Introducing the Kudoke 2 Nocturne

Last year a small German brand won the “Petite Aiguille” category at the GPHG, a category dedicated to watches priced between CHF 4,000 and CHF 10,000. Kudoke is now introducing a new variant of its award-winning Kudoke 2, the “Nocturne”. The Kudoke 2 is part of the HANDwerk collection in Kudoke’s line-up, together with the Kudoke 1. It is a humble yet interesting watch with some very nice touches and of course, quite a bit of hand-finishing.

Watchmaker Stefan Kudoke is primarily known for his extensively skeletonized and engraved watches. Yet, the discreet and elegant HANDwerk collection, so far comprised of two different models sharing a common design-language, is not to be overlooked. Both the Kudoke 1 and Kudoke 2 have a lot going on to earn their place in the spotlight.

We reviewed the Kudoke HANDwerk 1 extensively last year, which is the more traditional-looking watch of the two. A lovely 39mm wide steel case paired with a traditionally styled dial and a decorated movement inspired by traditional British watchmaking, it is quite a good-looking watch. Considering the competitive price for an independent brand with an in-house movement and lots of finishing done by hand, it becomes a very attractive package.

This Kudoke 2 Nocturne is a play on the same theme, with a frosted anthracite dial instead of the silvery-white dial featured on the original model. Frosted dials like this play with light a lot so at times it might seem grey to deep black, blending in or contrasting with the white rhodium-plated chapter rings on the dial and the polished hands. The Kudoke 2 differs from the Kudoke 1 from the positioning of a secondary indicator.

The Kudoke 1 features a small seconds indication at 9 o’clock where the Kudoke 2 has a rotating disc at the top as an additional 24 hours indication. The domed disc is fully hand-engraved and finished with a yellow gold plating as a representation of the day, with a white and black rhodium plating for the night-time indication. 

The in-house developed movement, sharing a few parts with the Habring2 A11 movement used in their Felix model, is finished in a white rhodium plating, coherent with the nocturnal theme of the face of the watch. Previous Kudoke 1 and 2 models had a yellow gold finished movement. The balance bridge is adorned with an engraving of the Infinity loop, a common theme in the HANDwerk collection by Kudoke as evidenced by the hour hand. The balance bridge is further decorated with a hand-hammered finish, and a hand-grained finish on the three-quarter bridge covering the rest of the movement. Bevelled edges, blued screws, a hand-applied snail finish on the wheels and the polished click-spring complete the movement. As a finishing touch, pun intended, a yellow gold plated plaque is inscribed with the brand and number of limitation. 

The Kudoke 2 Nocturne has the same 39mm polished steel case with sapphire crystal on the front and back as you would expect at this level of watchmaking. The case measures 10.7mm thick which is quite reasonable and makes it a very comfortable watch to wear as we experienced in the review of the Kudoke 1. The movement, Kaliber 1-24H to be precise, is a manual-wound one with 46 hours of power reserve. The watch is fitted to a black alligator leather strap with a polished steel pin buckle.

The Kudoke 2 Nocturne is a limited edition of 20 pieces only, with 20 alluding to the year 2020. It is priced at EUR 8,665 excluding taxes. More information, or inquiries to order one of these, can be found on Kudoke.eu.