The Japanese watch brands you need to know now

Here, the emphasis is on niche brands with a focus on small-scale craftsmanship, and Citizen is best known for its everyday sports and dive watch collections. But this year the brand has gone head-to-head with Grand Seiko, offering a series of 38.3mm watches in brushed and polished titanium, with dials that open a window to ancient Japanese craft. Each dial has ‘Tosa washi’ applied to its surface, a hand-dyed Washi paper with an effect like a cloudy night sky. Fitted with a navy crocodile leather strap, the craftsmanship is juxtaposed to one of the most accurate Eco-drive quartz movements around, encompassing a future-proofed Japanese mindset. 

Kikuno-san was the first member of the AHCI, the Swiss association of independent watchmakers, which includes Hajime Asaoka and Roger Dufour. He works mainly on his own, producing a very small number of largely handmade watches. The Inherit is his debut piece, embracing CNC machining on an intensely personal scale. Within the slim 39 case of the Inherit, Masahito Kikuno has created an in-house movement that is influenced by the work of George Daniels. It includes the jaw-dropping combination of a minute repeater, chronograph, tourbillon, and power reserve indicator, with an open-worked design that captures the allure of mechanical watchmaking. 

With a workshop that combines watch restoration and the in-house brand Masa & Co, this small brand is all about classic lines and an obsessive focus on details. The Nagi model is a great example, boasting a 4-piece Sterling Siver dial set in a steel or 18K white gold case, with a refined 37.5mm size. Like the watches from Naoya Hida & Co the dial art is front and centre, but the art is in the treatment of the metal surfaces rather than the usual Japanese way with deep lacquer finishes. The result is a crafted minimalism with a distinct to the gold plated silver dial with a subtle grained finish, while delicate spade hands and polished button markers exude a quietly spoken elegance. 

Naoya Hida & Co is based in Chuo-ku in central Tokyo, and since 2018, Hida-san has carved his own niche on the Japanese indie scene. The brand’s monochrome Type 1 to 4 collection has carefully evolved as a collection, with notable limited collaborations with The Armoury spicing up the range. Simple, textured dials in German silver with engraved, lacquer-filled numerals are set in slim cases for a recognisable language based on a deep appreciation of the power of perfectly honed small details. This spring, Naoya Hida surprised us with a 37mm interpretation of a perpetual calendar, a grained Sterling silver dial boasting blued pointers and hour and minute hands from hand-formed 18K yellow gold. The NH Type 6A dial is inhabited by a wealth of information elaborately engraved by the skilled hands of engraver Keisuke Kano. The new Cal.3025PC movement in the NH Type 6A was designed with ex-IWC legend Richard Habring and Dubois Dépraz.

As Japanese independent brands go, Kikuchi Nakagawa is one of the most quietly spoken, both in terms of their classical design language and literally, as the production is very limited. The brand has a distinctive, monochromatic presence with a small yearly production based on two models, the Murakumo and Ichimonji. Kikuchi Nakagawa is the only brand that bases their collection on a 37mm black polished steel case, a remarkably time-consuming technique usually reserved for movement parts. This devotion to finishing means the KN production is very limited, and order books are routinely being closed with a 3-4 year wait for an order. But it doesn’t take a loupe to deeply appreciate the level to which each part of a Murakumo is finished. This watch has been the signature piece of Yusuki Kikuchi and Tomonari Nakagawa since its 2018 inception, their ethos inspired by what Kikuchi-san and Tomonori Nakagawa consider the golden age of watchmaking, the 1930s to 1950s. You will see distinct traces of Patek Philippe in the 36.8mm case, but the Murakumo has a strong identity distinguished by having what might be the world’s best set of hands-polished spade hands.

Hajime Asaoka is the main reason for the world’s appreciation for Japanese independent watchmaking, and in addition to his eponymous Atélier brand, Kurono Tokyo was created for a simple reason. Asaoka-san is a self-taught watchmaker and was the first Asian member of the prestigious Swiss AHCI, the official association of independent watchmakers. And ironically, his handcrafted haute horology pieces were time-consuming enough to negate the possibility of time left over to make a watch of his own creation that he himself could wear. Kurono (phonetic Japanese for Chrono) has become the go-to brand for accessible Japanese indie chic. Kurono Watches are designed by Hajime Asaoka, keeping to his trademark Art Deco language and small-cased comfort. This includes the first watch to be released this year, the Jubilee Sensu EOL. This is Asaoka-san’s second design with a guilloche dial, and the brand’s much anticipated Anniversary watch. Set in Kurono’s trademark polished 38mm case, a greenish-blue guilloche dial with Kanji characters set a vibrant tone for a watch featuring a black onyx cabochon marking Hajime Asaoka’s own 60^th Diamond Jubilee, set into the rounded crown, another brand first. The heartfelt attention to detail is remarkable for the price, and as with all Kurono releases, this version is limited and will not be reproduced.

Otsuka Lotec is the brainchild of Japanese watchmaker Jiro Katayama and offers a contrasting semi-industrial vibe to the Japanese polished aesthetic. With a limited production mostly assembled by Katayama-san, he won a GPHG award in Geneva last November. Please take note that this was accomplished despite the fact that his less than 200 watches a year have only been available for the Japanese market. And even with this pure JDM approach, the production output has been allocated to interested domestic collectors via a raffle, as his mostly sub-£ 3K watches offer big, micro-engineered bang for the Yen. This year’s single release was the No.5 Kai, a watch that in context can be seen as a slim-cased, tall-crystal take on the industrial vibe of Urwerk. It is a highly complex, open-worked design with a fascinating satellite hour display, where Jiro Katayama produces all the principal components in-house. The design is based on a barely recognisable solid Miyota movement, a detail that helps the No.5 Kai maintain a very reasonable price.