Hajime Asaoka builds watches almost entirely by himself, in a small workshop in Tokyo, using skills he taught himself from a book and a stack of YouTube videos. That story alone would be interesting. What makes it remarkable is that his handmade tourbillons now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars at major auction houses, while his more accessible brand, Kurono Tokyo, sells out within minutes every time a new model drops. Few watchmakers anywhere in the world have managed to work at both ends of the market this well, and understanding how he did it says a lot about what makes a watch genuinely special.
Hajime Asaoka’s Background and Career
Hajime Asaoka is a self-taught Japanese watchmaker who is widely seen as the most influential independent watchmaker working in Japan today. He was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1965 and originally trained as a product designer, not a watchmaker. He studied design at what is now Tokyo University of the Arts, graduating in 1990, and ran his own design studio for over a decade before he ever built a watch movement.
That background shows up clearly in his work. Asaoka’s watches have a distinct art deco look, with clean geometric dials and bold typography, because he approaches each piece the way a designer approaches an object rather than the way a traditional Swiss-trained watchmaker might. He is one of only two Japanese watchmakers ever accepted into the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, or AHCI, the Geneva-based group that represents the world’s top independent watchmakers. The other is Masahiro Kikuno, known for his own hand-built movements. The AHCI has fewer than 200 members worldwide and only accepts watchmakers who build watches largely by hand, without mass production, which puts Asaoka in the same circle as names like François-Paul Journe and Roger W. Smith.
Hajime Asaoka’s Journey Into Watchmaking
Asaoka never attended watchmaking school. Instead, he taught himself by reading British watchmaker George Daniels’ book “Watchmaking,” which is considered one of the most important technical texts in the field, and by watching online tutorials to learn how to operate the machines he bought secondhand.
He began building watches in 2005. Four years later, in 2009, he completed a wristwatch fitted with Japan’s first ever in-house tourbillon movement, a mechanism so difficult to make by hand that only a handful of watchmakers worldwide attempt it. He started selling watches under his own name in 2011, and in 2015 the AHCI accepted him as a member, cementing his reputation among the top tier of independent watchmakers.
In 2016, he founded a company called Precision Watch Tokyo Co., Ltd. to oversee his growing list of projects. Under that umbrella now sit his original namesake brand, the more affordable Kurono Tokyo, a revived historic Japanese brand called Takano, and Otsuka Lotec.
Even as a member of watchmaking’s most exclusive club, Asaoka has never worked in total isolation. For hard-to-source components, he has turned to historic Unitas movement parts and to Swiss contacts within the independent scene, including watchmakers Philippe Dufour and Antoine Preziuso. That willingness to ask for help where it makes sense, paired with an insistence on doing the design and finishing himself, is part of what separates his approach from watchmakers who either outsource everything or refuse outside help entirely.
The Best Hajime Asaoka Watches
Asaoka’s own namesake watches are made almost entirely by hand, in extremely small numbers, and are aimed at serious collectors rather than everyday buyers. Each one represents a different facet of his approach, from the radical first tourbillon that launched his career to the more refined pieces that followed.
Tourbillon #1
Tourbillon #1 was the watch that started it all. It was Asaoka’s first completed timepiece and the one that earned him his AHCI membership. It features an unusual tourbillon placed at nine o’clock on the dial, with a long bridge stretching across almost half the watch face, a layout very few other watchmakers have used.
Only three examples of the Tourbillon #1 were ever made. One sold at a Phillips auction for CHF 304,800, equivalent to roughly $340,000, which shows how much collector demand has grown for Asaoka’s earliest work.
Tsunami
The Tsunami is Asaoka’s answer to a clean, time-only dress watch. It uses a full-plate movement, meaning the mechanism is built on one solid base plate rather than several smaller ones, which gives it extra rigidity and a distinctive look through the case back.
The Tsunami leans heavily into art deco styling, with sharp lines and a striking dial layout that reflects Asaoka’s design background. It has appeared in several finishes over the years, including a rare “Art Deco” variant, and an early example sold at a Phillips Hong Kong auction in 2023 for $186,359, over 30 times its low estimate.
Project T Tourbillon
The Project T Tourbillon is best known for swapping out traditional ruby jewel bearings for ball bearings, a highly unusual engineering choice in fine watchmaking. Released in 2014 as Asaoka’s second major watch, it has a 43mm stainless steel case, a glossy black dial, and a tourbillon cage built almost entirely from titanium.
Asaoka has said he replaced the usual ruby bearings with ball bearings because they’re more robust and allow for larger, stronger pivots — a choice that shows how he treats watchmaking rules as suggestions rather than laws.
The movement also uses wolf-tooth gears, a gear shape that runs more smoothly than standard teeth but is notoriously hard to machine. The Project T originally launched priced at around ¥8,000,000, roughly $75,000 to $80,000 at the time. A stainless steel example later sold at a Phillips Hong Kong auction in 2023 for $243,078, more than double its high estimate and a record for the model.
Chronograph
Asaoka’s Chronograph takes the movement architecture from the Tsunami and adds a new chronograph module on top of it. Because it builds on an already-proven base, it represents one of the more technically refined pieces in his catalog, combining his full-plate construction with the added complexity of stop-watch functions. Like the rest of his namesake watches, production numbers are extremely low, and reported pricing has generally sat in the $35,000 to $40,000 range, making it one of the more attainable pieces in his lineup even though it remains well out of reach for most buyers.
Side by side, the four watches show a clear progression in complexity and price:
| Model | Released | Case | Standout Feature | Documented Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourbillon #1 | 2009 | Stainless steel, one of 3 made | Tourbillon at 9 o’clock with an extra-long bridge | $340,000 (auction) |
| Tsunami | 2013 | Stainless steel, 37mm | Full-plate, time-only movement | $186,359 (auction) |
| Project T Tourbillon | 2014 | Steel, 43mm, DLC dial | Ball bearings and titanium tourbillon cage | $243,078 (auction) |
| Chronograph | — | Stainless steel | Tsunami base movement with added chronograph module | $35,000–$40,000 (reported retail) |
Prices vary this much because these aren’t catalog items with fixed retail prices — most exist only as one-off or near one-off pieces, so what one actually sells for depends heavily on the specific example, its condition, and where it changes hands.
Kurono Tokyo: Asaoka’s Affordable Watch Line
Kurono Tokyo exists because most people simply can’t afford a five- or six-figure handmade timepiece. Asaoka founded the brand in 2019 specifically to make his design language available to a much wider group of collectors.
Instead of building movements entirely by hand, Kurono Tokyo watches use reliable, mass-produced movements from the Japanese manufacturer Miyota. This lets Asaoka focus his time on what he does best: case shaping, dial design, hand finishing, and the small details that separate a good watch from a forgettable one. Cases typically measure a wearable 37mm, and dials often use lacquer finishes and sector layouts inspired by vintage European dress watches, reinterpreted through a distinctly Japanese lens.
Prices for Kurono Tokyo watches have generally started in the $1,700 to $2,000 range at retail, though because releases are limited and sell out almost immediately, pre-owned examples regularly trade for $2,500 to $4,500 or more on the secondary market. Popular releases include the Kurono Classic line, made up of models like the Toki, Mori, Reiwa, and Anniversary editions, most running on the automatic Miyota caliber 90S5, a movement that beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and holds a 42-hour power reserve.
More recent releases have pushed into slightly more complex territory. The Grand Jubilee Calendar, released in 2025 to mark Asaoka’s 60th birthday, adds day, date, and month displays using the Miyota 9122 movement, a different caliber built specifically for calendar functions. Its solid gold caseback medallion is engraved with Asaoka’s hanko, the personal stamp used in Japan in place of a signature, and it launched at $2,380. It’s a good example of how Kurono Tokyo keeps evolving in small, considered steps rather than chasing flashy complications just for the sake of it.
Takano and Otsuka Lotec: Asaoka’s Other Brands
Asaoka’s company, Precision Watch Tokyo, also oversees two smaller, lesser-known brands. Takano is a historic Japanese watch name from the 20th century that had gone out of business; Asaoka revived it with new models such as the Chateau Nouvelle Chronometer. Otsuka Lotec is a separate independent Japanese brand founded by automotive designer Jiro Katayama, who began machining watch cases from a home lathe in 2008 and started selling watches publicly in 2012. Its designs draw on industrial instruments, vintage cameras, and automotive dashboards rather than traditional watch styling. In 2022, Asaoka brought Otsuka Lotec under the Precision Watch Tokyo umbrella, lending Katayama extra staff and manufacturing capacity to scale up his tiny production runs.
These projects reflect a broader pattern in Asaoka’s career: rather than keeping his skills locked away in a single luxury brand, he has used them to support a wider revival of independent watchmaking across Japan.
Why Collectors Love Hajime Asaoka Watches
Collectors value Asaoka’s watches because he handles nearly every stage of production himself, from initial design sketches to final assembly. In an industry where even respected brands often outsource parts of their production, that level of hands-on control is genuinely rare.
His annual output is tiny. Some reports suggest he completed fewer than 20 individual watches in his first decade of independent work, which naturally makes each one more desirable to collectors chasing scarcity. Combined with his AHCI membership, his technical inventiveness, such as his use of ball bearings and wolf-tooth gears, and his distinctive art deco aesthetic, the result is a body of work that feels genuinely different from what larger Swiss houses produce, even at similar price points.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hajime Asaoka a real watchmaker or just a designer?
He is both. Asaoka started his career as a product designer but taught himself watchmaking from books and online videos starting in 2005. He personally designs, machines, and assembles his own movements, which is why the AHCI, an organization that only accepts watchmakers who build watches largely by hand, admitted him as a member in 2015.
What is the cheapest way to own a Hajime Asaoka design?
Kurono Tokyo is the answer. It is the brand Asaoka founded in 2019 specifically to make his design work more accessible, with retail prices that have generally started around $1,700 to $2,000, compared to the tens of thousands his namesake watches command.
How many Hajime Asaoka watches are made each year?
Very few. Because he handles most of the construction and finishing himself, his namesake output has historically been limited to a handful of pieces per year, which is a major reason his watches command high prices at auction.
What movements does Hajime Asaoka use?
For his namesake watches, Asaoka builds his own movements largely from scratch, sourcing certain hard-to-make components from established suppliers where necessary. Kurono Tokyo watches, by contrast, use dependable Japanese Miyota movements, since that brand focuses on design and accessibility rather than in-house mechanical work.
Is Kurono Tokyo the same company as Hajime Asaoka’s main brand?
They’re related but distinct. Both fall under Asaoka’s company, Precision Watch Tokyo Co., Ltd., and both reflect his design sensibility, but they serve very different purposes: the namesake brand is his handmade, ultra-limited flagship work, while Kurono Tokyo is built for wider, faster access at a fraction of the price.
The Bottom Line
Hajime Asaoka’s career shows that a watchmaker doesn’t need generations of family heritage or a Swiss atelier to earn a spot among the world’s most respected names in horology. His namesake watches, built almost entirely by his own hands and often reworking basic mechanical rules like jewel bearings and gear shapes, sit at the top of the independent watchmaking world. Kurono Tokyo proves the same design instincts can work at a completely different price point without losing what makes them interesting. Whether someone is chasing a six-figure tourbillon at auction or a $2,000 Kurono release, they’re buying into the same guiding idea: a watch designed and refined by one person who insists on doing it his own way.
