WatchAdvice
REVIEW: Hands On With The Studio Underd0g Mint Ch0c Chip
In the early 2020s, everything was shut down, and the watch industry was beginning to stagnate. However, one man decided to make the most of it and designed a watch – inadvertently helping facilitate the ‘Rise of the Microbrand.’ But do we believe the hype? Let’s find out! What We Like: A non-serious yet refined design Remarkable build quality for the price point Comfortable and well-made strap with plenty of adjustment What We Don’t: Insufficient lume Crown and pushers are extremely fiddly to use Low power reserve Overall Rating: 8.5/10 Value for Money: 9/10 Wearability: 8/10 Design: 10/10 Build Quality: 7/10 The 2020s post-pandemic watch industry has been coined by some to be the ‘Rise of the Microbrand.’ for those unfamiliar with the term, a microbrand is a watch brand, usually independently owned and run by a small team – Essentially a small business or a start-up, in normal terms. What the ‘Rise of the Microbrand’ indicates is the massive resurgence of interest in said start-ups, which in turn has been a contributing factor to saving modern horology as we know it. That might sound like hyperbole to you, but I don’t say it lightly – Microbrands like Christopher Ward, Baltic, Formex and Farer have grown to the point where they now challenge household names. Every day, promising young microbrands such as HZ Watches also come out of the woodwork, transforming the industry in small but significant ways. We even got the chance to look at a HZ wat...
