Zenith has partnered with Naoya Hida & Co. to launch an ultra-limited release watch. The G.F.J. Calibre 135 Double Signed with Naoya Hida & Co. pairs Zenith’s legendary Calibre 135 movement—one of the most decorated chronometer calibres in watchmaking—with Hida’s celebrated minimalistic design. Paying homage to an ancient and venerated Japanese art, Noaya paints each dial in Urushi lacquer. The watch is available in three straps: Himeji Kurozan leather, Wagyu leather, and Kaihara denim.
Even if you’re not in the market for a $75,500 watch, it’s a collaboration worth admiring. The G.F.J. Calibre 135 Double Signed unites two titans of horology, separated by continents but bound by a shared reverence for classic design and elite craftsmanship. The release inaugurates Zenith’s Double Signed Program, in which the Swiss maison will partner with other boutique watchmakers around the world in the coming months.
Japanese Watches: My Latest Obsession
While I have long drooled over luxury Swiss brands like Zenith, I only recently tumbled down the rabbit hole of Japanese watchmaking. Knowing me as they do, our benign overlords at Meta flood my Instagram feed with watch content, interrupted only by occasional reels of rare Scotch, uncouth memes, and sorority sisters in the SEC. When I saw a video of the Naoya Hida NH Type 3B—a silver dial with a gold moonphase reminiscent of Cartier—I was hooked.
Produced in vanishingly small numbers, a Naoya Hida watch is like a bottle of Hibiki 40-Year-Old—most connoisseurs will never even lay eyes on one. Annual production is measured in the hundreds rather than the thousands, and acquiring one requires patience, persistence, and connections.
Hida spent much of his career representing prestigious Swiss watchmakers in Japan before striking out on his own in 2018 and launching his eponymous atelier in Tokyo. His designs epitomize disciplined restraint. Compact cases, silver dials, heat-blued hands, and crisp typography recall the elegance of mid-century dress watches. No screaming colors, jumbo cases, or complications for complications’ sake. Like the strokes of a master calligrapher, every line of a Naoya Hida feels meticulously considered. The proportions are so elegant, Euclid would weep with of joy.
