Founded in 2018, Kikuchi Nakagawa is an ultra-exclusive independent Japanese watchmaking brand created by Yusuke Kikuchi and Tomonari Nakagawa. Operating on a micro-scale with a production of fewer than ten watches a year, the duo set out to create the "ideal watch." Their overarching philosophy embraces two contradictory ideals: pursuing the abstract, artistic essence of metal far beyond its functional limits, while simultaneously crafting an authentic timekeeping tool rooted in the aesthetic codes of the 1930s to 1950s, the golden age of mechanical wristwatches.
However, what truly separates Kikuchi Nakagawa from the rest of the horological world is the obsessive, artisanal hand-finishing applied to the external components in their Tokyo workshop. The brand is famous for applying a flawless "black polish", a painstaking technique usually reserved for tiny internal movement parts, to the entirety of their stainless-steel cases and their striking, three-dimensional spade hands. Masterpieces like the Murakumo, Ichimonji, and Genmon have become so coveted for this breathtaking interplay of light and mirror-smooth finishing that the brand currently commands waitlists stretching up to a decade.
