For decades the Japanese watch conversation began and ended with a few famously reliable quartz names, which is a bit like discussing Italian cuisine and stopping at the microwave lasagne. Meanwhile, in small workshops the rest of the world barely noticed, a handful of stubborn perfectionists were doing something rather magnificent. They were hand-engraving numerals, polishing steel to a mirror finish that would make a Zen garden look untidy, and building tourbillons with tools developed for aerospace. One might say, and I shall, that Japanese watchmaking is the art of doing an extraordinary thing so quietly that you forget to be astonished, until the waiting list arrives. These four are eccentric, exacting and produced in numbers so tiny that owning one feels less like a purchase than an act of quiet victory.
Hajime Asaoka
Born in 1965 in Chigasaki, Asaoka began making watches only in 2005, teaching himself the craft and never attending a watchmaking school. He became a member of the AHCI, the exclusive independent watchmakers’ association, in 2015. His best-known creation, the Project T Tourbillon, was developed with a precision-tools maker and a machining company, which helped him produce very small, very precise parts. It has a 43mm stainless steel case, a glossy black DLC dial, and a large tourbillon cage at 6 o’clock, with art deco touches in the hands and minute circle. Asaoka says his approach is inspired by shogi, the Japanese chess game, and by George Daniels. His original watches are hard to get because of long waiting lists, while his more affordable line, Kurono Tokyo, is made in the hundreds and sold through its own website.
“A private watch by independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka” – Exploring the appeal of “Chrono Tokyo” +5.
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Minase
Minase makes around 500 watches a year in Akita, and its round Divido became famous when Shinzo Abe wore one at the G7 summit. The brand’s roots lie in tool-making: it has existed since 2005 under Kyowa, a specialist tool maker that expanded into precision watch parts. The Divido’s 40.5mm case is strongly angular, finished on a Sallaz polishing machine, known in Japan as Zaratsu. Its party trick is the case-in-case construction, in which the movement sits between the dial and caseback so the whole assembly seems to float, letting light pass through. Some versions add hand-painted dials in Japanese lacquer over stamped copper, so no two look exactly alike.
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Naoya Hida & Co
Founded in Tokyo in 2018, the company released its first watch, the Type 1B, in 2019, and now makes only a handful of watches a year. The Type 1B has a slim 37mm case, in 904L steel rather than the usual 316L, with vintage proportions inspired by watches of the 1930s to 1950s. Its dial is German silver with black Breguet numerals, blue-steel feuille hands and a small seconds register at 9 o’clock. The numerals are hand-engraved and filled with urushi, a technique once common on antique pocket watches. Watches are made to order, and each model year is often capped at fewer than 20 pieces. It is a watchmaker’s watch, and one you order and then wait for.
Inside Naoya Hida & Co.: Luxury, Restraint, And Japanese Craft +3
Otsuka Lotec
Jiro Katayama moved into watchmaking in 2008 after studying automotive design, and his work brings an industrial, steampunk sensibility to the wrist. The No. 6 has a fan-shaped display like an analog meter, with retrograde hour and minute hands overlapping on a single axis, powered by a Japanese Miyota movement with an in-house module. It won the Challenge Watch Prize at the 2024 GPHG awards and is reminiscent of a car’s pressure gauge. The case is 42.6mm across and 11.8mm thick. Its launch price was 2,260 CHF, which is remarkable for a GPHG winner. If you want something even more unusual, the newer No.5 Kai uses rotating “satellite” hour discs, though be warned that the brand is mostly sold in Japan, which makes it hard to find elsewhere.
