This Gorgeous Japanese Dress Watch Comes with Its Own Literal Dive Suit

Well, I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.

Kurono Tokyo designed a beautiful 35mm, cushion-shaped dress watch that is surprisingly subdued for the revered Japanese indie watchmaker. That is, until it fits into a specially designed diver case like donning superhero armor.

Kurono Tokyo

Kurono Tokyo’s new combination watch, simply titled The Diver’s, would be admirable even without the accompanying dive suit. The base design is a 35mm stainless steel cushion case with concave sides, angled lugs and a full mirror-polished finish.

That, in itself, should be notable because it is Kurono Tokyo’s first cushion-shaped case, but it turns out to be merely a footnote.

The dial hints at the watch’s special ability with classic lumed triangle-dot-dash printed hour markers, including an exceptionally large triangle. However, cathedral hands made with heat-blued steel frames containing creamy white lume align with the dial.

Kurono Tokyo

The cushion case comes on a black pebble-grain calfskin leather strap featuring a pin buckle and quick-release spring bars. That last detail is important because it comes in handy when transforming to dive mode.

Suit up!

The Diver’s is presented in a display box modeled after a waterproof boating case, complete with a lock. The lid is transparent, allowing the set to be shown off.

The box contains the cushion-shaped watch, a 46mm dive case that resembles a traditional dive watch with no crown or dial and a specially designed tool to seal the dive case.

Kurono Tokyo

To transform the classic dress watch into a proper diver, first remove the leather strap and open the dive case by unscrewing it with two black grip tabs below the bezel. The watch case fits snugly into the dive case, and the lid screws back on.

The process can be done by hand for casual aquatic activities like swimming, but a tool is provided to firmly tighten the seal. It slips over the bezel and locks onto two tabs, providing a much firmer grip for applying the required torque.

The language is a bit fuzzy, but Kurono Tokyo explains that the dive case is designed to have a 100m water resistance. However, in practical testing, it has proven to withstand 300m of water pressure, and that depth rating is stated several times.

Kurono Tokyo

Lead designer Hajime Asaoka explains that his inspiration for the system was to eliminate the crown, which is always the weak point for water resistance. The external dive case relies on one threaded seal with a gasket for its water and pressure resistance.

Once secured, the lid is a functional unidirectional dive bezel with a fully graduated 60-minute track and a lume pip. It is made of Extra Super Duralumin, a lightweight aluminum-zinc-magnesium-copper alloy.

With the dive case secured, the double layers of anti-reflective domed sapphire create intense visual warping without ever compromising legibility. It is just a cool side effect of the design.

Kurono Tokyo

The dive case has a fixed black rubber pin buckle strap, and the massive 46mm case size is made more accommodating with the absence of a crown.

Ticking away at the heart of this novel design is a Miyota Caliber 90S5 automatic movement, one of the manufacture’s premium wholesale offerings. It beats at 4Hz and has a strong reputation for accuracy, but only offers a 40-hour power reserve.

Availability and pricing

As is too often the case in the watch industry, something this cool can’t just be purchased on a whim, even if you have the cash on hand. The Diver’s is not technically a limited edition, at least there is no stated production limit, but the supply is tight.

Kurono Tokyo is offering what it calls an “Expression of Interest,” open until May 11, 2026. It consists of a form that includes questions about diving certifications. The process is a bit opaque, but the brand claims it will prioritize amateur and professional SCUBA and free divers, while most of the stock will be available to everyone else.

This system may rub some collectors the wrong way, but I appreciate the integrity of trying to get this brilliant design into the hands of people who will actually use it as intended. If you’re lucky enough to get picked, The Diver’s costs $2,700, plus import duties and tariffs for shoppers outside of Japan.

Kurono Tokyo

Kurono Tokyo The Diver’s

Specs

Case Size	35mm and 46mm
Movement	Miyota Caliber 90S5 automatic
Water Resistance	50m and 300m

• $2,700 at Kurono Tokyo

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