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For someone who was born, raised and still lives and works in the Vallée de Joux, the famed watchmaking hub of Switzerland, Los Angeles might seem like another world. But the City of Angels is, by far, Romain Gauthier’s favorite place.

“It’s a way of life,” the independent watchmaker said — more than once — during a recent interview, adding, “You have access to everything and people have an open mind.”

It’s just one of the passions that make Mr. Gauthier, 42, stand out among his peers as he makes his debut this week at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, the fair commonly known as S.I.H.H.

Although both of his parents worked in the industry, Mr. Gauthier wasn’t initially interested in watchmaking. “I didn’t want to do the same as everyone else,” he said. “When you’re an entrepreneur, you have this desire to be different and to find your own way.”

Mechanics was a passion, though, as well as music, and his first creation actually was a subwoofer speaker (“I couldn’t find one that I liked and could afford, so I built my own”), which he still uses today. But perhaps the biggest departure from his fellow watchmakers was getting a master’s degree in business administration in 2002 from the Business School Lausanne, which he completed part time while working for a local maker of watch parts. Mr. Gauthier’s graduation thesis was a business plan for his own brand, which he started three years later.

The Romain Gauthier Insight Micro-Rotor, created in a 10-piece limited edition, has a platinum case and oven-fired white enamel dial.CreditClara Tuma for The New York Times

His focus was the creation of top-quality watches in very limited quantities, an orientation he has maintained as the business developed. Today, the Romain Gauthier brand makes only about 50 watches a year.

Mr. Gauthier introduced his first watch, the 41-millimeter Prestige HM (“hour, minute”), at the 2007 Baselworld watch fair. Along with a movement made in-house, the watch had a flat winding crown on the back rather than the traditional location on the side of the case. Its placement made it easy to wind and suited both left- and right-hand wearers. The more traditional aspect of the watch was its off-center time indicator, set on a gold guilloché dial.

Such finishes — like hand-beveled bridges that require 20 hours of work or tiny screws topped with a special insignia — are Mr. Gauthier’s signature, earning him something of a reputation in the industry. William Asprey, chairman of the London retailer William & Son, Mr. Gauthier’s only British outlet, lauded the brand for its “extraordinary finishing” and “rare pieces that appeal to our clients.”

The watchmaker also supplies high-end parts to outside houses, including Chanel. That relationship began in 2011, and included an investment that both businesses still decline to detail. (The relationship became public knowledge at the 2016 Baselworld fair, during Chanel’s introduction of Monsieur, its first men’s watch with an in-house movement.)

Mr. Gauthier’s third watch, Logical One, won a Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award in 2013; the model addressed the longtime horological challenge of transferring constant energy via a chain-and-fusée mechanism, a part that the watchmaker reconfigured for optimal reliability and consistency. The watch, now offered in white gold and in titanium, originally was produced in platinum and in red gold for 139,000 Swiss francs ($142,580 today) each, but those 20-piece limited editions sold out. (“I have to borrow some Logical Ones from friends to show at S.I.H.H.,” Mr. Gauthier said).

In this area of Manufacture Romain Gauthier, components are machined.CreditClara Tuma for The New York Times

Despite such accolades, Mr. Gauthier said that introducing his own brand would have been impossible without his M.B.A., something he says would be valuable for any of his peers in the independent watchmaking world. “The biggest challenge for a niche brand is to be professional,” he said. “The big companies succeed because they take care of all points — not only developing and producing a watch but also promotion, communication, traveling the world and meeting clients. I’ve had to learn about balancing my passion with business.”

Interest in such watches has been rising, driven by two key factors, said Sky Sit, who last summer established Skolorr, a website that sells only watches made by independents (it does not stock Romain Gauthier).

One is the so-called flight to quality, spurred by the recent industry downturn that created overstocks and led to heavy discounting of some big brands. “When people saw discounts of 30 to 50 percent on watches, they began to question the value of major mainstream pieces,” Ms. Sit said. “It was a light bulb moment: Watches by independents, with their exclusivity and smaller-scale production, have more intrinsic value.” (Independents generally make from 30 to 300 pieces a year, compared with the hundreds of thousands produced by the largest brands.)

And millennial buyers are the other factor. “They want something that not everyone has and which is more personal,” Ms. Sit said. “It’s the psychology of wanting to stand out. Social media is everything.”

The industry seems to be taking note, too. S.I.H.H. has a space dedicated to independents, with the number of Carré des Horlogers exhibitors rising to 17 this year (there were nine in 2016). For small houses, the fair “is a better way to efficiently and quickly target the most important actors in fine watchmaking worldwide,” said Fabienne Lupo, the fair’s managing director. And, she added, their presence “brings in some fresh air — and fresh air is always a benefit for everyone.”

Hand-finishing a bridge for the Romain Gauthier Logical One, a step that can take up to 20 hours for just one bridge.CreditClara Tuma for The New York Times

For his S.I.H.H. debut, Mr. Gauthier is introducing a women’s watch (he has done feminine designs but as private commissions) drawn from the Insight Micro-Rotor collection he introduced at Baselworld last year. The models, at a unisex-sized 39.5 millimeters (about 1.5 inches), include the maison’s first automatic movement.

The red-gold women’s watch features a visible bidirectional micro-rotor in 22-karat gold, and sparkles with 45 diamonds in different sizes. It also has a layered dial that is available in white mother-of-pearl from Australia or black, from Tahiti, paired with either a satin or rubber strap.

The watch, the Insight Micro-Rotor Lady, is priced at 83,000 Swiss francs and will be produced in limited editions of 10 pieces with each dial. Mr. Gauthier called it the “perfect luxury daily watch” as it doesn’t need winding. “You just need to wear and enjoy it, and see beautiful things on your wrist.”

Mr. Gauthier, who said his brand is too small to have created a caliber just for women, noted that his production capacity is 80 to 100 watches a year. More than that would require not only more staff but also would compromise his vision to keep creating what he calls “little stars” for collectors — small-quantity watches made of parts that take hours to craft and, when done, reflect knowledge and sophistication. “That is the real meaning of haute horology,” he said.

That’s not to say that growth is entirely off the agenda. Here Mr. Gauthier’s business training rises, producing terms like ROI, investment, manufacture and R&D. “Independent means controlling your business — and risk — from the inside,” he said. “My thinking was always to take the small road, not the highway.”

Mr. Gauthier did hint that he may have his own boutique someday (he’s stocked in only 11 retailers worldwide) and noted that the United States now accounts for about 40 percent of his sales. The ideal location? Los Angeles, of course.

“It’s a good place,” he said. “I’m already talking with someone there.”