Masahiro Kikuno, Japanese Independent Watchmaker watchesbysjx.com

Despite being just 33 years old, Masahiro Kikuno makes wristwatches by hand in a rigorously traditional manner, inspired by the craftsmen who built wadokei, or traditional Japanese clocks, in the 19th century.

Based in the small city of Matsudo, an hour’s drive from Tokyo in Chiba prefecture, Kikuno crafts his timepieces inside his home, working in a converted bedroom, while the garage is the machine shop and the spare toilet a metal treatment facility. Shared with his wife, Kikuno’s house is compact, clean and comfortable, like many Japanese homes.