The Wristcheck Guide To Independent Watchmaker Kurono Tokyo
Founded by one of Japan's most celebrated independent watchmakers, Kurono Toyko has gone from strength to strength in recent years — earning a cult following for its approachable prices and distinct designs
The strength of the Japanese industrial manufacturing base has done wonders for the world of watch collecting over the decades, with brands such as Seiko and Citizen often the very first timepiece a collector owns. However, just as these solid-quality mass-market brands have spread awareness about Japanese watchmaking, there are also a number of independent watchmakers such as Kurono Tokyo, producing small-run boutique timepieces that are both unmistakably Japanese and highly collectable.
Kurono Toyko was founded by self-taught master watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, who is one of the very few non-European members of the prestigious Académie horlogère des créateurs indépendants (AHCI). His watchmaking career began in 2005, and for more than a decade, he only produced extremely high-end handmade timepieces that used vintage salvaged movement components. These watches took many months to produce and cost tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of dollars, with Asaoka’s production totaling just 19 watches by 2018.
It was also in 2018 when Kurono Kokyo was first established, after Asaoka decided to offer his deep watchmaking expertise in a more affordable format. Initially, the brand was only sold in Japan as Chrono Tokyo, before a year later he began to offer an international product called Kurono Tokyo, which is the translation of the Japanese Hiragana for “Chrono” (and is expressed on the dial as “クロノ” (“Kurono”) “Bunkyō Tokyo”).
Kurono Tokyo has since offered four main models, including a time-only automatic, a chronograph, a calendar watch, and a GMT, with each of which has seen a number of different iterations. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorite watches that have been released since Kurono Kokyo was founded, and why it’s a brand that’s worth your time and attention.
Kurono Tokyo Automatic
The Automatic was the first design offered by Asaoka under both the Japanese-only brand and the international Kurono Tokyo brand, offering enthusiasts a classically inspired and carefully proportioned everyday dress watch. Almost all of these watches feature the same 37mm stainless steel case, arrive on a leather strap and are powered by the calibre Miyota 90S5 (with 40-42 hours of power reserve).
The collectable angle of these watches is indisputably their dials, which have been executed in a range of compelling colorways over the last few years. The classic salmon dial was a favorite of the older-school collectors, while many of the fresher-faced enthusiasts were drawn towards the voguish Tiffany-blue reference.
In a nod to traditional Japanese craft, Asaoka has also released a number of eye-catching Urushi lacquer dials, including this vibrant green 2022 Anniversary "Grand Mori", and a trio of deep green, red and brown Grand Urushi Aoyama dials created to celebrate the opening of the brand’s Tokyo boutique. If you’re after something a little smaller, Kurono Tokyo has more recently offered a collection of four 34mm Art Deco-inspired watches, which is the personal favorite case size of Hajime Asaoka.
Kurono Tokyo Chronograph
It wasn’t long after the Automatic was introduced that the Kurono Tokyo Chronograph was announced to the collector community. The debut model was the vertical clutch column wheel-equipped Kurono Chronograph 1, which almost immediately received critical praise for its design and construction, and was even nominated for a prize at the 2020 GPHG awards.
A year later, the Kurono Chronograph 2 was announced with a new “Reiwa” brown, black, and copper dial design, but with the same 38mm steel case and Seiko movement that made the original both wearable and affordable. If you’re after a chronograph made by Asaoka, but one that’s a little more special than those produced under the Kurono Tokyo name, you can occasionally find original examples of the black and white Chrono Tokyo Chronograph that was exclusively sold by the retailer Tic Tac in Japan. It’s a deeper cut, and definitely an IYKYK watch within the Asaoka archive.
Kurono Tokyo Calendrier
The Kurono Tokyo Calendrier is one of the more attractive calendar watches you’re likely to lay eyes on today, thanks to its straightforward symmetry and stainless steel case with a coin-edge bezel. With two subdials for the month and day, complimented by an aperture at 6 o’clock that tells the date, it tells you everything you need to know, without the additional cost associated with complexities such as year, leap year and phases of the moon. After all, if you need to know what year it is, the watch on your wrist is the least of your worries.
As we’ve seen from Kurono Tokyo in its other collections, the dial is where a lot of the fun is had, with the original reference featuring a muted olive green dial, and the more recent follow-up reference arriving with an "Azuki" dial that translates to “red bean”. For both of these Calendrier models, the dial font is traditional to the point of being almost Gothic, adding some additional visual intrigue to what is otherwise a relatively simple-designed watch.
Kurono Tokyo GMT
The latest offering from the brand is the Kurono Tokyo GMT, which was released only a couple of months ago and delivers the attention to detail in design the watch-collecting community has come to expect from Asaoka. The GMT 1 features a wearable 38mm stainless steel case, a 24-hour bezel with circular engraving to differentiate between the day and night halves of it, as well as a “true” GMT mechanism where the hour hand is able to be set independently and multiple time zones tracked via both the dial and bezel.
Powering the Kurono Tokyo GMT is the ever-affordable automatic calibre Miyota 9075, delivering a reasonable 42 hours of power reserve, while it’s been paired with a dark pigskin strap that works quite nicely indeed. If there was any doubt about the enduring critical praise of Kurono Tokyo, this GMT was awarded as a finalist for the affordably-focused 'Challenge' prize at the 2023 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève Awards.
Despite the successes that Hajime Asaoka has already achieved with Kurono Tokyo, it’s safe to say that the brand remains one to watch. Not only for its fun dial colors and affordability, but also for its engaging designs and championing of Japanese craftsmanship.
