Hajime Asaoka is a renowned independent watchmaker known for his exquisite craftsmanship and innovative designs. His timepieces are celebrated for their meticulous attention to detail and blend of traditional techniques with modern aesthetics.


Hajime Asaoka is a Japanese independent watchmaker who designs and builds his watches entirely by hand, making him one of the rarest practitioners of truly artisanal one-man watchmaking. His Tsunami watch — featuring a tourbillon with a wave-shaped bridge inspired by Hokusai's Great Wave — is celebrated as one of the most beautiful Japanese watches ever made. Asaoka's work demonstrates that world-class watchmaking is not exclusively a Swiss or German tradition.
The Tsunami is Asaoka's signature creation — a tourbillon watch where the tourbillon cage bridge is sculpted into the shape of a breaking wave, referencing Katsushika Hokusai's iconic woodblock print 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa.' Every component is hand-made and hand-finished by Asaoka personally in his Tokyo workshop. The finishing quality is extraordinary, and the watch represents an integration of Japanese aesthetic tradition with Swiss-level horological craft.
Asaoka produces an extremely small number of watches annually — typically fewer than 10 — because every component is made by hand without outsourcing. This places him in the rarest tier of independent watchmakers alongside figures like Philippe Dufour and Abraham Rogat. The extreme scarcity means his work is seldom seen on the open market; most pieces go directly to committed collectors who seek genuinely artisanal Japanese horology.

.avif)