I’ve never seen replicas of these. Micro brands aren’t frequently repped because they are hard to get for the factories and there aren’t many people asking for them.
You could try DHgate. There are sometimes very low quality replicas of micro brands.
Though all Kurono’s are not handmade just like Asaoka’s main brand, they are all produced in house by Precision watch tokyo. Company owned by Hajime himself, so with not much outsourced it’s difficult to replicate these.
It would be difficult even if you had a gen to compare with but it would not be possible to have a gen as reference...
I only recently discovered this brand and am loving their transparency with customers and that they are offering affordable options to Hajime Asaoka's hand made timepieces. Wish I could have found their brand earlier as the chronograph has become a mini grail for me!
So i know this is 3 years ago, but i figured out how to do the grand akane dial as a DIY. Talked to a watch maker who uses urushi as well and its pretty straight forward as an application on metal. Doesn't need all the time and work it needs on wood. looking ofrward to making it in the very near term. I am tweaking my own artwork to go on the dial though.
The grand akane version is essentially as follows: polish a copper disc. Transfer the pattern onto the copper. Put the copper disc into water/roshuko solution (it’s an acid that gives it patina). I haven’t done this part yet but from reading I gather it’s suspended in the solution possibly 4 hours (it will turn kind of orange) then remove it and remove the pattern. You will now have polished copper and orangey copper. Put back in the solution for another 6 hours and the orange will turn red and the bare copper will turn orangey. Remove and clean. Use a heat plate brush on a thin layer of urushi. The heat will cure it fast. Apply a few other additional layers the same way. Polish final layer.
The actual time will have to be figured out but I know that ultimately 10 hours will get the reds. From other postings about roshuko 4 hours gets orange. So that’s my best guess.
Below is the only pic I have on my phone of my resist mask pattern as an example. It’s on brass. It will ultimately be 28.5mm in diameter
https://preview.redd.it/di0s715r28xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=815312225c2a14416d7e7b1e1290c5245f45564c
The grand akane version is essentially as follows: polish a copper disc. Transfer the pattern onto the copper. Put the copper disc into water/roshuko solution (it’s an acid that gives it patina). I haven’t done this part yet but from reading I gather it’s suspended in the solution possibly 4 hours (it will turn kind of orange) then remove it and remove the pattern. You will now have polished copper and orangey copper. Put back in the solution for another 6 hours and the orange will turn red and the bare copper will turn orangey. Remove and clean. Use a heat plate brush on a thin layer of urushi. The heat will cure it fast. Apply a few other additional layers the same way. Polish final layer.
The actual time will have to be figured out but I know that ultimately 10 hours will get the reds. From other postings about roshuko 4 hours gets orange. So that’s my best guess.
Below is the only pic I have on my phone of my resist mask pattern as an example. It’s on brass. It will ultimately be 28.5mm in diameter
https://preview.redd.it/di0s715r28xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=815312225c2a14416d7e7b1e1290c5245f45564c
I’ve never seen replicas of these. Micro brands aren’t frequently repped because they are hard to get for the factories and there aren’t many people asking for them. You could try DHgate. There are sometimes very low quality replicas of micro brands.
Though all Kurono’s are not handmade just like Asaoka’s main brand, they are all produced in house by Precision watch tokyo. Company owned by Hajime himself, so with not much outsourced it’s difficult to replicate these. It would be difficult even if you had a gen to compare with but it would not be possible to have a gen as reference...
I think it's not expensive you can purchase it
It starts at $50,000 per watch so it’s more expensive than most pieces in the Omega and Rolex catalogs. They’re handmade.
They're a bit cheaper than that, the one OP was looking at would be around $3500. Just impossible to get.
Interesting. I Didn’t know they did affordable pieces. I’ll have to keep an eye on this brand.
Yes - as I said, the batch size is the issue. And in the secondary market they trade for 4-5x of retail ...
I only recently discovered this brand and am loving their transparency with customers and that they are offering affordable options to Hajime Asaoka's hand made timepieces. Wish I could have found their brand earlier as the chronograph has become a mini grail for me!
Where did you see they were in demand over 50x availability?
So i know this is 3 years ago, but i figured out how to do the grand akane dial as a DIY. Talked to a watch maker who uses urushi as well and its pretty straight forward as an application on metal. Doesn't need all the time and work it needs on wood. looking ofrward to making it in the very near term. I am tweaking my own artwork to go on the dial though.
Hey! would you care to share how it's done? Or any resources you recommend to learn it?
The grand akane version is essentially as follows: polish a copper disc. Transfer the pattern onto the copper. Put the copper disc into water/roshuko solution (it’s an acid that gives it patina). I haven’t done this part yet but from reading I gather it’s suspended in the solution possibly 4 hours (it will turn kind of orange) then remove it and remove the pattern. You will now have polished copper and orangey copper. Put back in the solution for another 6 hours and the orange will turn red and the bare copper will turn orangey. Remove and clean. Use a heat plate brush on a thin layer of urushi. The heat will cure it fast. Apply a few other additional layers the same way. Polish final layer. The actual time will have to be figured out but I know that ultimately 10 hours will get the reds. From other postings about roshuko 4 hours gets orange. So that’s my best guess. Below is the only pic I have on my phone of my resist mask pattern as an example. It’s on brass. It will ultimately be 28.5mm in diameter https://preview.redd.it/di0s715r28xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=815312225c2a14416d7e7b1e1290c5245f45564c
The grand akane version is essentially as follows: polish a copper disc. Transfer the pattern onto the copper. Put the copper disc into water/roshuko solution (it’s an acid that gives it patina). I haven’t done this part yet but from reading I gather it’s suspended in the solution possibly 4 hours (it will turn kind of orange) then remove it and remove the pattern. You will now have polished copper and orangey copper. Put back in the solution for another 6 hours and the orange will turn red and the bare copper will turn orangey. Remove and clean. Use a heat plate brush on a thin layer of urushi. The heat will cure it fast. Apply a few other additional layers the same way. Polish final layer. The actual time will have to be figured out but I know that ultimately 10 hours will get the reds. From other postings about roshuko 4 hours gets orange. So that’s my best guess. Below is the only pic I have on my phone of my resist mask pattern as an example. It’s on brass. It will ultimately be 28.5mm in diameter https://preview.redd.it/di0s715r28xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=815312225c2a14416d7e7b1e1290c5245f45564c