It makes me quite sad to observe this but there's a series of watch brands that albeit still existing and rather good, are getting forgotten or just...not talked about.
- Certina
- Paul Picot
- Maurice Lacroix
- Baume & Mercier
- Eterna
- Timex
- Ulysse Nardin
- Blancpain
I'll go over each of them briefly. Certina became part of Swatch group in the 90s and since then they make even smaller production numbers in volume and the distribution issues, have meant that they're not very broadly known
Paul Picot: Paul Picot is seen as jewelry brand for some reason now and people seem to have forgotten that they actually make serious watches with their own movements or eta/sellita
Maurice Lacroix: They're just not as talked about as Frederique Constant or even Raymond Weil. I think to be honest that they don't really have a design that stands out. But it's still a nice watch. They're also a bit overpriced perhaps
Baume & Mercier: Once one of the biggest swiss brands, nowadays they're not as well known to new enthusiasts because they haven't come up with a truly new design in a long time
Eterna: The company that ETA originally produced movements for and which invented ETA itself. Due to this alone their contribution to watches is massive. But they also have some interesting models and few people buy them now. Again I suspect due to steep price increases
Timex: Timex...is still very much talked about and bought commonly. That being said they don't have the same range of watches everywhere. There's some small distribution issues. And more importantly the brand seems to lack a sense of direction
Ulysse Nardin: They released the Freek one which is a masterpiece but other than that, no one talks about them and they have other, equally impressive models. At this price point however people forget they exist, unfairly so in my opinion
Blancpain: The oldest watch brand which forgot when it was founded, until that it magically knew again. Their collaboration with Swatch has been disastrous, and overall, I don't think most people would pick a Blancpain nowadays in their price point. It has no allure or particularly attractive models anymore. It once did.
Do you agree? Are there any other brands you think fit here?
I don't agree with your picks overall and, of all the brands you mention, Timex certainly doesn't fit in with the forgotten brands theme. You even acknowledge this and then point out two completely different problems: distribution and brand direction. I can't speak to the distribution aspect, but in recent years they've had huge hits with various iterations of the Marlin, Waterbury, and Expedition North. It seems like they've gone from strength to strength and have a pretty solid brand identity built on its history and heritage and a pipeline of interesting iterations on their core offerings.