blue Alpine Loop Medium. Fitness Tracker, Precision GPS, Action Button, Extra-Long Battery Life, Carbon Neutral](https://www.gearpatrol.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/1704308313-1695233675-1695157937-1694703628-apple-watch-ultra-2-650318555b465-jpg.webp?w=1300)
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Specs
| Case Size | 44mm x 49mm |
| Movement | Apple S9 SiP chip |
| Water Resistance | 100m |
Pros
- Many adventure-specific features
- About as rugged as a smartwatch gets
Cons
- Wears very large
- Still an Apple Watch, i.e., it ain’t a real watch
Okay, maybe it’s not so surprising to see an Apple Watch on this list. After all, everyone and their mother owns an Apple Watch, and the technology company has been the world’s top-selling watch brand — by a decent margin — since 2017. But despite the Apple Watch’s ubiquity, Apple remains better known for its iPhone, Macbooks and AirPods. No one in their right mind hears “Apple” and thinks, “Oh yes, the watchmaker.”
There are a few different models of the Apple Watch available, but the pinnacle of the lineup — and the one most interesting to “watch guys” — has to be the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Essentially the smartwatch equivalent of a dive watch, the rugged Apple Watch Ultra 2 boasts a titanium case, 100m of water resistance, IP6X dust resistance and has even been tested to military standards (MIL-STD 810H) for resistance to altitude, shock, fluctuating and extreme temperatures, humidity and more.
Montblanc
Montblanc Iced Sea 0 Oxygen Deep 4810
Specs
| Case Size | 43mm |
| Movement | Montblanc Cal. MB 29.29 automatic |
| Water Resistance | 4,810m |
Pros
- Lots of impressive innovation as a diver
- Surprisingly wearable for its depth rating
Cons
- Date window sticks out like a sore thumb
- Crown guards are a bit too aggressive
Depending on how you came to know Montblanc, you may already think of the German luxury brand as a watchmaker first. A subsidiary of Richemont, Montblanc shares a stable with such horology heavyweights as Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Panerai, Cartier, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin and A. Lange & Söhne, and it has shown over the past several years that it belongs in such company. But Montblanc is known as a maker of high-end pens above all else and is relatively new to the watch game, having just set up its watchmaking division in 1997, 91 years after its founding.
Each year, it seems, Montblanc gets better at watchmaking. This is partly owed to the brand’s partnership with legendary movement manufacture Minerva, which was purchased by Richemont and basically gifted to Montblanc in 2007. Through Minerva, Montblanc has churned out impressive movements to go along with its adventurous models. In 2024, the brand launched arguably its most impressive watch yet in the Iced Sea 0 Oxygen Deep 4810.
Not only does the diver feature Montblanc’s 0 Oxygen technology that removes all oxygen from inside the case, preventing fogging and oxidation in extreme environments, but it’s also water resistant to 4,810m — the height of Montblanc — making it one of the deepest-rated dive watches in the world.
Victorinox
Victorinox I.N.O.X.
Specs
| Case Size | 43mm |
| Movement | Ronda 715 quartz |
| Water Resistance | 200m |
Pros
- One of the most rugged watches anywhere
- Better looking than other tank-like quartz watches
Cons
- Quite big and bulky
- Strap is meh
Victorinox is credited as the original manufacturer of Swiss army knives, and today, it’s the only brand making genuine examples of the famous pocket knife. Victorinox is a well-known Swiss brand and stands as the world’s largest producer of pocket knives, while also crafting some pretty solid kitchen knives. But the brand also makes watches, naturally Swiss-made watches, and they represent some of the best value on the market.
Unlike many brands in this guide, Victorinox’s watches are not aimed at a luxury market. They’re affordable utilitarian tools, just like its pocket knives. The brand makes a range of both automatic and quartz-powered watches, most of which can be had for under $1,000. The flagship of its collection, by far, is the I.N.O.X. line. A more classic-looking alternative to a G-Shock, the quartz version of the I.N.O.X. is tested to withstand 130 extreme endurance tests, which, according to the brand, include surviving a ten-meter drop, two hours in a washing machine and even being run over by a tank.
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Tambour
Specs
| Case Size | 40mm |
| Movement | Louis Vuitton Cal. LFT023 automatic |
| Water Resistance | 50m |
Pros
- Very impressive in-house movement
- Nice and thin
Cons
- Design is somewhat polarizing
- Louis Vuitton still has a ways to go to win over some watch enthusiasts
In the watch world, designer brands don’t carry the same cachet that they do in the fashion world. To a watch enthusiast, there is perhaps no greater sin than being a “fashion watch” — a mass-market, cheap quartz watch that prioritizes aesthetics over quality. And many designer fashion brands only make fashion watches that don’t live up to their reputations. Well, technically, they don’t make them. Brands like Versace, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani and others simply license out their names to manufacturers like Fossil and Timex.
But Louis Vuitton does things differently. The brand is part of LVMH — it literally puts the LV in the conglomerate’s acronymic name — which also owns Zenith, TAG Heuer, Bulgari, Hublot and other watchmakers. LV committed to high-end watchmaking over 20 years ago, and in 2014, it opened a dedicated state-of-the-art high-end manufacture just outside of Geneva called La Fabrique du Temps.
The brand has produced tourbillons, minute repeaters and some wildly inventive and outrageous designs, but the core of its lineup is the Tambour: a sharp-looking integrated bracelet luxury sports watch that’s barely 8mm thick and is powered by the in-house caliber LFT023; a COSC-certified automatic driven by a 22-carat gold micro-rotor.
Hermès
Hermès H08
Specs
| Case Size | 42mm |
| Movement | Hermès Cal. H1837 automatic |
| Water Resistance | 100m |
Pros
- Surprisingly sporty design
- The use of graphene in the case is innovative
Cons
- The date is borderline unreadable
- Numerical font is not for everyone
That fashion watch spiel from the Louis Vuitton entry above? It applies to Hermès, too. Though truth be told, the French luxury brand has an even more extensive history in the watch industry, having partnered with the legendary Swiss watchmaker Universal Genève in the mid-century on a series of co-signed watches. Since the 1970s, the family-owned luxury brand has produced its own watches at its La Montre Hermès facility in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, the home of a brand you may have heard of called Omega.
Still, Hermès watches mostly flew under the radar until recent years. The launch of the H08 line in 2021 signaled an exciting new chapter for the maison, and it now ranks among the best-selling watch brands in the world (it currently slots ahead of brands like Tudor and Panerai, as of 2024). The watch is a unique sports watch exhibiting some of Hermès’s signature design flair with traditional watchmaking prowess (the movement is a pseudo-in-house affair from Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, which is partly owned by Hermès) and innovation via the use of unique materials, such as the lightweight graphene composite used in the case of the reference seen here.
Ridge
Ridge Titanium Field Watch
Specs
| Case Size | 40mm |
| Movement | Miyota 9039 automatic |
| Water Resistance | 200m |
Pros
- Excellent value for money
- Well-sized
Cons
- Design feels a bit disjointed
- Limited color options
There’s a decent chance that you have a Ridge Wallet in your pocket right now, and if not, then you’ve almost certainly heard of the brand. Ridge is best known for its ultra-thin and lightweight RFID wallets that are crafted from hard-wearing materials like carbon fiber and aluminum. But in 2023, the brand got into another segment of the EDC space … to some surprisingly good results.
At first blush, Ridge’s Titanium Field Watch is nothing remarkable. We’ve seen plenty of titanium field watches before, and the design is fairly generic (though the orange variant is quite fun). Rather, it’s the value presented by the watch that makes it special. A titanium case, 200m water resistance, sapphire crystals on front and back and a more-than-capable automatic movement from Miyota, all for less than $300, is pretty impressive and shows that Ridge is no one-trick pony.
Leica
Leica ZM 2
Specs
| Case Size | 41mm |
| Movement | Leica Cal. ZM 2 manual-wind GMT |
| Water Resistance | 50m |
Pros
- Movement is quite impressive for a novice in-house effort
- Lots of design callouts to Leica cameras for photography buffs
Cons
- Very expensive — tough to compete at such a price point
- Why no camera-specific features?
Leica is arguably the Rolex of camera brands. Iconic and attractive designs, stellar performance, impeccable build quality and sky-high prices are all traits we associate with the red-dot brand. So when Leica announced it was launching its first watch in 2018, we were pretty excited to see what the brand would come up with. Then we kind of forgot about it because it took four years for Leica to finally bring the watch to market. But the camera maker’s first crack at timekeeping ended up being worth the wait.
For the time-and-date ZM1 and ZM2 GMT, Leica designed its own in-house mechanical calibers — manufactured in Germany — that offer some unique and interesting photography-influenced flourishes. Most notable is the patented push-button crown. Capped with a red dot, naturally, the crown can be pushed like a shutter button to reset the seconds hand to zero and freeze it. While frozen, an indicator dot on the dial shifts from red to white, alerting you that the watch isn’t running. Press the crown again to restart the seconds hand to precisely set the watch.
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren Polo Vintage 67 Watch
Specs
| Case Size | 40mm |
| Movement | La Joux-Perret Cal. LJP 7380 manual-wind |
| Water Resistance | 50m |
Pros
- Classic Americana styling
- 90-hour power reserve
Cons
- Case finishing should be better for the price
- People may assume it’s a “mall watch”
While not boasting quite the same European designer flair as Louis Vuitton and Hermès, Ralph Lauren is the embodiment of classic American luxury and style. The eponymous designer and his brand are known for a country club-casual vibe through products like polo shirts, fragrances and bear-emblazoned sweaters, and RL watches walk that same fine line between laid-back fun and stuffy luxury.
On the fun side, the brand makes watches with its bear mascot prominently displayed on the dial. Those, admittedly, are not for everyone. But on the more serious side, Ralph Lauren Watches has been known to craft elegant dress watches with movements from brands like JLC and Piaget. Bridging the gap is the Polo Vintage 67 seen here. Released in 2022, it’s both sporty and classy, with a design influenced by pocket watches from a century ago and a nicely decorated hand-wound movement from La Joux-Perret boasting a 90-hour power reserve.
Singer
Singer Reimagined Divetrack
Specs
| Case Size | 49mm |
| Movement | Singer Reimagined AgenGraphe automatic chronograph |
| Water Resistance | 300m |
Pros
- Really inventive movement that’s perfect for geeking out over
- Looks and functions like no other dive watch on Earth
Cons
- Enormous and not practical to wear in everyday life
- Tremendously expensive
Singer Reimagined is a watch brand, full stop. But, it was born from and spun out of Singer Vehicle Design, which is known for its drop-dead gorgeous resto-mods of vintage Porsche 911s. As a brand already associated with a very high-end market and the very particular customers that go along with it, Singer ran the risk of damaging its sterling reputation if its watch brand spinoff was anything other than stellar. To merely say that Singer stuck the landing wouldn’t be doing the brand justice.
Singer Reimagined is the watchmaking sub-brand of Singer, and in just a few years it has established itself as one of the most inventive and desirable makers of luxury sports watches. Singer’s success can largely be attributed to the in-house movement at the center of its watches. Designed and manufactured in collaboration with Geneva-based manufacture Agenhor, Singer’s AgenGraphe caliber is a complete reinvention of how chronographs function. The movement makes the chronograph the star of the show, with all of the hands in the center of the dial tracking the stopwatch’s seconds, minutes and hours. The actual reading of the time is done at six o’clock by way of a pair of rotating rings for the hour and minute. It’s as wildly inventive as it is beautiful.
The unique complication has even shown versatility off the track, with the brand releasing perhaps the most purpose-built dive watch ever in 2024. The Divetrack modifies the AgenGraphe movement to not only centrally track 60 minutes of dive and decompression time, but also makes use of a 24-hour chronograph function to track dive intervals and when it’s safe to fly again after resurfacing.
