UK-based independent online watch emporium The Limited Edition and GPHG award-winning German artisans Kudoke team up to create a very special piece of Anglo-Saxon horological art. Introducing the magnificent Kudoke 2 British Heritage limited edition.

What happens when you combine an award winning contemporary classic with the DNA of a celebrated seventeenth-century British master, and contrasting styles of almost puritanical understatement on one side and breathtakingly indulgent hand engraving on the other? The Kudoke 2 British Heritage with UK independent specialist retailer The Limited Edition is the answer.

As winner of the 2019 GPHG Petit Aiguille award for watches between CHF 4,000 and 10,000, one of the most hotly contested of all the watch industry ‘Oscars’ categories, the Kudoke 2 has become one of the most recognised and indeed important indie watches of the past few years. A beautiful thing, which is both accessible and has the prestige of a genuinely cherished award, it has presented new collectors with the opportunity getting onto the ladder of exclusive hand manufactured watches, as well as being in high demand from long time connoisseurs. With a few subtle but significant tweaks to its proven winning formula, the thirty-piece British Heritage edition, which will be released in a production of ten pieces per year between 2022 and 2024, is a stunning variation of this fabulous, in-house manufactured, decorated and finished wristwatch.

Inspired largely by the life and work of the pioneering English watchmaker Thomas Mudge, the concept for this collaboration successfully draws together historical elements of both British and German watchmaking, which actually have much in common and work extremely well together, as both styles had traditionally favoured a clean and virginal bare metal aesthetic. Dial side, the Kudoke 2’s inherent uncluttered sobriety provides the ideal basis to carry this off, and the bright tone and grenage finish of the dial immediately conjure an impression of those early British and Saxon pocket watches, from which the British Heritage edition takes much of its personality.

As inventor of the lever escapement in 1755, an invention which remarkably remains a ubiquitous feature in the majority of modern mechanical watches almost three hundred years later, Mudge is indisputably recognised as one of the most influential figures in the history of watchmaking. Yet aside from his prodigious talent for technical innovation (he also won prizes for his work on the development of the marine chronometer), one of the most distinctive features which defined many of his pocket watches, and which attracted repeat commissions from customers like Spain’s King Ferdinand VI and ultimately his own regent King George III, to whom he became officially appointed watchmaker, was the elaborate and intricate floral engraving with which he decorated the surfaces of his movements.

Encased in a round stainless steel case which is mostly polished, but differing from the origin model with a brushed waist and bottom bezel, the Kudoke 2 British Heritage measures 39mm across and just 10.7mm in height, and features neat, compact lugs which curve downwards for an ergonomic fit, as well as a fluted onion-style crown. It is fitted with a gentle convex crest of sapphire crystal above and a flat sapphire on the underside. It is also water resistant to up to 5ATM/50m.

With a sparkling golden-beige frosted dial, accented with rhodium plated chapter rings which encircle the dial and the charming 24-hour, day/night feature at the 12 o’clock position, and the rich blue colour of the hands, from a distance the display is elegantly understated and reserved. Under closer examination however, the eye is rewarded with the level of hand crafted detail to be found, not only on the dial, but throughout the piece. The most prominent feature is the quite beautiful 24-hour display which is comprised of a revolving hand engraved disc, separated down its centre with day and night defined by the sun on one half, and the crescent moon and stars on the other. The sun is electroplated in gold, while the night is done in black and white rhodium, with one single star (the motif of The Limited Edition) plated in gold, which also serves as the indicator for the display.

Both of the chapter rings feature numerals and dot indices, which are hand filled in blue lacquer, with roman numerals on the larger ring, and arabic on the smaller. Their highly polished edges make them glint and stand out even more as the light catches them. The display features only two hands, and these are flame blued steel, with a long and slender minute pointer, while the hour hand features the Kudoke ‘infinity’ motif.

On the underside, a sapphire exhibition caseback reveals a breathtaking spectacle of the hand engraving on the manual winding movement which beats within. Developed in conjunction with fellow independent brand Habring² of Austria, the base A11 movement has been deconstructed and reimagined as the Kudoke Kaliber 1-24H, with Kudoke’s own in-house manufactured components and twenty-four hour module transforming the aesthetics and adding new functionality to the original mechanism. Fully wound, the Kaliber 1-24H boasts a power reserve of 46 hours and beats at a brisk 28,800 vib/hr (4Hz).

Continuing the British Heritage theme from the dial side, the influences of classical British watchmaking are strikingly apparent, as the distinctive configuration of the three quarter plate divided into two halves by a tapering balance cock, creating a symmetry between the winding and barrel wheels and the exposed balance which pulses beneath its terminal end is an unapologetic tribute to eighteenth century English watch architecture.

The spectacular hand engraved floral decoration which adorns the surface of the mainplate is where AHCI member and company co-founder Stefan Kudoke, as a master engraver, is truly in his element. Using the rubies and the polished blued screw heads as intrinsic features of the pattern, the effect is accentuated by the polished anglage around the edges of the plate and the balance cock, which features a frosted finish. Contrasting against the austere frosted gilted finishing which was common in early British and Saxon watchmaking, while certainly not alone in this form of decoration, Mudge’s flamboyant engravings would have stood apart from the more sober execution exhibited in the timepieces produced by many of his contemporaries.

Priced at GB£10,700 excluding UK VAT, the Kudoke 2 British Heritage edition represents exceptional value for money, considering that it is essentially a GPHG award-winning watch which features such a level of hand finishing and detailing from this hugely talented artisanal watchmaker. It is supplied with two ecologically sustainable Alcantara straps in grey and blue, and quick release spring bars facilitate a straightforward, tool-free switch.

For more information and to order, visit www.thelimitededition.co.uk