The 6 best Australian watch brands forging a new watchmaking tradition Down Under

Jamie Weiss

Unlike some other countries, Australia is not known for having any significant watchmaking history or industry. We’re far from the spiritual home of horology in Western Europe or industrial powerhouses like China, Japan or the United States – as a sparsely populated country at the bottom of the world, manufacturing in Australia has always been a challenge.

But Aussies love watches – more than most – and the tyranny of distance hasn’t stopped some entrepreneurial types from launching their own watch brands Down Under, helping forge an exciting new Antipodean watchmaking tradition. As the Australian Editor of Australia’s leading watch publication and one of the top watch publications globally, it’s my patriotic pleasure to present this fine list of Australian watch brands that are worth your time and money.

Bausele

Kicking off this list we have Bausele, a Sydney brand founded in 2011 by Swiss-born watch industry veteran Christophe Hoppé. Bausele was born out of Christo’s disappointment with the lack of Australian watch brands: leveraging his knowledge of and connections in the Swiss watch industry, he set out to make a uniquely Australian watch brand. By 2015, Bausele became the first Australian brand to showcase at Baselworld, and in 2023 was also the first Australian brand to exhibit at Geneva Watch Week.

Bausele’s name is a contraction of “beyond Australian elements”, and fittingly, Bausele’s watches are designed locally, crafted from Swiss components, and are inspired by Australia’s unique landscapes, wildlife and way of life. Bausele’s signature design cue is its hollow crowns: each Bausele watch crown is filled with a piece of Australia, such as red dust from the Kimberley, sand from Bondi Beach or dirt from military bases. Bausele has also penned multiple collaborations over the years with the likes of the Australian armed forces, the Sydney Opera House and most recently, French horological provocateur seconde/seconde/.

Nicholas Hacko

If you’re an Australian watch aficionado, you’ve no doubt heard of Nicholas Hacko. The Sydney-based master watchmaker is well-known for his online newsletter, which is a treasure trove of vintage watches, Seiko railway clocks, and unfiltered opinions about the watch industry, Australian manufacturing and the realities of owning a small business. He is also pursuing a truly noble mission: to make watches that are 100% manufactured in Australia, a mission he started in 2011 in response to the big-box Swiss watch brands restricting the supply of spare parts to independent watchmakers like himself.

Hacko and his team are making watches that aren’t just impressive because he’s effectively creating an industry out of scratch, but also because they’re doing things few in the watch industry have ever attempted, such as guilloche titanium dials and making movements from Timascus, a damascus titanium alloy that’s notoriously difficult to work with but can produce amazing colourful patterns. Their horological mission has also resulted in a side business, NH Micro, which ranks as one of the most advanced precision manufacturers in the Southern Hemisphere, supplying parts to the medical industry and space programs.

Reuben Schoots

Reuben Schoots is another Australian watchmaker who’s doing some truly impressive things, not just from an Australian standard but by a global standard. The young Canberran made waves back in 2020 when he announced that he was working on a project that had never been attempted before in Australia: creating a tourbillon pocket watch following the George Daniels method, that is, entirely under one roof and without assistance. After two years of hard work, the entirely self-taught watchmaker was ultimately successful.

Schoots has since branched out into series watch production, although we’re still talking in extremely limited numbers. His Series One, launched in 2023, was a limited run of six watches – and his Series Two launched this year only expanded that to seven. Schoots has also innovated, developing a unique hand-flaked finishing technique for watch dials, which resemble meteorite dials but with a charm of their own. Two Schoots Series One pieces made their way to respected auction site Loupe This in the last 12 months, fetching impressive results.

Galvin Watch Company

Another Australian-based watchmaker with a globally impressive story is Susan Galvin. Born in Finland but now calling Sydney home, Galvin – a graduate of the Kelloseppäkoulu (Finnish School of Watchmaking) – founded her namesake brand after being made redundant whilst on maternity leave with her first child during the COVID-19 pandemic, turning adversity into success. Galvin Watch Company is now the first female-led watch brand in Australia, and one of only a handful of female-led watch brands in the world.

Galvin’s first watch collection, the Alku, raised over $125,000 across Kickstarter and Indiegogo in just 60 days. 2021 saw the launch of her second watch range, the Loimu – another roaring success – with 2024 heralding her third collection, the Suvi. Galvin’s watches feature classic aesthetics, inspired by Finnish nature and Scandinavian design: minimal adornment and maximum practicality.

Erebus

Hellooooooo and welcome! Jody Musgrave, the affable Scottish-Australian behind the hit YouTube channel Just One More Watch, is one of the most beloved figures in the watch community Down Under (and beyond). A champion of affordable watches, Jody has now branched out into making watches himself, launching Erebus with business partner (and mega-collector) Steven Parker in 2022. True to Jody’s vision, Erebus offers extremely affordable watches with features tailored to enthusiasts, informed by years of reviewing and collecting watches.

Erebus’ debut watch collection, the Origin dive watch, has recently been joined by the Ascent “GADA” watch. Jody’s teased that a third collection, a smaller take on a dive watch, is also on the way later this year. If it’s anything like the Ascent and Origin, it’ll be a good thing: both are crafted to a standard far above their price points, with a wide range of colourful and complex dials available across both collections.

Ocean To Orbit

The newest kids on the block in this bunch, Ocean To Orbit is a Melbourne-based microbrand founded by David Dewitt and Siddhartha Kazami, two former car designers who traded penning Fords to launch their own watch brand, a true labour of love. Their inaugural product, the Lhotse, is particularly impressive for a first attempt – which is why they’ve made this list.

Named after the fourth-tallest mountain in the world and taking inspiration from ’50s mountaineering watches for its design, unlike many tool watches it’s actually been put to the test, with a prototype accompanying Nepalese mountaineer Purnima Shrestha to the summit of its namesake in 2022. Considered features like a rocket-shaped hour hand and beautiful milled clasp elevate the Lhotse above most microbrand fare, and we’re keen to see where Ocean to Orbit go next.