“Designed by Hajime Asaoka”. This was one of the first things I remember that intrigued me about Kurono Tokyo. I didn’t know much about him yet – only that I was mesmerised by the design of the Reiwa, which made me think of a modern Japanese-styled Polerouter – and that I wanted to learn more. A journey that would eventually lead me to the Kurono Tokyo Chronograph 1.

After some research, I learned that Asaoka-San was a self-taught watchmaker who ran a one-man independent brand where he made a handful of watches each year. His own independent creations are not within my reach (and with his waiting lists apparently stretching to 6 years now, it’s unlikely that it ever will be!), but he created the Kurono brand to provide a more accessible option for people like me who wanted to experience something he had a hand in creating, at a lower price point.

The only trouble is that each model is released in limited quantities – the Kurono Classic and Reiwa were long sold out, and the Chronograph 1 was announced as having only 68 of each of the panda and reverse panda versions. Anyway, long story short, I tried my luck when the sale went live, and somehow was one of the 136 people who got one.

My immediate thought was “That wasn’t so hard…” but after having a look on their instagram page and seeing that it sold out in 2 minutes, and that there were a number of angry commenters complaining about the checkout system, saying they had it in their cart but when they clicked to purchase they were told it was sold out, I realised I was very lucky indeed.

The watch finally arrived a few months later (along with a complimentary Kurono bracelet to apologise for the Covid-19 lockdown induced delay), I was blown away. It looked so much better in real life than in the initial renders. The finishing on the hands, markers and case is, dare I say, almost Grand Seiko-like, and you have to see in person how well they catch the light. The Art Deco details like the pin stripes at the centre of the dial, combined with japanese touches like the Kanji Kurono logo and the kyudo arrow in the minute subdial really set this apart from other chronographs. It really is a beautifully designed dial. The thin lugs also surprised me with how nice they looked in the metal.

My main concern was that the watch would be a little thick and look weird since it was only a 38mm watch, but when you put it on your wrist, it feels perfect. From the side profile with the watch sitting on a table, it still does look a little thick, but on the wrist it isn’t noticeable, and I feel like 38mm is my new favourite size for a watch.

A gripe I have is while I haven’t handled heaps of chronographs in my time yet, I do feel like the pusher for this model is quite stiff to activate with the initial press, but stopping and resetting the chronograph feels smooth enough. I was told by another member in the Fifth Wrist Slack group that this is normal for the Seiko NE86 chronograph movement that powers it, but seeing as this is a column wheel chronograph, I was expecting it to feel nicer to use.

I have to applaud Kurono for their overall execution of the Kurono Tokyo Chronograph 1, and hopefully one day I can see one of the reverse panda models in real life as well. Their future releases are definitely worth keeping an eye on.