This is my proposal how to rate different brands. Criteria is 1) history of the brand & recognition 2) technical complexity/quality 3) price.
I rate brands according to where most of their sold watches belong (e.g. no point to put brand in hi-end if they produce tourbillon, but most of the watches sold are modified ETAs - I hope you get idea). It's impossible to justify why brand on the next row is less important, but trend should be visible in +/- 5 rows.
Of course any such list is somehow subjective and biased, but I tried to stay objective.
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HI-END (old history, complicated movements, highly decorated, typical price 10kEUR+)
Patek Philippe
Vacheron Constantin
Breguet
A.Lange & Sohne
Audemars Piguet
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Blancpain
FP Journe
Glashutte Original
Gerald Genta
Girard-Perregaux
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HI-TECH / INDEPENDENT (innovative solutions, exotic materials, often quite new companies, but high prices 15k-300kEUR, listed in no particular order)
Richard Mille
Harry Winston
MB&F
Urwerk
Voutilainen
Romaine Jerome
De Grisogono
Habring
Hautlence
Konstantin Chaykin
Sarpaneva
Speake-Marin
Thomas Prescher
Gronefeld
Devon
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PREMIUM (well known manufacturers, perfect quality, some got in-house movements, typical price 2-10k EUR)
IWC
Rolex
Omega
Ulysse Nardin
Frank Muller
Panerai
Zenith
Piaget
Cartier
Hublot
Breitling
Chopard
Corum
Tag Heuer
Bell&Ross
Nomos
Chronoswiss
Baume & Mercier
Maurice Lacroix
Perrelet
Grand Seiko
Linde Werdelin
U-Boat
Longines
Montblanc
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QUALITY watches (entry level swiss watches and alike, typical price 300-3kEUR)
Rado
Tissot
Mido
Hamilton
Frederique Constant
Oris
Certina
Raymond Weil
Sinn
Fortis
Seiko
Revue Thommen
Bremont
Stowa
Junghans
Movado
Seagull
Laco
Archimede
Christopher Ward
Magrette
Steinhart
Lum-Tec
Vostok-Europe
Kemmner
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BASIC (companies that produce watches, quartz or simple chinese mechanical movements, affordable prices)
Citizen
Grovana
TW Steel
Jacques Lemans
Swatch
Skagen
Festina
Orient
Lorus
Casio
Q&Q
HMT
Parnis
Tao
Alpha
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FASHION (flashy design - often copying famous designs, mostly quartz movements, typical price 70-500 EUR)
Emporio Armani
Calvin Klein
Diesel
Nixon
Guess
Hugo Boss
BMW etc.