A friend of mine had a older Craftsman 0 - 3" multi-anvil mic.
Taking a measurement under 1" with a 2" long anvil in the frame
was a little too awkward for my liking.
At work the shop owned mics are all Mitutoyo. My hobby budget doesn't allow
that at home. I bought an import 0-6" set of mics from CME Tools
for less than $80. They call them 'Mitutoyo Style Outside Micrometers'.
They are a very good inexpensive alternative. Carbide tipped anvils,
ratchet stop, thimble lock and .0001" graduations.
Normally the parts I machined at work were well over the 6" range so I don't
keep personal mics that small there,
At one point I was doing a lot of small parts as work and didn't care to take
chances on the shop owned mics not being available and took mine imports in.
Every mic has to be certified before it can be used in that shop.
My CME's passed all of the requirements that Holescreek mentions in his post
and were certified.
I have never used anything bigger than the 2-3 at home so if I had it to
do over I would have bought their 0-3" set.
CME 0-3 Set
They are worth considering.
Rick