Vive le Différence: New Releases from Indie Brands Explore a Range of Creativity

As writers and readers, we often look for patterns. Journalists will write trend pieces that round up watches by dial color or case shape, for example. Collectors may make purchases based on preference for certain functions or genres – dive watches or chronographs, for example.

While round-ups are fun to write and read, they can also be useful for giving context to horological happenings. That is why today, instead of looking at trends that unite new releases from indie brands Fleming, Kollokuim, Krayon, Ming, Dominique Renaud, and Sartory Billard, we’re going to explore why their individuality makes them so intriguing.

First up, American independent brand Fleming, and the long awaited followed up to 2024’s Series 1 Launch Edition.

For 2026, Fleming has created two different models (limited to 25 pieces each), both inspired by the landscapes of Northern California. First off, there’s the Pacific (CHF 55,500), in tantalum with a dynamic blue-green dial. And then there’s the Redwood (CHF 53,500), in 18k 5N rose gold with warm brown and gold tones reminiscent of coastal forests.
 

Apart from the references to geography, these two Series 1 Mark II feature an elevated visual language, featuring a deeper dial architecture and a fully reimagined movement. This evolution stems from Fleming’s pursuit of total design integration, in which finishing is more than just decoration.

Nearly every component has been tweaked – from the sharpened silhouette of the 38.5mm × 8mm, three-part case to an entirely new Calibre FM.02, developed in collaboration with master watchmaker Jean-François Mojon.
 

Friendship is a beautiful thing, and working with friends from around the world to realize your vision is the superpower of the indie watchmaker. It’s also a treat for collectors who can literally follow the timeline of Fleming’s dedication to creating a timepiece that is aesthetically and functionally integrated. We can’t wait to see the next stage.

If Fleming is reshaping how watchmakers can approach dials and structure, then Kollokium is redefining what it means to be a brand in the first place.

A quick refresher: Kollokium is the brainchild of three industry insiders – Manuel Emch, Amr Sindi, and Barth Nussbaume. At the same time, they are outsiders, having come from the business side, the collectors’ sphere, and the world of design. Because of this, the partners refer to Kollokium as a project-based platform whose goal is to explore new possibilities in watchmaking from alternative perspectives.
 

Kollokium considers its fan base to be just as eclectic. Case in point: last year’s Projekt 02 Friends, Family, Fools & Flippers. The dial of this limited edition – made available only to folks who had bought the trio’s previous Projekt 01 watch.

The timepieces were also notable for their nine-layer topographic dials, built up from 67 individual plates, each hand-painted with white lacquer and a Super-LumiNova mixture. So suddenly, a whole new audience wanted to join the family.
 

The first publicly available edition of the Projekt 02, the Projekt 02 Variant B still features the topographical dial, bezel-less die-cast stainless steel, and extremely tall, cylindrical sapphire crystal, so you can observe these hills and valleys from above.

It also takes the dial design to new heights (and depths) by featuring, quite possibly, the world’s first vertical-gradient dial that shifts from grey to black across all nine layers, so it reads like a hypsometric map. The highest peaks on the dial represent the twelve-hour markers.
 

The Kollokium Projekt 02 Variant B is a limited edition of 299 pieces, plus one prototype, which will be auctioned later.

Rémi Maillat, the brains behind the indie brand Krayon, has a pragmatic passion for time. In the past, he has presented the Everywhere (which charts sunset and sunrise times at any location worldwide based on the wearer’s latitude and longitude), the Anywhere (which displays the length of the day along with sunrise and sunset times in a fixed location) and, in 2025, the Anyday (which displays all the days and dates of a month at a glance).
 

Despite solving highly practical but very niche problems, Maillat and his team are also playful. This brings us to the new Krayon x Pac-Man collaboration, launching this April at Time To Watches in Geneva.

While this collaborative piece is an homage to 1980s video game technology, it is also an extremely sophisticated watch. For example, as it is powered by the “Anywhere” movement, the purchaser of the Krayon Pac-Man can set a personally meaningful location, allowing the times that shape their lives to be displayed directly on the dial.
 

On the more playful side, Pac-Man’s favorite foods (dots, fruit, and ghosts) appear according to the sunrise and sunset times of the selected location, animated by a system of superimposed discs. A “great cookie” symbolizes sunset, and when Pac-Man reaches it, night mode begins.

At midnight, the ghosts turn blue and become “edible” – before regaining their original colors at dawn: red for Blinky, pink for Pinky, orange for Clyde, and light blue for Inky. The direction of their eyes subtly indicates the position of the sunrise – a detail perfectly aligned with Krayon’s aesthetic logic. Then, on equinox days, the configuration becomes perfectly symmetrical: twelve hours of day, twelve hours of night.
 

The 39mm Krayon x Pac-Man is a limited series of just 15 unique platinum pieces. Price is available on request.

Independent brands are, by nature, mavericks, preferring to buck trends rather than follow them. Founded in 2017 by a group of dedicated watch aficionados, Ming makes watches for collectors, by collectors. But last year, the microbrand broke from its super niche origins with the 57.04 Iris. This colorful purple dial showcased the Malaysian brand’s penchant for color while also integrating a monopusher chronograph and a left-handed crown. A sleight of hand that isn’t sleight at all!
 

To follow up this neat trick, Ming launched the 57.04 Phoenix – a slightly less outré version of the Iris – in March. The dial of this year’s model is a circularly brushed grey with hints of iridescent pink, purple, and blue peeking through radially. Extra glow comes from Super-LumiNova X1 in the hands and sandwiched chronograph minute counter disc, plus Ming's proprietary Polar White lume compound filling in laser-cut markings on the crystal.

These details lend the 40mm stainless steel watch an Art Deco-in-the-21^st-century feel. But the Phoenix’s futurism doesn’t end with the watch itself. The timepiece comes with either an FKM rubber or a titanium Polymesh strap, which almost completely transforms the watch when swapped. This is the kind of future we can look forward to!
 

The Ming 57.04 Phoenix is a new addition to the core collection. But limited to 150 editions a year. It is nicely priced too – CHF 6,250 on Ming’s FKM rubber strap or CHF 7,250 on the Polymesh bracelet.

The last we heard from Indie legend Dominique Renaud was back in 2016, when his eponymous brand unveiled a prototype for the DR01, a calibre with a 12Hz (standard “high-beat” watches operate between 2.5 and 5 Hz) blade resonator (to reduce friction and improve chronometry) and a hyper futuristic design. Then crickets.
 

Ten years later, Renaud is back with another revolutionary watch, the Pulse 60, powered by another novel invention, the Dominique Renaud BUA2024. As with the DR01, Renaud is interested in exploring the limits of a watch’s regulating unit. But this time, the maestro of mechanisms has gone to the opposite end of the spectrum – the Pulse 60 is one of the slowest beating watches in modern history.

To achieve this leisurely beat, it employs an enormous, 20mm 1Hz balance wheel. This means the balance only ticks once per second, bringing the beat closer to the pulse of the human heart. But it also reduces the number of impulses and shocks to the escapement over the course of the Pulse60’s lifetime. Just like living a stress-free life can increase human longevity.
 

Despite the oversized balance wheel, the Pulse 60 features a more wearable shape and size than its predecessor. Herre Renaud also takes a contemplative approach. The crystal is domed, and the bezel and lugs disappear into the edgeless design.

The Pulse 60, which officially launches at Time to Watches in Geneva on April 14, will come in two versions and three colorways: bi-material pink gold with a grey or black dial (CHF 59,000) or titanium with a guilloche dial (CHF 49,000)

At this point in the roundup, you may have noticed a trend toward timepieces with names that evoke rhythm or heartbeat. Just speculating here, but perhaps it signals that collectors and designers of mechanical watches are trying to reconnect with what first drew them in – that thrilling sense of wearing a tiny mechanical heart on the wrist!
 

The French-Swiss indie Sartory-Billard has always made personalization a core strength. With the SB10 jump-hour watch, the brand isn’t just adding a new complication to its collection; it’s taking a cabochon-cut stone—a technique borrowed from fine jewelry—and transforming it into a timepiece. The driving force behind this innovation? To invite a new audience into horology through emotion, touch, and individuality.

The origins of this idea can be traced to the SB08, a concept introduced in 2024. Its guiding principle was to present time in a way that emphasized the character of its materials. While the SB08 was too complex to produce at an accessible scale, designer Arman Billard couldn’t let the concept go. He went on to envision a dial-less watch with a generously sized aperture for the jumping hours. Like the Renaud 1Hz 60, time seems to slow down inside this dreamy semi-sphere.
 

For its inaugural run, set to debut at Time to Watches in Geneva this April, Sartory-Billard is presenting two interpretations of the SB10. The first, Disco Ball, features a faceted guilloché steel surface, while the other showcases a smoky sapphire cabochon. Both are powered by the La Joux-Perret Calibre G100 movement, offering a 55-hour power reserve. Pricing starts at €3,800.