From Down Under to on Top... Best Australian Watch Brands for 2025

When most watch fans are contemplating their next timepiece it’s likely they’ll tend to research brands that typically herald from the likes of Switzerland, Japan, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia ... wait; Australia?! - since when did anyone consider the folk from Down Under to feature highly in horological circles?! Well, maybe re-think your search options, widen your aperture and read on. Here are some of the most notable and popular current Australian watch brands to date, starting with the brand that proclaims to have been the first.

Sam Der Bedrossian started his horology career in Sydney, 1964. Within a short time, and to avoid high import costs from Switzerland, Sam was assembling many thousands of watches. In 1967 he started his own company, ‘Sam’s Watchmaker Jewellery Ptd Ltd’. He later used Swiss movements within his own designs and locally manufactured casings. The brand continues under the ‘Classique Watch’ banner that creates both affordable (mostly homage style) and higher-end (mostly pocket-watch) pieces.

From the oldest to quite probably the newest Australian watch brand, Hz Watches were developed by Sydney-based Matthew Zillmann in 2023. Hz, short for Hertz (the measurement unit of frequency: the number of cycles per second) is Matthew's nod to his love of quartz watches.

Hz have been featured in many established publications globally and are proudly championing only battery-driven watches, so much so they have annotated the oscillating quartz frequency (32,768 Hz) on to the dial of the aptly named, HZ-01. This, their debut watch, is sleek, light (made from titanium) and uses a Swiss movement in the field-style/sports design, that also falls well within the GADA (“Go Anywhere, Do Anything”) bracket.

Following the success of the 01’s quickly sold-out pre-sales, the ‘02’ is also now in production; this is a Japanese mecca-quartz-driven, vintage-inspired, compact chronograph - but its party (and conversation) piece is having a display caseback that is rarely seen on quartz watches.

Melbourne Watch Company started off in the city of the same name in 2013 following a successful crowd-funding campaign. Their designs are what could be described as ‘safe’ all-rounders with many being based on classic style influences and most being categorised under the dress and sports’ catalogue.

The brand utilises quality Swiss made quartz and hi-beat Japanese automatic movements. Popular models include the Flinders, Portsea, Fitzroy and Londsale, all of which are well made and beautifully presented, offering excellent value for money.

Second Hour were established in 2019, again in Melbourne, by husband and wife duo (Peter and Akira) and have, to date, five designs in their collection: Gin, Sattelberg, Memoir, Mandala and Giant Stride. In a world full of homages, Second Hour have broken the trend by creating mostly original designs, all of which are very reasonably priced and extremely well made.

Like with Melbourne Watch Company, their designs will cater for most tastes, from classic dive, dress, field, GADA and compressor styles. Second Hour utilises top quality Japanese or higher-end Swiss-made movements across their range.

Susan Galvin, a Finnish watchmaker from Sweden (who has worked for the likes of TAG and Omega), and now based in Sydney, successfully launched her first model, the Alku dress watch via crowd-funding in 2020 whilst facing redundancy and on maternity leave.

Hot off the back of the success of her first campaign she has since created two new designs, the Loimu (sports/dress/art deco) and more recently, the Suvi (tonneau/art deco design). All three models utilise hi-beat Japanese movements.

Possibly the biggest retailer on this list is Sydney-based PANZERA who were established in 2009 and claim to have sold in excess of 300,000 timepieces in over 100 countries worldwide since inception.

The brand markets widely their often significantly discounted high RRPs, focusing on bold, striking designs specifically themed around ‘Classic’ (dress), ‘Air’ (military), ‘Land’

(motorsport) and ‘Sea’ (diver-style) inspired designs.

One of the other newer brands featured here, and another heralding from Melbourne, is Ocean To Orbit who have recently launched their debut model, the Lhotse, a classically proportioned GADA design with a difference (slate effect dial and what appears to be a rocket shaped hour hand).

The Lhotse is available in three standard dial colourways, plus a special/limited edition white/blue tuxedo dial for a fan community in Melbourne. All utilise a hi-beat Swiss made automatic movement.

A more detailed review of the Lhotse will be available in the Watchgecko magazine soon.

Claiming to be Australia’s first premium watch brand, Bausele was established in 2011 by Christophe Hoppe. The brand name is a shortened derivative of the words “Beyond AUStralian ELEments”. Bausele were the first Australian brand to showcase at the world famous Swiss-based BaselWorld exhibition in 2015.

Bausele currently boasts three models; these vary from an affordable entry level sports style to bespoke ‘specials’ that cost significantly more. Designs, despite being inspired by, amongst others, classic diver and compressor models, are mostly original with many showcasing vibrant colours.

I personally became familiar with Melbourne-based Erroyl in 2017. When looking for a quality microbrand for my son's significant birthday, the reverse-panda variant (Regent), a classy automatic with day/date sub-dial complications, was featured in a third party's online review that influenced my purchase.

Erroyl’s present line-up features three models that cover two classic/sports designs and a field style, utilising quality movements sourced from Japan and Switzerland. All are available at an affordable price and packaged in luxury presentation boxes.

The most expensive and exclusive from this list has to be those offered by Nicholas Hacko and his son, Josh. Nicholas, inspired by his watch-maker grandfather became an independent watch-maker, after being turned away by the Swiss, and the brand now produces limited numbers of high quality watches.

The company, like its scale of production, is limited in size, so much so it produces no more than 100 watches per year across its very limited range. In 2016 the company began building all their watches in-house, with, by 2020, 85% being manufactured in-house. Movements are sourced from Switzerland.

If you're an avid watch review viewer, you may be familiar with Jody Musgrove and his ‘Just One More Watch’ YouTube channel. A Scotsman, now living in Sydney, Jody, with close friend, Steven Parker, developed Erebus in 2023, launching their aptly named Origin (classic dive style) that was an almost overnight success. A year or so later, the Ascent (a GADA, Aqua Terra-esque) model was launched and, more latterly, a GMT variant of the Origin followed.

Jody's considerable online fan-base has clearly helped facilitate many sales and a fourth (field-style) design is believed to be next for Erebus.