Kurono Tokyo’s Latest Special Project, the 34mm Star Dial

A micro-brand that should sound familiar to you now, Kurono Tokyo is the brainchild of Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, known for his high-end tourbillons or chronographs. With this brand, Asaoka wanted to deliver his style and design ideas in far more accessible watches, without the highly complex movements, but with an equal taste for beauty. Besides his Urushi lacquered models or handsome chronographs, Kurono Tokyo now has a yearly tradition, a collection of vintage-inspired, originally-designed 34mm watches. And for 2025, the concept comes back with an Art-Deco-inspired 34mm Star Dial duo. 

The new Kurono Tokyo 34mm Star Dial watches follow the 2022 quartet of Art-Deco watches, the 2023 quartet of sector dial models and the 2024 trio of carrying Asaoka’s vision of the Breguet numerals (which he hand-drew). For 2025, the man returns to his passion for the Art-Deco era with a duo of watches that are technically identical to all the previous 34mm Special Project watches, but are directly affiliated to a rather unique design concept Asaoka created for his high-end brand, the Tsunami ‘As Time Goes By’ atelier watch, unveiled in Geneva in 2024. Yet, due to the complexity of manufacturing these markers, he ended up using only numerals… But now, the concept has found its way into his accessible brand.

Let’s first talk about what we know from the past editions, the basic vessel that’s common to all 34mm editions. Kurono Tokyo’s Star Dial models have the same deliberately small stainless steel case as before, measuring a teeny-tiny 34mm diameter and 41mm in length – no need to tell you, these will wear small on the wrist, but the idea was to go back to case measurements found in dress watches of the 1940s and 1950s. Despite an off-the-shelf movement inside and a box-shaped sapphire crystal on top, the thickness is not particularly problematic at 9.6mm – but keep in mind that on such small watches, the proportions are different than on a 40mm watch. The case, with a stepped bezel (typical of 1930s Calatrava-styled watches), is made of steel, entirely polished, features a screwed back and is water-resistant to 50m.

Inside the case is a Japanese automatic movement, the Miyota 90S5. Beating at 4Hz, it stores up to 40 hours of energy when fully wound, and if nothing fancy, it will bring reliable timekeeping and make sure to keep the price at an attainable level. The watches are worn on 18mm grained calf straps with a pin buckle.

What’s new for the Special Project 2025 collection, which is easy to understand with the name of the watches – Kurono Tokyo 34mm Star Dial. A popular style in the 1930s/40s, particularly with the Rolex 6062 Triple Calendar Stelline, these new models have handsome two-tone dials with star-shaped applied markers. The polished starts are obtained using molds and forging techniques. These are combined with Art-Deco-designed Arabic numerals at all 4 cardinal points.

The two-tone dial, with a sunray brushed central part and minute ring, as well as an off-white hour chapter ring with a matte finish, will be available in two bold colours, namely blue and copper, but the images we received feel closer to turquoise and pink. Time is indicated by syringe-shaped luminous hands with blue IP-plating.

Priced at USD 1,190 (excl. taxes and import duties), the new Kurono Tokyo 34mm Star Dial watches are released as a limited production run, not to be reproduced. Public sale opens on Thursday, 13th March 2025 (at 23:00 Japan time – 15:00 Europe time – 10:00 New York Time) and is strictly limited to one variant per customer. Expected deliveries from end-March onward. For more details, please visit kuronotokyo.com.