Giappone · Fondazione 2019
Kurono Tokyo
Hajime Asaoka's accessible line; its 2020 Anniversary Mori sold out in 42 seconds.
Testo editoriale in inglese.
Kurono Tokyo is the accessible line of Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, launched in 2019 and run from Tokyo's Bunkyō ward. Small batches of dress watches, chronographs and GMTs with Japanese movements and custom dial colours are sold in short online windows and usually sell out within minutes. Prices run from roughly €2,000 to €4,500.
Storia
Hajime Asaoka was born in 1965 in Kanagawa Prefecture and studied design at Tokyo University of the Arts. He opened his own design office in 1992 and worked as a product designer before teaching himself watchmaking. He began making watches in 2005, and in 2009 completed the first wristwatch made in Japan with an in-house tourbillon movement. From 2011 he sold watches under the Hajime Asaoka Tokyo Japan name, joined the AHCI in 2015 and founded Precision Watch Tokyo Co., Ltd. in 2016.
Asaoka's own watches are made in tiny numbers, and he created Kurono Tokyo in 2019 to give collectors access to his designs at lower prices, and to make a watch he could wear every day himself. Announced on 13 May 2019 and launched on 3 June, the first Kurono Bunkyō Tokyo was a 37 mm steel time-only watch in Midnight Blue, Mystic Grey and Eggshell White, 50 pieces each, at ¥180,000 plus tax. It sold out in minutes, and the copper and silver 'Reiwa' versions that followed sold out in 6 and 16 minutes.
The Chronograph 1 arrived on 28 April 2020 at $3,680: a 38 mm watch with a column-wheel, vertical-clutch automatic movement, made in two dial versions of 68 pieces each. It was nominated for the GPHG that year. The Anniversary Mori of May 2020 sold out in 42 seconds, and 500 pieces of the Chronograph 2 went in under three and a half minutes in February 2021. Kurono was a GPHG nominee again in 2022 and 2023, the latter with the GMT 1 in the Challenge category.
Sales run through limited online windows rather than a dealer network, and Asaoka remains involved in design, final inspection and shipment, with production managed by Precision Watch Tokyo. Quality control is strict: 17 of the first 50 Anniversary Grand Mori pieces were rejected. For the fifth anniversary in 2024 Kurono released the Anniversary Reiwa and then retired the model. The same year Asaoka revived Takano, a defunct Nagoya brand, as a separate label above Kurono.
Fondatori
- Hajime Asaoka
- Founder · 1965–
- Self-taught Tokyo watchmaker and former product designer who made Japan's first in-house tourbillon wristwatch in 2009, joined the AHCI in 2015 and also revived the Takano brand in 2024.
Tappe
2019
Kurono Bunkyō Tokyo launched
Announced on 13 May and released on 3 June, the first three 37 mm models of 50 pieces each sell out within minutes.
2020
Chronograph 1
Released on 28 April in two dial versions of 68 pieces each and nominated for the GPHG chronograph category.
2020
Anniversary Mori sells out in 42 seconds
The first-anniversary model, released in May 2020, sells out in 42 seconds.
2021
Chronograph 2
In February, 500 pieces sell in under three and a half minutes.
2022
Second GPHG nomination
Kurono is again among the official nominees of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
2023
GMT 1 nominated
The GMT 1 is one of six nominees in the GPHG Challenge category.
2024
Fifth anniversary
The Anniversary Reiwa marks five years; Kurono retires the model after this final release.
Tre cose che i collezionisti sanno
17 of 50 rejected
Kurono says its quality control rejected 17 of the first 50 Anniversary Grand Mori pieces, and it cites the episode as an example of the inspection standards set by Asaoka.
Japan's first tourbillon wristwatch
Before Kurono, Hajime Asaoka completed a wristwatch with an in-house tourbillon in 2009, the first made in Japan, after teaching himself watchmaking from 2005.
A revived Nagoya name
In 2024 Asaoka's company revived Takano, a Nagoya clockmaker founded in 1899 that made wristwatches from 1957 and became insolvent by 1961, licensing the name from Ricoh.
Modelli simbolo
- Kurono Bunkyō Tokyo2019
The launch model: 37 mm steel time-only dress watch with Miyota-based automatic, first made in 50-piece colourways.
- Chronograph 12020
38 mm automatic chronograph with column wheel and vertical clutch, 68 pieces per dial; GPHG 2020 nominee.
- Anniversary Mori2020
First-anniversary edition named 森 (Mori, forest), released in May 2020 and sold out in 42 seconds.
- GMT 12023
38 mm watch with a GMT function; nominee in the 2023 GPHG Challenge category.
Domande
- Who is behind Kurono Tokyo?
- Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, an AHCI member since 2015. He created Kurono Tokyo in 2019 as a more affordable line than his own Hajime Asaoka watches.
- How can I buy a Kurono Tokyo watch?
- Mostly through short online sales windows announced by the brand. Batches are small, and many releases have sold out within minutes, so there is no conventional dealer stock.
- What movements does Kurono Tokyo use?
- Japanese movements: Miyota-based automatics for the time-only models, and a Seiko column-wheel, vertical-clutch automatic chronograph calibre for the chronographs.
- Where are Kurono Tokyo watches made?
- Kurono is based in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Production is managed by Asaoka's company Precision Watch Tokyo, and Asaoka oversees design, final inspection and shipment.
Fonti
- Hajime Asaoka – AHCI
- Kurono Tokyo: Celebrating Our 5th Anniversary – Kurono Tokyo
- Hajime Asaoka: Chrono and Kurono, Bunkyō Tokyo – Grail Watch
- Hands-On: Kurono Bunkyō Tokyo by Hajime Asaoka – Horologium
- Kurono Chronograph I – Kurono Tokyo
- GPHG 2023: Nominations for the Challenge Watch Category – The Hour Markers
- Introducing: Hajime Asaoka Revives Extinct Japanese Brand Takano – Monochrome
- Kurono Tokyo Review – Teddy Baldassarre