I like micro-brands. The ones that I have purchased todate were started from promoters whom were enthusiastic about watches too, so there were genuine affection from the project owners. But as with any micro brands, quality could be a hit-and-miss sometimes, depending on the batch or piece that was allocated to the buyer. They were buying parts and assembling these (or paying others to assemble for them), so they have no full control over the full processes involved. And warranty could be harder to claim as they may not have local service centres, so you would need to send the piece back to the originating countries for any repairs.
So with a micro-brand, you have to pray very hard that the piece that you received was good at the first count. Then, you would have no further issues. Servicing for the movement would mostly be a breeze, as the movements used typically were sourced from Miyota, Seiko, ETA and Selitta. Any watchsmith worth his salt could easily work on these movements.
Me? My luck has been good with micro-brands, all except for a Steinhart piece that had to be sent back to Germany but dealing with Mr Gunter was no issues. As mentioned earlier, the promoters of micro-brands were mostly enthusiasts too so it was easy as we spoke the same lingo if anything was to happen.
Current ones in my winder were as per the following :