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Kikuchi Nakagawa is a luxury watch brand known for its meticulous craftsmanship and elegant design, blending traditional Japanese artistry with modern innovation. Each timepiece is crafted with precision, offering a unique blend of aesthetic appeal and functional excellence.
Kikuchi Nakagawa is a Japanese independent watch brand founded by Masahiro Kikuchi and Atsushi Nakagawa, producing mechanical watches that combine traditional Japanese craft techniques with contemporary watchmaking. The brand is particularly celebrated for its incorporation of Japanese urushi lacquer, shibori textiles, and other traditional decorative arts into watch dials — creating pieces that are as much cultural artefacts as they are timepieces.
Kikuchi Nakagawa uses Japanese urushi lacquer applied by traditional techniques — building up multiple layers over weeks to create dials with extraordinary depth and texture. The brand also works with shibori (tie-dye fabric techniques), kintsugi (gold repair), and other traditional crafts. Each technique requires specialist artisans and extended production times, making Kikuchi Nakagawa watches genuinely craft-intensive objects rather than watches with decorative dials added at the final stage.
Kikuchi Nakagawa appeals to collectors who approach watches as cultural objects — interested in the meeting point of Japanese craft tradition and contemporary horology. The brand has particular resonance among Japanese collectors and internationally among enthusiasts fascinated by Japanese aesthetics and craft. Production is extremely limited, prices reflect the labour intensity of traditional craft application, and the brand has developed a devoted following through word-of-mouth and specialist press coverage.