Australia is not a country that many people associate with watchmaking. First of all, it’s a relatively young country. While it has a long, rich history and Aboriginal people have been there for thousands of years, the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed on 1 January 1901.
When it comes to established brands in the watch industry, that is very recent – considering some of the oldest watch brands date back to the early 1700s.
Australia is both a continent and a country with its capital in Canberra. Although, its other cities are also widely recognized across the globe – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, in particular. It is surrounded mainly by the Indian and Pacific oceans, and such geographical location significantly affects the Australians, their lifestyle, and their watches. We’ve already covered top brands from some of the well-known countries in the watch industry, as well as those from lesser-known. This time, we’ll present the watches from the land down under to you. You may be surprised to learn that there are over
The list includes brands that design or manufacture their watches in Australia.
Here are the top Australian watch brands:
Table of Contents
Top Australian Watch Brands
Melbourne Watch Company
From a small online watch business named Melbourne Custom Watches, owner and founder Sujain Krishnan decided to level up his business and produced personally-designed timepieces. From this, the Melbourne Watch Company was born.
Melbourne Watch Company is an Australian micro-brand established in 2013 to fill the gap in the market of watch micro-brands mainly by creating and distributing dress or classic-style timepieces.
Since the founder has a background in the online watch market, it’s not very surprising that its first model for the Melbourne Watch Company – the Flinders – was launched through online crowdfunding. With the overwhelming support that the Flinders received, this new brand was encouraged to continue and even expand its portfolio with unique designs. Check out other crowdfunded watches here.
After six years, the Melbourne Watch Company has successfully launched over ten models. Each one is designed with premium quality while keeping it as affordable as possible so that even simple watch enthusiasts and collectors will be able to purchase one. This was made possible by keeping the production of the timepieces in its workshop in the city. Its first showroom was opened in Melbourne (of course) in 2016.
Well, you don’t have to go all the way to Australia to have a timepiece of this brand, and you may visit and explore its collections on the Melbourne Watch Company US page.
Bausele
Proudly claimed as Australia’s first premium watch company, Bausele was founded in 2011 by Christophe Hoppé.
Such brand name was derived from the phrase, Beyond AUStralian ELEments. This generally describes what makes Bausele timepieces distinctive from other Australian watch brands. Essentially, the company incorporates various “Australian elements” into its products, such as the Australian rock for the watch case and a tiny kangaroo on the dial. Another notable feature of Bausele timepieces is its hollow crown that contains a sample of Australian beach sand, coal or red earth.
In addition to distinctive design and meticulous craftsmanship, Bausele watches are Swiss-made. The combination of these qualities then results in Australian watches that are precise, unique, and elegant.
See for yourself what we’re talking about by visiting Bausele’s online shop.
Nicholas Hacko
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As you can see on the watch case back – “Designed, Assembled, and Adjusted in Australia”
Nicholas Hacko is a namesake brand established in 2013, but this time, in Sydney.
Nicholas Hacko, the founder, started as a humble independent watchmaker. He claims to be the “First and only Australian watch manufacturer” on his social media.
Independent watchmakers like him were highly specialized and served as the link between watch brand manufacturers and owners. Independent watchmakers serve as maintenance, repair, and service experts of various kinds of clocks and wristwatches.
However, this smooth cooperation in the watchmaking industry began to change in the 21st century when large watch companies suddenly saw independent watchmakers as a threat. To paralyze the watchmakers’ businesses, they were prohibited from acquiring the spare parts needed for various services. To survive in the watchmaking business amidst this corporate play, Nicholas Hacko bravely took the risk and started the said watch brand.
Nicholas Hacko envisioned producing timepieces that would not just serve as a fashion accessory; he aimed for robust, reliable, and repairable watches. His “Rebelde” California Dial watch featuring a Swiss movement is still a popular design seven years after its launch.
Read more on the Nicholas Hacko website.
Haigh & Hastings
Haigh & Hastings was established quite recently, January 2014, by Matthew Sears and Simon Haigh. This Perth-based watch brand envisions creating timepieces showcasing the Australian lifestyle and integrating the sun, sand, sea, and sports components.
In line with this, Haigh & Hastings’ timepieces are mostly casual and engineered to be suitable for an active lifestyle.
The M2 Diver, the first model launched, comes with a 316L stainless steel case, screw-down crown, and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal window. It is water-resistant up to 300 meters and has a customizable bezel and rubber dive straps.
Explore the Haigh & Hastings collections on this page to see what we’re talking about.
Adina
Adina is among the older Australian watch brand. It was established by one Robert “Bob” Menzie back in 1971. His central vision for the company is to engineer watches that are tough enough to survive the abuses of the daily Australian lifestyle.
Bob started by handcrafting his first collection in a small room in his family home. The principle and culture developed from this humble beginning were then passed on as Adina continued to grow.
Adina now produces more than 40,000 watches annually from its Brisbane factory, and they’re being distributed in more than 300 retail watch stores all over the country.
Over the years, Adina has gained an outstanding reputation because of its impressive craftsmanship and innovative design. Those, in addition to unmatched durability, even through various extreme situations.
Currently, it features four collections – Amphibian, Work, Oceaneer, and Automatic. Discover more about these timepieces directly from Adina website.
JDRT
The brand name is simply the abbreviation of its two founders: Joel Davis and Rhys Thomas. Initially, they just want different watches to wear each day, and since this would be too costly, they thought of creating their own watches with interchangeable straps.
Considering that the two founders are not exactly watchmakers, they have to contact different manufacturers of watch parts from around the world – cases from China, sapphire crystal from Switzerland, quartz movement from Japan, silicone straps from Spain, leather from Jervis Bay, and even a water pressure tester from France. The watches are assembled in Australia – Bondi Beach to be specific.
Once assembled, JDRT timepieces are minimalist and simple, but you have a variety of colors to choose from. See for yourself the JDRT bestsellers here.
Erroyl
Another young watch brand that was established quite recently through the success of a crowdfunding project is Erroyl. Wes Knight, James Barling, Brad Wilton, and Michael Phanprachit form part of the team from Cranberra that started the said brand.
Their initial crowdfunding campaign received overwhelming support of $41,000 when their target is only $15,000. They produced and sold 130 classic and elegant-looking timepieces.
Seeing the support that the brand received during the campaign, Erroyl continued on producing dress watches with a sleek design. They all come in either white, rose gold, or black, and brown or black leather straps. More so, Erroyl timepieces use Miyota Cal. 9015 automatic movement. All these elements are combined to produce classic and timeless Erroyl watches.
Visit Erroyl watch collections and straps here.
Bow & Stern
Bow & Stern mainly focuses on creating nautical-inspired watches.
The brand also boasts of using only premium materials for its products. They are pretty confident in the quality of their watches that each watch is covered by a lifetime guarantee and a 60-day return policy. Also, their straps are interchangeable, so you can easily change their color depending on your mood or outfit. To make things better, Bow & Stern watches are also pretty affordable.
There’s not much data or history yet for this brand since it only started in April 2016 through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
The brand was able to continue its production and produce more variations since it received more than sufficient funding.
Visit its collections here.
Creaux Automatiq
Creaux Automatiq was developedunder the shadow of a luxury diamond jewelry brand from Sydney, Australia, named Culet Jewellery. However, Culet Jewellery’s owner, Dane Rumble, is also a watch enthusiast. After two years of research and development, Creaux Automatiq was finally introduced with its leading model – the Ghost. Primarily, the goal of Creaux Automatiq is to create and offer to the market luxury watches that are reliable yet affordable.
Explore more about these Australian luxury watches on Creaux Automatiq online shop.
Closing Words
Watches from Australia are pretty simple yet promising, especially in terms of quality and price. Also, you might’ve noticed how most of these brands were inspired and/or engineered by the Australian lifestyle. They are proud of their origins and even prefer to stamp it one way or another on their products.
