Kudoke 2: A Hands-On Review of Stefan Kudoke's GPHG-Winning Independent Masterpiece

As he won the Prize in the Petite Aiguille Category at GPHG just one year ago, Stefan Kudoke came to the foreground and his notoriety made a big jump in the world of watch aficionados. He was actually the first independent watchmaker from Germany to be awarded by the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

This is where I actually discovered Stefan and his Handwerk line Kudoke 1 and 2. Both are powered by the Kaliber 1 movement but the Kudoke 2 attracted me at the first glance thanks to its large beautifully hand-engraved  day-night indication at 12 o’clock.

But there is actually much more to appreciate than just this beautiful rotating domed sky disk. Another eye-catcher is Stefan’s hallmark infinity hour hand, the symbol of time itself . Without you noticing, the Kudoke 2 decelerates and relaxes the experience of time  with the omission of a seconds hand.  However the usual feeling of emptiness in the lower part of the dial in a two-hands watch is not present here at all thanks to a well balanced design : a small plaque wisely positioned in the lower part of the dial for discretely occupying the space still leaves the day-night indication at 12 o’clock catch the attention…

But I am wondering which one of the front or back side should be the « show stopper » as they both deserve the highlight. When designing Kaliber I, Stefan Kudoke found valuable impulses at the old Masters – in particular those of the German-English traditional handcraft of precision watchmaking. He got inspired by the design of historical English pocket watches whose use of forms he deliberately incorporated into his movement.

The finishing of the warm yellow gold color movement is simply breathtaking. All of the finishing steps are done manually including the beveling and chamfering of the large two-thirds plate, and of course the engraving of the balance cock among other elements.