Kurono Tokyo, the accessible brand from independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, had quite a bit of success last year with many impressive new models, most notably dedicated to their founder's 60th anniversary. These include the pretty Grand Jubilee Calendar Salmon, the Ice Blue 2025 Jubilee Sensu EOL or the 34mm Star Dial watches. And yet the young independent brand is starting 2026 confidently and releasing a new member of the “Special Projects” collection. Equipped with an attractive gray Muonionalusta meteorite dial, the 2026 Special Projects 37 mm Inseki is further proof of the man's sense of style.
With the “Special Projects” collection, Hajime Asaoka wants to offer more personal designs in limited editions. Watches that do not belong to the classic collection, with a more expressive style and/or less conventional dial techniques. With the latest member of this collection, the Japanese brand is using an exotic material for the first time: meteorite. “I felt that the contrast between the rough texture of the meteorite and our soft, gentle case design would be fascinating. But there were challenges in bringing the idea to life. One of the distinctive features of the Kurono Tokyo is its curved dial, and I wanted to maintain that when working with meteorite. Getting meteorite itself into a curved shape is extremely difficult, so instead I tried a bulls-eye design that (…) gives the surrounding area a gentle curve to the outside edge,” explains Hajime Asaoka.
Kurono's first watch of 2026 is based on a familiar case design with a compact 37mm diameter and 11.5mm thickness – largely due to the tall box-shaped crystal on the top, as the case itself is only 7mm high. The case is made of steel and fully polished, with a rather short water resistance of 30 m. As with many of the brand's newer models, the crown is adorned with a black cabochon.
Inside the case, as always with Kurono, there is a movement from the Japanese manufacturer Miyota, which belongs to the Citizen Group. Here we have the Japanese-made Caliber 90S5, a dateless automatic movement that runs at 4 Hz and stores a power reserve of approximately 40 hours. Nothing special, but effective and reliable.
What counts with this new Kurono Special Projects 37mm Inseki is the dial. Here, the patterned center is complemented by a white lacquered ring on which Hajime's personally designed Calligra font (an evolution of the Breguet numerals) is painted in high relief, and the monochrome look is completed by hand-curved hands made of highly polished steel. For the center, Asaoka selected slices of the Muonionalusta meteorite, an iron-nickel meteorite and one of the oldest known meteorites found on Earth. To ensure structure and consistency throughout production, Asaoka personally inspected each individual dial. Only those with strong, well-defined Widmanstätten patterns were selected for final assembly. As a sign of this personal selection, each watch bears Hajime's own seal on the dial.
The 2026 Kurono Special Projects 37mm Inseki with Meteorite Dial is worn on a black calfskin strap (20mm bridge width) and secured with a polished tang buckle. It is a limited edition and will not be repeated (no mention of the number of copies). It will be available online at kuronotokyo.com from Thursday, January 15, 2026, 11:00 p.m. JST (or 2:00 p.m. GMT). It is strictly limited to one purchase per customer. Deliveries are expected from the end of February 2026, the price for the watch is $1,850 (excluding taxes and 15% tariffs for US exports).
https://monochrome-watches.com/kurono-tokyo-2026-special-projects-37mm-inseki-meteorite-dial-price-introducing/