Haute horlogerie encompasses many tenets: Technical mastery, evocative storytelling, exclusivity, the use of precious materials, and so on. But one word luxury watch brands love to rally around is “craftsmanship.” Something painstakingly made by human hands rather than spat out by a machine is the whole point of luxury; it’s the antithesis of efficiency – and we’re hopelessly in love with the romance of it all. But few brands embody this ethos as deeply and personally as Kudoke.
The German independent’s latest release is a perfect example. The Kudoke 2 SHH Edition – a 20-piece anniversary exclusive for Sincere Fine Watches – boasts a stunning rose champagne dial with a “flakes” finish. This effect, which first debuted on the Kudoke 3 and appears here for the first (and only) time on a Kudoke 2, is entirely hand engraved. Thousands of tiny divots are individually cut to create its sparkling surface.
“The engraver has to cut each flake out one at a time, constantly turning the dial so that they don’t all face the same direction. It’s planned chaos,” explains co-founder Stefan Kudoke. “It takes two to three days just for the engraving. We made about 30 dials, picked the best 20, and discarded the rest.”
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Once engraved, the dials undergo electroplating in gold and silver, before being coated with a rose-pigmented lacquer to achieve the final hue. “It was not easy to achieve,” he adds – though that seems to be the rule rather than the exception.
Because none of his watches are easy, Stefan began his independent watchmaking journey creating one-off, bespoke pieces for clients, with a strong emphasis on elaborate engraving and skeletonisation. His Kunstwerk collection, meaning “work of art” in German, brought that passion for mechanical expression into limited series production.
Even the “simpler” watches from the subsequent Handwerk collection retain a remarkable degree of hand-finishing for the price point. The Kudoke 2 and Kudoke 3 both won the Petite Aiguille prize (for watches retailing between CHF 3,000 and 10,000) at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in 2019 and 2024, respectively.
Impressively, Stefan taught himself most of these decorative techniques. Though he completed a traditional apprenticeship in a watch restoration workshop across the street from his childhood home in Frankfurt – and earned his Master Craftsman Certificate in watchmaking at the unusually young age of 22 – the more artistic side of horology was something he had to learn on his own.
“There was no YouTube back then, so he had to try everything by himself,” says his wife and co-founder, Ev. “And now we want to pass that knowledge on to the next generation. That’s why at Kudoke, one watchmaker is responsible for the entire watch – from raw materials to engraving, electroplating, assembly, and final testing.”
While Kudoke’s core collections continue to perform well, Stefan still enjoys taking on custom commissions. “One of the craziest ones was for a professor of neuroscience, who sent us an MRI scan of his brain so we could replace the 24-hour indication in the Kudoke 2 with a model of his brain,” he recalls with a laugh.
“What really differentiates our pieces is the human touch,” Ev agrees. “With the Kudoke 2 SHH Edition, you can see that every dial is a little bit different – because a real person worked on it. And I think a lot of our collectors appreciate that human part of our watchmaking.”
Stefan Kudoke
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