Masters who are taking off.

Philippe Dufour, one of the most famous and respected independents, celebrated his 75th birthday last year, effectively past retirement age. In 2020, he took on a new commercial partner: the Lebanese retailer and famous watch collector Claude Sfeir. In 2013, Dufour also welcomed his daughter Danièla to the business in 2021, just after she finished her studies at the watchmaking school in Le Sentier.

Together with his new family partner, he announced the launch of the 21-piece limited edition Simplicity 20th Anniversary series in 37-mm cases with hinged officer's casebacks. The prototype no. 00/20 watch for this series surpassed the million mark at an auction held by Phillips in November 2020.

This sale should probably be viewed as the starting point for estimating the value of other watches from the limited edition Simplicity 20th Anniversary series, which Claude Sfeir handled the orders for. Indie watchmakers clearly don't want to miss out on the high premium bidders are willing to pay when the watches are sold at the auctions.

Vianney Halter's career as an independent watchmaker got off to a spectacular start with the launch of the Antiqua in 1999: an extraordinary perpetual calendar with day and date indications that switched instantaneously on the dot. In 2021, Halter presented one of his most complicated developments: the Deep Space Resonance watch with a triple-axis tourbillon and two balances that harness the phenomenon of resonance.

Just a year later, he offered his clients a new development called La Resonance — a simpler version of the previous resonance watch in terms of functionality. This watch movement didn't have a tourbillon, but this doesn't detract from how extraordinary it is. Vianney Halter constructed a movement without any mainplate whatsoever, which is held together by a fundamental structure of bridges and pillars made as thin as possible.

It's interesting that the resonant interaction between the balances in the La Resonance watch can lead to oscillation either in phase (the two springs expand together) or in phase opposition (one is fully expanded while the other is fully contracted) — a display of this chaotic nature is an extremely rare phenomenon in watch mechanics.

The Finnish independent watchmaker Stepan Sarpaneva marked his career's 20th anniversary in 2023, launching four limited editions. Two of them were Sarpaneva Näkki watches called Näkki White Moon and Näkki Harvest Moon, each limited to 30 pieces with luminescent moon-phase displays and dials decorated with multicolored lume.

These watches were built around a Soprod A10 base movement modified by the watchmaker. The other two billed as dedicated anniversary models were the Stardust and Stardust Nostromo editions, each limited to 20 pieces. These were Sarpaneva's first watches to house the automatic caliber P1003 by the Swiss movement maker Chronode, which the watchmaker also customized.

For example, the angry moon, which is almost an essential design element on all of Stepan Sarpaneva's watches, is absent on the dials of both Stardust watches, but appears on the rotor of the automatic winding system. Another of Stepan Sarpaneva's new releases in his anniversary year was a new steel Moonbridge bracelet, which the watchmaker has designed to make it a perfect match for the 42-mm Korona watches.

Needless to say, this was a remarkable event, because independent watchmakers tend to concentrate all their energy on their watches and movements. They very rarely take on the development of bracelets. The Russian indie watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin is another outlier in this regard, who offers exclusive collector's leather straps.

Bernhard Lederer didn't embark on his career as an independent watchmaker as such, but as an entrepreneur and the founder of the watch brand Blu, who eventually came to focus on the area that probably interests him the most: developing new complicated chronometer movements that deliver on precision, and creating watches based on them.

The idea of creating one wristwatch movement that combined "échappement naturel" invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet, and the constant force escapement was brought to fruition in 2020. That was the moment we can consider the beginning of Lederer's career as an independent watchmaker.

In December 2023, he presented the latest version of this complication: the Central Impulse Chronometer InVerto watch limited to 18 pieces with a case made of black DLC-coated stainless steel under a high dome sapphire crystal. The crystal essentially accounts for half of the case height, and is pierced by the winding crown's arbor.

This design allowed Lederer to maximize the view of the complicated caliber. A unique piece served as the starting point to create this design, which the watchmaker had intended to donate to the Only Watch 2023 charity auction.

The independent watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin made the Stargazer for the same auction — his first two-sided watch with swinging H-shaped lugs. It's also the most complicated member of his flagship Wristmons collection, and the most complicated wristwatch ever made by the Russian watchmaker.

The watch movement comprises the 664 components needed to piece together its 16 complications, which include eleven astronomical functions, hence where the watch gets its stellar name, "Stargazer".

Hajime Asaoka has got to be the most highly regarded independent watchmaker in Japan, who has spearheaded the country's indie movement. Asaoka is renowned as the watchmaker who created the Tourbillon #1 made in 2011 — the first wristwatch tourbillon in Japan. Two years later in 2013, he exploded onto the watch scene and the public's radar by collaborating with Takashi Murakami.

Their Takashi Murakami x Hajime Asaoka "Death Takes No Bribe" Tourbillon Watch was launched as a limited edition of five pieces in "memento mori" style. In 2014, Asaoka teamed up with two Japanese companies, Yuki Precision and OSG, who specialize in metal-working tools and equipment.

They launched a project to produce new tools and milling techniques to improve the production of tourbillon movements – Project T Tourbillon. The unusual caliber with 13 miniature ball bearings for each of the 13 rubies is now one of the many conceptual developments that emerged in the early 2010s. Asaoka has returned to the calibers with ruby palettes like the Tourbillon Pura.

The watchmaker's next tourbillon (2016) no longer used ball bearings. This was followed by the mysterious story of Asaoka's role in the creation of the Tourbillon Y01, Citizen's first tourbillon made in 2017, although Asaoka's involvement has never been confirmed. This version of events is conceivable, given the fact that the Asaoka doesn't turn down orders from companies, and he doesn't limit himself to working for private collectors.

The watchmaker's latest novelty was his Tourbillon Noir in 2023, where the watchmaker's style and the final finishing on all components have reached their highest point (at least up until now).

Asaoka has always tended to go for the strictest form of Art Deco style, and his preference is most manifest in the Tourbillon Noir. This also applies to the movement's design and elements of its finishing, making the watch particularly desirable.

Previosly (part I) (part II)

Credits taken from: www.phillips.com, www.vianney-halter.com, www.studiosarpaneva.com, www.onlywatch.com, www.chaykin.ru, www.hajimeasaoka.com