It is in that tier of esoteric independent watchmaking that is for those who don’t just buy a watch – they buy a maker and the story.
Outsourcing to specialists is actually a historical legacy of Swiss watchmaking before industrialization. Even now there are small independent workshops or artisans obsessively dedicated to making 1 aspect or component used in watchmaking for B2B clients.
The prime example is Jean-Pierre Hagmann for watch cases. Google his client list before he went in-house at Akrivia.
What is absolutely insane with the Kikuchi is the hand-done black polishing of the case and hands. Let me put it this way, even Patek only does this for some small movement components. These guys are doing the same, at an even higher level of artisanship, for an entire watch case and intricate large watch hands.
This tier of watchmaking is for people with the sort of spare time, inclination, disposable income to travel to Switzerland at a whim with their other watch buddies with 3-500k in essentially bespoke time-only watches from esoteric indies that cost more than a Patek high complication, bundled up in a watch roll, wining and dining the likes of Vianney Halter or Voutilainen.
Exactly. It’s a watch for those where even PP is roo pedestrian. It’s for the collector who is familiar with the De Bethune/MB&F/Urwerk level of watchmaking, not PP/AP/VC/Rolex/Lange.
Who else could justify a watch solely focused on being a showpiece for a particular style of polishing to the exclusion of all else for 20k and a 10 year wait? Only the guys used to waiting almost a decade for a Dufour or Vianney Halter or Journe high complication.