The Japanese do things differently.

I met Hajime Asaoka at Baselworld in about 2017 and was immediately impressed by this humble independent watchmaker from Tokyo. After graduating from the school of Fine Art in the design department of the Tokyo University of the Arts he taught himself watchmaking, eventually becoming a member of the prestigious AHCI. He creates a very small number of superlatively made timepieces with flawless movements and dial finishing whose prices, when you can find them, range between AUD 35’000 and AUD 185’000…

In 2019, Hajime sought to introduce a more affordable watch line to the market to satisfy the many fans of good Japanese watch design with a more modest budget, hence the Kurono brand (Now marketed under Kurono “Bunkyo Tokyo”, after the Bunkyo ward in central Tokyo). He quickly found that his watches were being snapped up by collectors each time he released a new model, and had to introduce a sales model whereby new watches were released during a very limited time window (10min for example) but without numbered Limited edition serial nos, thus avoiding the mad speculation that flippers were indulging in with his great-value-for-money watches. The first models where simple time-only watches with superb strikingly coloured dials (see Kurono Tokyo “Toki” model also for sale by Geneva Blue) however the more recent renditions have included complicated chronographs and triple calendars such as this one.

Azuki translates as ‘Red Bean’ in Japanese and the beautiful deep maroon of the dial is directly inspired by classic Japanese sports cars such as the famed Datsun 240Z, often found in this distinctive colour. This depth of colour however is very difficult to reproduce on a thin watch dial, and was only made possible after months of painstaking tests and trials. Never to be repeated, as with the triple calendar movement. The dial featuring sub-dials for month and day indication, with off-white painted vintage font numerals and a very pretty minutes railway-track.

Full set box and papers in unworn condition sourced from serious Australian Kurono collector.

Rarely seen model outside of collector circles

If buying outside Perth metro, please contact re shipping