A watch enthusiast working alone
In 2015, NHK produced and aired a special program on BS Premium about an independent Japanese watchmaker. The person in question was Masahiro Kikuno, who was 32 years old at the time.
Born in Fukagawa, Hokkaido in 1983, he belongs to the generation that "spoke of G-Shock when it came to watches." After graduating from high school, he joined the Self-Defense Forces, where he became interested in mechanical watches under the influence of his superior officer, and began subscribing to watch magazines. One of these magazines introduced him to independent watchmakers, which changed his life.
Enthralled by their work of building complex machines, he soon found himself unable to suppress the urge to try making one himself, so he left the Self-Defense Forces and enrolled in the watchmaking course at Hiko Mizuno Jewelry College, a vocational school in Jingumae, Tokyo.
"From the moment I enrolled, I declared that I wanted to become an independent watchmaker."
Since graduating in 2008, he has devoted himself to his own creative endeavors. To become an independent watchmaker, it is essential to have originality that is not found in watches made by manufacturers.
"While searching for a solution, I happened to come across a documentary about a perpetual clock made by Tanaka Hisashige during the Edo period."
In Japan during the Edo period, a seasonal time system was used, dividing day and night based on sunrise and sunset, with each divided into six periods, each representing a koku. The length of the day changed daily, and so did the length of each koku during the day and night. Hisashige Tanaka invented a mechanism to automatically adjust this.
Determined to recreate the same mechanism in a wristwatch as a Japanese, Kikuno spent 2011 years, after much trial and error, successfully installing a perpetual clock mechanism. The links (indexes) depicting the twelve zodiac signs automatically moved at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, creating a clock aptly named the "Wadokei." This caught the eye of Philippe Dufour, a leading figure in the world of independent watchmakers. With Dufour's recommendation, Kikuno became the youngest-ever associate member of the Académie des Hautes Horlogers (AHCI) in the same year he completed the "Wadokei" (full member since 2013).
A manual milling machine from the 1960s that uses a pantograph to reduce the size of drawings and is used to make needles and other items. 
The case is also handcrafted by cutting it out of a block of metal. 
You can also use a jigsaw to cut out parts.
Since then, Kikuno has consistently expressed Japanese traditions in his watches, such as the clock with a flapping metal origami crane automaton and the aforementioned "wood grain." His unique worldview has been highly praised, and he has been inundated with orders. Each of the 22 watches he has delivered to date is a one-of-a-kind piece made to meet the client's request.
Kikuno does not create a series of models, nor does he rely on automated machine tools; he makes almost all of his parts himself, making him seem like a true seeker of truth. However, this is precisely why his production takes so long.
"We stopped taking orders in 2018 to deal with the backorders."
The world's first irregular time wristwatch, "Wadokei," was created in 2011. 
"Mokume" is a 2014 piece in which the dial is made using Mokume Gane, a traditional technique in which multiple metals are thermally joined and hammered together. 
The "Japanese Clock Modification" (2015) allows the temporary timekeeping mechanism to be operated using the crown. 
The Complication, released in 2025, combines three complicated mechanisms into one.
Japan's first ultra-complex model made possible by CNC machine tools
After completing all the orders in 2012, Kikuno began developing a new movement: a "complication." To produce these parts, he uses a small CNC machine capable of automated cutting. He went against conventional practice and chose this method for the students at his alma mater, Hiko Mizuno, where he now teaches.
"For students who want to make their own clocks, a CNC machine is much more convenient to have. I wanted to be able to use it myself first, so I bought one, in order to recommend it to the school."
To test its performance, they decided to take on the challenge of creating a complex mechanism, and attempted to integrate a minute repeater, tourbillon, and chronograph into one.
"Making the minute repeater was difficult, but making the chronograph was even more difficult," recalls Kikuno, because space constraints meant the chronograph mechanism had to be concentrated within the subdial at 7 o'clock.
He decided to unveil the Complication at the AHCI exhibition held in conjunction with the Watches & Wonders trade fair in Geneva in April 2025, and continued making adjustments right up until the last minute, managing to unveil the prototype just in time.
As he had not taken any orders for seven years, the collectors who visited the venue flocked to Kikuno. "Some people said, 'I'd like to order, and I'll pay right away.' Of course, I turned them down."
Kikuno is currently working on the final adjustments to the "Complication." "I think we'll probably be able to take orders by the end of the year, but it will probably only be one or two pieces," he says.
The start date for orders will be announced on the official website and Instagram. "If an order is placed this year, the first delivery will be two years later, and the second four years later," he said. Even so, orders are sure to continue pouring in. Watch enthusiasts around the world continue to covet this piece.
