The Oshinobi: Toledano & Chan’s Clandestine Masterpiece

The impulse to conceal, to withdraw, to exist without proclamation, is a curious thread running through the history of fine watchmaking. It surfaces in the private commissions, the pocket watches kept close, the pieces worn only by their makers and the initiated few. The Oshinobi, unveiled by Toledano & Chan, makes this impulse its central thesis.

Named after the Japanese term for a person of elevated rank travelling incognito, the Oshinobi is a watch designed not to be seen. At first glance, it presents as a study in brutalist restraint: a sculptural case in dark, authoritative tones. But the dial beneath remains inaccessible until the wearer chooses to slide open a horizontal cover, revealing an organically shaped and concave face set with two carats of snow-set diamonds that scatter light with an almost liquid grace.

Concealment as Concept

This is not mere ornamentation masquerading as innovation. The Oshinobi represents a fundamental reimagining of what a luxury watch might communicate, and to whom. In an age of perpetual visibility, where timepieces are often worn as declarations, Toledano & Chan have crafted something that asks the wearer to hold its beauty close, to enjoy it in private moments, to let it remain a secret shared only with oneself.

The dial's concave geometry catches the eye with an almost architectural precision, its organic curves suggesting both the modernist forms that preoccupied brutalist designers and something more primal, more natural. This duality runs through the entire piece. The aesthetic is severe, the concept romantic. The design refuses easy categorisation, which is precisely where its power lies.

The Hidden Crown

The crown, that essential tool of watch ownership, has been relocated to the underside of the case at 12 o'clock, accessible only when the wearer knows where to look. This is functional architecture in service of a larger philosophy: the watch surrenders none of its secrets readily. Every interaction with the Oshinobi becomes an intimate act, a moment of deliberate engagement rather than habitual glance.

Toledano & Chan's collaboration has always occupied a singular space within contemporary horology. The partnership between artist and designer yields watches that read as sculptural objects as much as timekeeping instruments, each piece exploring questions of form, material and the relationship between the wearer and the worn.

Brutalism and Beauty

The Oshinobi draws its visual language from brutalist architecture, that movement which celebrated raw materials, bold geometric forms and a refusal to apologise for severity. Yet within this vocabulary sits an abundance of diamond work, a gesture towards classical jewellery making that might seem contradictory were it not executed with such compositional confidence.

The snow setting of the diamonds around the concave dial creates a surface that moves with light, that changes as the wearer shifts position or as daylight moves through a room. It is restraint and extravagance held in tension, brutalism and luxury negotiating the same small canvas. This conversation between opposing aesthetics is what gives the Oshinobi its distinctive voice.

A Study in Privacy

For the collector, the Oshinobi poses an intriguing proposition. It demands a certain confidence, an understanding that luxury need not be broadcast to be genuine. The watch rewards its owner with an experience that exists entirely in the realm of private satisfaction, a daily ritual of small revelation that belongs to no one else.

The piece speaks to a particular temperament, one that finds beauty not in the external validation of others' gazes but in the quiet pleasure of genuine craftsmanship known only to oneself. In this, the Oshinobi transcends its role as a mere object and becomes something more akin to a philosophy, a wearable argument against the contemporary compulsion to display.

The Oshinobi arrives at a moment when watchmaking increasingly turns inward, when collectors and makers alike seek depth rather than breadth, meaning rather than mere movement. Toledano & Chan's latest creation sits comfortably within this trajectory, yet it moves beyond it. This is a watch that has thought carefully about why it exists, what it wishes to say, and to whom. Its answer to the last question is elegantly simple: only to itself, and to the wrist that wears it.

Key Facts

• Designers: Phil Toledano and Alfred Chan
• Model: Oshinobi
• Dial Setting: Two carats of snow-set diamonds; organically shaped, concave dial
• Key Feature: Horizontally sliding cover; hidden crown accessible from underside at 12 o'clock
• Design Inspiration: Brutalist architecture; o-shinobi concept (Japanese term for person of high rank travelling incognito)

The Simply Luxury View

The Oshinobi represents a significant evolution in Toledano & Chan's already distinctive oeuvre. Where previous collaborations explored brutalist form and sculptural presence, this new commission introduces concealment as a primary design element, transforming the act of wearing a watch into something more akin to custodianship. The piece responds to a growing appetite among serious collectors for watches that reward intimate knowledge over public recognition.

What renders the Oshinobi particularly compelling is its refusal to compromise between aesthetic severity and genuine luxury. The integration of two carats of snow-set diamonds within a brutalist frame acknowledges that true refinement often exists in tension, in the conversation between apparent opposites. For collectors drawn to watches as objects of contemplative pleasure rather than social signal, the Oshinobi stands as a notable proposition in contemporary horology.

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