Review of Kudoke 2 with a Bright MOP Dial and a Highly Decorated Movement
Mr. Philippe Dufour is often regarded as the greatest master of modern watchmaking. He once offered this advice to a group of seasoned American watch collectors. "There are a lot of watches out there, take your time". I had to admit that I rushed into decisions too quickly a few times, as a newbie watch enthusiast. My regrets soon after proved the wisdom in Mr. Dufour's advice. I'm also quite happy to say that I have a "positive example" as well. I took my time to decide and wait for the perfect timepiece that would sing to me. The reward was an exquisite and personalized Kudoke 2.
I first learned about Mr. Stefan Kudoke in 2019, when he won the GPHG "Petite Aiguille" prize. This prize is the "Best in Show" for watches under 10K CHF, a highly contested category. I started to follow him as he released more watches and became a formal member of the prestigious AHCI. My AD and collector friends recommended Kudoke to me as well. But I was waiting for a special timepiece for a special occasion. Two years later, the opportunity knocked. The result was a one of a kind timepiece that will stay with me for a long, long time. Please read on to get the full story.
A brief introduction of Stefan and Ev Kudoke
Fun facts: Stefan and his wife Ev were fellow students at the university in Germany. They earned the Diploma of Business Economist together. This may explain their skills in managing a family business. Stay independent financially while expanding the business. Before attending the university, Stefan trained in Glashütte Original. He gained skills and experience at Breguet, Blancpain, and Omega. in 2008, Stefan started his own workshop and namesake brand near Dresden, Germany.
Stefan loves skeletonization and engraving. To him, this is mechanical arts and traditional craftsmanship at a peak level. For the first 10 years at his workshop, he focused on the "KUNKSTwerk" ("Work of Art") line. The creations were unique, hand-skeletonized watches. He has become a master in this niche who is second to none.
Stefan then launched the "Handwerk" ("Handcraft") line around 2018. The styles are more traditional, thus appealing to a wider client base. What has not changed is the same focus on hand-finishing and attentions to details. The craftsmanship in "KUNKSTwerk" reflected in the rich decorations of the movement. And the engraving in the dial side too, as in the case of Kudoke 2.
Ev is a veteran of the watch industry as well. She worked with master watchmaker Marco Lang closely while at Lang & Heyne. There is a picture of Ev and Marco in this Quill & Pad article from 2014. Ev joined the family business as Stefan needed more help. She took on management of the business including communications with the clients. It is an excellent partnership indeed. At the 2019 GPHG award ceremony, Stefan and Ev went on the stage together to accept the "Petite Aiguille" prize.
Stefan and Ev took on a lot of customization orders. Among all the orders, approximately half of them included some kinds of customization. They also produced many limited edition, collaboration pieces. This explained the growing appeal of Kudoke watches to watch lovers and collectors. Despite the time consuming hand-finishing work, Kudoke managed to keep the prices low, compared to other indie brands. Hand-finishing, engraving, artistry, customization, and affordability pretty much definite the Kudoke brand.
With the GPHG win and collectors’ shift towards independent watchmakers, the interest in Kudoke timepieces experienced strong growth. The atelier is growing too to meet the demand. There will be 5 in the team plus 2 external team members shortly. This is a size Stefan and Ev are quite happy with.
An in-house movement
Stefan developed an in-house movement "Kaliber 1" to power the new "Handwerk" line. He got his inspiration from an old English pocket watch movement he bought long time ago. It was an old movement with a large decorated cock and a big especapment wheel (see a picture here). A big, blue screw was present too. We see all these in Kaliber 1. The most prominent feature is a stunning escapement bridge with rich engraving. The movement components were further refined by hand. The work includes the polishing of edges at bridges or steel parts. There is a screwed small plate with hand engraved KUDOKE Logo. Options of further engraving and skeletionization are available. It is indeed a highly decorated movement.
For the timing structure, Stefan needed a simple, reliable and accurate base movement. No point of re-inventing the "wheels". Stefan collaborated with his friend and partner Mr. Richard Habring, a famous master watchmaker from Austria. We may see that Kaliber 1 shares similar technical details with Habring2 A11B. For example, manual wind, 18 jewels, 46 hours power reserve and small second at 9 o'clock. It was an excellent choice, as we have here a very simple movement but with upmost timing precision. For Kudoke 2, a dial-size mechanism for the 24-hour indicator was added.
The ingenious movement design and gorgeous hand-finishing won the hearts of GPHG jury in 2019. Together with the stunning Kudoke 2 dial, of course.
Beautiful Kudoke 2 editions
The first Kudoke 2 in a silver-white dial was unveiled in March 2019 at the Basel World. The "main attraction" on the dail side is the engraved day-night indicator. In the day time, the sun is up. In the evening, the moon and stars are up. There is no second hand, as there is no need. When we observe the sunrise and sunset, there is no need to track the time in seconds. The serene dial design makes the wearers calm down and ignore the hectic surroundings. This first edition went on to win the GPHG award in that year.
Next releases included various dial colors, case materials and many collaboration pieces. I compiled below a list of all the major editions including the release dates.
March 25, 2018: Kudoke 1 and Kaliber 1 released at Basel World 2018.
March 16, 2019: Kudoke 2 with a silver-white dial released at Basel World 2019.
Jan 6, 2020: Kudoke 2 with a salmon dial released.
April, 2020: Kudoke 2 “Red Dunes”. 10-piece limited edition with 10:10 Labs. Inspired by the infamous red dunes present in parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
July 6, 2020: Kudoke 2 "Nocturne". 20-piece limited edition in a galvano-anthracite dial.
Oct 27, 2020: Kudoke 2 "Grüner Wald" (green forest). 10-piece exclusive edition in collaboration with EsperLuxe.
April 21, 2021: Kudoke 2 in red gold and white gold available.
May 14, 2021: Kudoke 2 available with galvanic black frosted dial.
Aug 2, 2021: Kudoke 2 "Bauhinia". 10-piece limited edition featuring an iridescent Tahiti Mother of Pearl dial.
Oct 25, 2021: Kudoke 2 "Zodiac". 21-piece limited edition in collaboration with SJX.
Nov 26, 2021: Kudoke 2 "Blue Bird". Exclusive edition with Martin Pulli.
June 13, 2022: Kudoke 2 in deep blue dial.
July 1, 2022: Kudoke 2 “British Heritage”. 30-piece limited edition features a flat relief hand-engraving in the style of Thomas Mudge, the legendary British watchmaker.
Among these variations, three editions stand out above the others. One of the three led to my own personalized Kudoke 2. Now, let us delve into these three amazing editions.
In October 2020, an exclusive 10 pieces in collaboration with EsperLuxe debuted. The name was "Grüner Wald", referring to "Green Forest" with a beautiful green dial. The movement was engraved by hand by Stefan and the team. EsperLuxe’s stylized EL logo was engraved into the movement too. A final touch worked into the floral engraving is the “Sonderedition” (“Special Edition”).
The most whimsical design of Kudoke 2 belongs to the "Zodiac" edition. It was a 21-piece limited edition in collaboration with SJX, a top watch media publication. Each hour emblem represents a zodiac sign while incorporating the respective Roman numeral. The day-night disc was customized for this edition. The movement continues the celestial aesthetic including planets of the solar system. It was such a rare and stunning watch that all pieces sold out within 3 minutes.
Hong Kong, also known as the "Pearl of the Orient", is a top 3 watch consuming market, together with the US and mainland China. Stefan set out to work with a local retail partner, A Watch Company, to design a Hong Kong edition Kudoke 2. They first picked a Tahiti mother of pearl as dial. Then the flower of Hong Kong, the Bauhinia, as the decoration on the movement. The final creation, 10-piece limited edition only, is an exquisite beauty.
My first personalized timepiece
When I first saw the pictures of the Kudoke 2 "Bauhinia", the beauty took my breath away. I became a sucker for MOP dials after owning the F.P. Journe Chronometre Souverain in a MOP dial. The colorful clouds under the lights are absolutely mesmerizing. I love the mysterious connection with ocean, which reminds me of the seaside city I was born. The MOP Kudoke 2 would be a perfect companion for the only Journe piece in my collection.
But the 10 pieces all sold out by the time I caught the first glimpse of the watch in the Instagram feeds. I was feeling hopeless, when a collector friend suggested me connect Kudoke directly. I got a reply from Ev right away. Thus was the start of a very long e-mail discussion.
A special order with a MOP dial was possible! Furthermore, I may choose the kind of the MOP. Ev sent me videos of different MOP samples. I picked a white, bright MOP, just to be a bit different than the dark MOP in the Hong Kong edition of Kudoke 2.
Ev offered various options for the movement decorations. I decided to go for the combined floral relief engraving and partly hand-skeletonized bridge. This was the most complicated option Stefan offered for the Kaliber 1. The movement is fully and richly decorated.
There was a milestone in my professional career coming up for me. I asked if a circular engraving on ratchet wheel was possible. Ev said no problem. Lastly, I requested the engraving of my initials on the balance cock. Now, there is no selling of this piece down the road. It will be only for me :).
Thus was the finalization of a very special MOP dial and exquisite decorations on the movement. The estimated wait time was 9-10 months. Based on the increases in serial numbers, my own guesstimate was that about five Kudoke 2 pieces were produced each month.
Fast forward to June 2022. The wait was over. My special Kudoke 2 MOP arrived in a beautiful package from Mr. Martin Pulli. The timepiece was ever more stunning than what I had imagined. It was a piece of art by the look. Only the crunchy winding sound reminded me that it was a precision timing machine too. Stefan had measured the timing error to be +5.0 seconds per day for my piece. I love the engraving on the ratchet wheel and my engraved initials. I was over the moon!
It was my first watch with customization and personal engravings. Stefan and Ev had made it such an enjoyable experience! It was so wonderful to see the final delivery that went beyond expectation!
Final Thoughts
Echoing Mr. Dufour’s wisdom, Hodinkee Editor-in-Chief Jack Forster advises new collectors to “buy seldom and buy well”. Two and half years after Kudoke 2 won the GPHG "Petite Aiguille" award, I welcome home a very special, one of a kind Kudoke 2 with MOP dial and full engraving on the movement. Taking the time to know Ev and Stefan, their dream and story, Stefan’s artistic pursue, their collaboration with another top watchmaker, discussing the specifications. All of these have been a wonderful, fulfilling journey.
I may recommend Kudoke 2 to you without hesitation. However, I would encourage you to take your time and know the brand and people behind it better. Wait for the special occasion and that marvelous idea coming to your mind. Perhaps it will be a Kudoke 3? Yes, at the moment, Stefan is working on Kudoke 3 and he has many ideas that he wants to realize! The future is wonderful for the brand and team. Let’s look forward to what they will present to us next!
I'd also chosen the same route as you. Communicated with Ev and she suggestsd the Bright MOP with full engraving of the movement but without any engraving of my initial on it. Now awaiting the arrival of shipment, scheduled for tomorrow (18 May)
Hi i have a black dial dial limited edition with cutout on fully engraved movement, edelweiss flower too in there Love it a loupers delight ! I also have a t shirt black with kudoke day/night like the pic - @aptindependent on instagram produces them and does many other indy or other watchmakers too