Discuss

Read

The KUDOKE Golden Dragon and White Flower

written by A.Morgan - 21st Feb 2012

Just when it seems that many of this year’s new watch releases are going to be a bit, well, boring, along comes something that blows that presumption right out of the water.

You may not love it, but you have to admire it. Taking a whole different view on what makes a watch special, KUDOKE (all capitals for some reason) have channelled their efforts into producing watches that are the canvases for some truly impressive works of art. For BaselWorld 2012, KUDOKE have launched two new pieces, the ‘Golden Dragon,’ and the ‘White Flower.’

The Golden Dragon is, as you might imagine, a fairly predictable orientally-inspired design – well executed, but fairly unoriginal and bordering on a little corny. The ladies’ White Flower, however, has something about it that just makes me want to keep looking at it – it feels organic, natural, like a little piece of late summer’s evening bundled up inside a stainless steel 38mm watch case. Even though it is less technically impressive than the Golden Dragon, the originality and creativity of its design – particularly the meandering leaf-shaped hands and the tiny, almost invisible diamonds in the markers and flowers that catch the light – lend it the ingenuity to capture the attention and the imagination of anyone who sees it.

All the engraving is done strictly by hand with traditional tools, and it is likely that the two watches will also feature KUDOKE’s impressive hand-skeletonised and engraved movements too. The movement itself is usually just the work-horse ETA-2824, but the skill comes from the hugely intricate skeletonising and engraving work that it is done to them. All in all, it’s a refreshing change from the norm.