Six of the best independent watches from French brands

Last week, we looked at Japanese brands. This week, we turn our attention to French brands. Here are our best six.

Six of the best independent watches from French brands

The criteria is somewhat different from what we have done for Japanese brands. All the Japanese brands have established manufacturing facilities in the home country, though some have watches which are also made elsewhere in addition to Japan. For example, Casio make some of their G-SHOCK watches in Thailand, and some of the Seiko parts are made in Singapore, while others are produced in China. But for this week’s picks, we also include brands which have their manufacturing done, mostly by contract in Switzerland, but with design and corporate headquarters in France. Some of these brands do not have manufacturing in France, and thus their watches are labelled “Swiss Made”. But we also have brands within this list which proudly declare “Made in France”. So with this backgrounder, let’s go! Or C’est parti!!

Bell & Ross

We kick off the list with one of our favourite French brands. Bell & Ross is the brainchild of Bruno Belamich (Mr. Bell) and Carlos Rosillo (Mr. Ross). The dynamic duo started the company as a university project in 1992 and the company is based in Paris. Their original contract manufacturer was Sinn in Germany. In 2002, Chanel took a minority stake in the company and production moved to La Chaux du Fonds in Switzerland. The watches feature movements supplied by ETA/Sellita, and used modules supplied by Dubuis-Depraz. Recently their BR-X5 collection used movements made for them by Kinessi.

Design remains the strong point in Bell & Ross watches. Their most iconic case feature a rounded square shape which is immediately recognisable, even from afar. The use of colours or monochromatic themes and sometimes bold design cues are also part and parcel of their DNA. And such is the brilliance of Bruno that despite how the design may seem to clash on first imagination, the final product always look well sorted out and aesthetically pleasing.

Our top pick from Bell & Ross watches, if we had to pick one, would be the BR-X5. Since release, there have been multiple versions, including a full green lume version. But we are sticking to the base, launch model as our choice. Our decision to pick the BR-X5 is because the watch is based on the BR-05 rounded square family, but now equipped with a Kinessi movement. A result of subtle evolution. What we like about the BR-X5 is that despite these changes to the case design, construction and dial details, the DNA remains largely unscathed. Like all Bell & Ross watches, the aesthetics are very pleasing. And at 41mm (square), the watch remains very wearable, even for smaller wrists.

Yema

Next up, Yema. The brand began in 1948 and was founded by Henry Louis Belmont who had graduated at the top of his class at the National Watchmaking School of Besançon in 1931. Yema gained recognition in the 1960s with their Superman collection, designed for divers. They were also the first French watch in space, carried on the wrist of French astronaut Jean-Loup Chrétien in June 1982, wearing the Yema Spationaute.

This is a brand who recently established their own manufacture in Morteau. We visited just before Watches & Wonders this year, and were impressed. Details of the manufacture visit will be published soon. With the Morteau 20 and Morteau 30 movements, they claim a 80/20 in-house/outsourced movement. The movements are designed in La Chaux du Fonds by Olivier Mory. Movement plates are produced in Morteau, a town just across the border in France. And final assembly, testing and packaging is in France, allowing Yema to call their watches “Made in France”.

Our pick from Yema is the Yema Yachtingraph Tourbillon Mareographe. This watch was released in 2023, in a line which stretches back to the Yema Yachtingraf, a watch especially designed for sailors which was launched in 1966. But with the 2023 Yachingraph Tourbillon Mareographe, Yema once again worked with Olivier Mory to add not only a tourbillon, but also a useful maerograph to the Caliber Morteau 30 CMM.30. The tourbillon is a nice touch in our mind, as an iron fist in velvet glove referencing the juxtaposition of a tourbillon (velvet glove) in a sporty watch(iron fist). And Mareographe, a device to indicate tidal cycles is a nice additional touch to the marine theme.

Depancel

From our first experience with Depancel with their meca-quartz Serie-A Stradale, the Legend 60s Chronograph and the latest Série-R Tangerine Chronograph, our respect for this tiny French maison has grown. We met up with Depancel founder Clément Meynier recently in Singapore and discovered more about the brand. The brand was launched in 2018,. Depancel is the contraction of Delage, Panhard and Facel Vega, three French automobile manufacturers. Clément was inspired by these cars, which were instruments made for the pleasure of driving. And the brand is based on motor sports, building chronographs for racing enthusiasts.

Our pick is their latest Série-R Tangerine Chronograph, featuring a Chinese made Peacock movement, which Depancel declares openly and heartily. Visually, especially at a glance, the Série-R Tangerine does resemble the TAG Heuer Monaco, especially the Gulf Edition. But the design, though perhaps taking the same cues are quite different. Our commentary on the release notes of the Série-R Tangerine Chronograph discusses this in some detail.

Baltic

Baltic is next. Baltic is an interesting French micro-brand which was founded in 2016 by Etienne Malec. It began as a crowd-funded Kickstarter brand, raising some EUR 500k with 1,000 backers in their first run in 2017. With this financing, Etienne launched two watches. The HMS 001 and the Bicompax 001.

Our pick is the MR01 Watches of Switzerland Edition in the ice blue dial. The MR01 collection was introduced in 2022 with a rather petite 36mm case design and haselite crystal. The watch has an vintage vibe, with mild resemblance to the watches of the 1920s-30s, particularly the original Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 96. We love the dial with its textured, grained finish and a guilloché sub-dial for the small seconds. The numerals are Breguet styled Arabic for the hour markers, and are rather large in proportion to the dial, but works excellently. The watches are designed in France and assembled there from parts produced largely in China and Italy. The movement is a Chinese made Hangzhou 500a, which is quite industrial.

Hegid

A lesser known brand, perhaps. We first encountered the brand was in 2018. We were told that by then, three years of development had gone into the product. And the founder, Henrick Gauché’s intent is to bring watchmaking to Paris and blending it into the fashion scene. The basic idea is to offer a watch with a basic Swiss movement (Sellita) in a case which they call a capsule. And to be able to swap in and out other style elements like the case holder (known as the carrure) and strap. Switching the elements will offer a completely new watch, and this is done without any tools. And this is the key differentiation and unique selling proposition: the cases and straps can be swapped quickly and easily. Each switch transforms the character of the watch, to match the owner’s clothes, environment and intended use.

Their current offering collection is rather big, with some adventurous options in case shapes and also in dial layouts and design. But our pick from Hegid is the S.I. Neo. S.I. stands for Serie Inaugural, meaning the inaugural series. We had a close look at the first working prototype, in a set with three carrures in a box. In this series, three guises are possible, and all there look excellent, and complete. Each look is different, with its own vibe. Not only does it look different, but it feels different.

Rémy Cools

And the final entry is a high end independent. Rémy Cools. We were first impressed by Remy when reading of his exploits at Greubel Forsey (he was part of the team for the Hand Made 1 project) and his winning the F.P.Joune prize for Young Talent Competition in 2018. We met him late last year, he was barely over 26 years old, and our admiration grew. Read our interview with Remy here.

Currently, Remy has only one watch on offer: the Tourbillon Atelier. This follows his first ever watch, the Tourbillon Souscription, which was an adaptation of his school watch. The watches are produced in his workshop in Annecy. The Atelier collection a step in a different direction for the young brand. With this, Rémy will be producing in series with the aim of producing some 30 to 50 watches a year. Our pick of the Tourbillon Atlier has a movement designed by Rémy and crafted mainly by CNC machine but finished in the traditional French watch making way. The 39mm case comes with either pink or yellow gold movement, perhaps a leaf from F.P.Journe’s blueprints. The Caliber RCTA is a totally brand new hand-wound movement with the classical one minute tourbillon and 48 hours power reserve.

Concluding thoughts

And here are our picks from the list of French brands. Though still quite limited in numbers, the French make it up with their typical panache for style and the upkeep of luxury. And each of the six chosen have their own space within the sphere of interesting watches. What do you think? Are there any other French brands that you would recommend?