Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Kurono Grand Jubilee Calendar Salmon Dial
A calendar complication paired with an elegant textured salmon-coloured dial.
This year is pretty special for Kurono Tokyo, the more accessible brand created by Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka. Indeed, 2025 marks the watchmaker’s 60th anniversary, which the brand is celebrating as its diamond jubilee, resulting in several special edition watches that pay tribute to design features created by Asaoka. Following the highly elegant 2025 Jubilee Sensu EOL, Kurono Tokyo is now closing the celebrations with this new and appealing watch, the salmon-toned Grand Jubilee Calendar.
The calendar watch isn’t new to the brand, as we’ve seen with the Calendrier Type I. However, for the occasion of Hajime Asaoka’s 60th Diamond Jubilee, the concept is slightly redefined as a dressier and even more elegant timepiece, which is both sleeker and more detailed throughout. While the 2022 model featured a coin-edge bezel, this new iteration of the calendar model comes in a more restrained design, with a smooth, polished, and concave bezel, adding a certain Calatrava-inspired touch to the watch.
A compact model, this Grand Jubilee Calendar measures 38mm in diameter with a fairly thin profile of 11.5mm, or 10mm without the box-shaped sapphire crystal on top. Entirely polished, it features correctors for the calendar indications on the flanks, giving away the origins of the movement inside. The back, made of solid steel and screwed to the case, is adorned with a solid gold medallion engraved with Hajime Asaoka’s personal signature. The crown features a black onyx cabochon, again a mark of the Diamond Jubilee.
Moving to the dial, more details create a connection between the high-end creations of Asaoka and this accessible take on his design cues, starting with the stamped vertical strokes in the middle of the dial, an element that is also found in his tourbillon models. The dial is presented in a matte, lightly grained salmon tone, a classic combination that always works nicely. The triple calendar watch has a date window at 6 o’clock and two sunken sub-dials for the month and weekday indications.
Contrasting with this subtle and light colour inspired by falling leaves in Tokyo during autumn, the railroad minute track and Arabic numerals are pad-printed in black. The hands, polished, domed and bent to follow the curvature of the crystal, are executed in onyx-like black, which Asaoka says is challenging to obtain.
Under the dial, with its redesigned date window, is a tried-and-tested movement sourced from Japanese maker Miyota. This automatic calibre 9122 runs at a frequency of 4Hz and stores about 40 hours of power reserve. The Grand Jubilee Calendar is secured to the wrist by a 20/16mm black calfskin leather strap, closed by a classic steel pin buckle.
Availability & price
The 2025 Kurono Grand Jubilee Calendar will be produced in limited numbers (undisclosed) and will not be repeated. It will be available for online orders from Friday, October 17th at 11.00 PM Japan Time, at kuronotokyo.com, and only one watch can be purchased per customer. An account is needed to place an order. The watch is priced at USD 2,380 excluding taxes and can be shipped worldwide. A preview of the Grand Jubilee Calendar is possible in the brand’s boutiques in Aoyama, Japan and Shanghai, China, from October 9th to October 17th.
6 responses
Too bad such a nice looking watch as this is made unaffordable and above its value with the imposed US tariffs on Japanese goods. With the added insult of the shipping couriers, for example DHL, taking advantage of the tariffs to add on their own additional “tax fees” to the already implemented tariff tax fees, these “fees” go straight into their own coffers. The shipping couriers gain more profit, while the watch brand and the customer loses. These knuckleheads ought to be boycotted!
As an owner of the Calendrier, the shade of the salmon dial and the restrained proportions look great. The date window doesn’t work for me though, the rectangle within a circle thing.
And to add insult to injury, here’s my question; will brands keep the artificially inflated prices in place, if and when the tariffs are pulled back? This outrageous “taxing” may be looked upon as an opportunity for the brands. Based upon experience, most brand pricing has not come down once they’ve been raised, for whatever reason.
Voted for Trumpt in haste, now repenting at leisure. Neh.
@Paul Steele
Now you regret for your vote because of the tariffs? Everything else is ok?
Really like the bezel and topography change from previous editions. The dial color is beautiful. Nice clean execution. Like all Kurono Tokyo watches, you’re paying for style not horologic innovation. Value is in the eyes of the beholder.