Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

The DTC Watch Brands With Luxury Ambitions

Timepiece start-ups like Baltic, which went from Kickstarter campaign to producing $50K collector grade watches, and Christopher Ward, who is on track to reach more than $40 million in sales this year, are leveraging collector communities and innovation to take on high luxury watchmaking.
A photo displaying Christopher Ward's C1 Bel Canto watch.
Christopher Ward, one of the original digitally-native micro watch brands, is moving upmarket with products like its premium C1 Bel Canto. (Christopher Ward)

One of 2022′s most talked about watches wasn’t the product of a decades-old Swiss giant like Rolex or Patek Phillippe, but a company founded in this century.

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

Further Reading
About the author
Malique Morris
Malique Morris

Malique Morris is Senior E-Commerce Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. He is based in New York and covers digital-native brands and shifts in the online shopping industry.

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Direct-to-Consumer
How direct-to-consumer brands and retail concepts are reshaping the industry, online and off.

Can Quince Be More Than a Dupe Brand?

New partnerships with A$AP Rocky and celebrity stylist Erin Walsh signal the retailer’s ambitions to be known for more than selling less expensive versions of other brands’ products.


view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.

The Industry That Eats Its Young

Small fashion labels have always been shortchanged by their wholesale partners. A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has turned a structural injustice into an existential crisis. There is a better way to do business, writes Imran Amed.


The Zara-Fication of John Galliano

Fashion’s enfant terrible is trading exclusivity for the mass market. Is it the ultimate fashion coup, or the final surrender of prestige?


The Impact of War on Fashion’s Supply Chain

Textile hubs are already feeling the cascading risks of the conflict in Iran as Washington ramps up forced labour probes to revive tariffs, while decarbonisation in fashion’s factories might finally have a standard to go off of.


VIEW MORE
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON