The Affordable Brands of High-End Watchmakers

What happens when some of the world’s best independent watchmakers try to make something affordable? In this video, we’re looking at the more accessible brands and side projects of Grönefeld, MB&F, Hajime Asaoka and Stepan Sarpaneva — including GRØNE Oldenzaal, M.A.D. Editions, Kurono Tokyo and S.U.F Helsinki — before going back almost 100 years to one of the original examples: Rolex and Tudor. The question is simple: when a watchmaker takes something that can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands and brings the price down to a few thousand, what actually survives? We’ll also take a look at the brand-new M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese, which launched while I was filming this video. The public raffle is open until September 7th, 2026 at 3PM CEST, priced at CHF 2,900 excluding VAT. M.A.D.3 raffle: https://www.mbandf.com/madeditions/ma... Let me know in the comments: *what other affordable “sub-brands” have I missed? And do you own a watch from any of the brands in this video?* If you enjoy slightly obsessive dives into watches, independent watchmaking and the stranger corners of the industry, subscribing to White Tee Watches massively helps the channel. Thanks for watching! #Watches #IndependentWatchmaking #MBandF