I was born in 1978 in the Eastern part of Germany, at that time still GDR, without any connections to horology at all. I went to a special sports school, where I pursued my first passion cycling. After school I started an apprenticeship as a watchmaker completely by chance - and there I found my second passion. So I graduated with honors, refined my skills at the manufacture Glashütte Original in the studio for complications and prototypes. After receiving my Master Craftsman Certificate at the age of 22 I continued my professional development in the service department for Breguet, Blancpain, and Omega in New York before coming back to Germany to go to university.
During my further studies of economics, I decided together with my now wife Ev to start an own business. At that time I was 26 years. Now with 42 I am still happy about this decision as independence and freedom are two key factors for me to lead a happy life.
How did you become a watchmaker?
I learned watchmaking the classical way in a small shop for restoration from two watchmakers (father & son). It was only by chance that I fell into this occupation as I do not have any horological family background. Only because the store was located in my residential area I even considered to become a watchmaker. At the age of 17 I started my apprenticeship in my home town Frankfurt (Oder) east of Berlin. The theoretical part of my apprenticeship took place in the watchmaking school of Glashütte, where I later started to work at the renowned manufacture Glashütte Original.
Why did you shift from working with big brands to creating your own business?
I always wanted to create something on my own. When I was a teenager I founded a company together with a couple of friends offering airbrush design services and products. Creativity and the urge to do something on my own have driven me from early on. Above that I might not be made to work in a huge organization. For me, it has been always important to realize own ideas, not only being a little (executive) cog in a big wheel.
What did you learn from running your own business?A lot, and I am still learning every day - this is what makes it so fascinating and exciting! Life for me is to set yourself always new goals and to accept new challenges. After a couple of years of self-employment I can say, that it also taught me patience and a certain level of calmness.
Who are your customers?
The typical KUDOKE customer does not exist. He/she is as individual and different as every watch from KUDOKE. But they all have one thing in common: our customers wear the watch for themselves, a big brand name is not important to him/her. It is about the handcraft and the way it is manufactured. Therefore customers of KUDOKE are also "independent" in a certain way.
Generally speaking, what is your process of creating a watch?The main criterion when developing a new watch model is that I have to like it myself. So I do not look at market researches like big brands do, but only listen to my own feeling (and that of my team of course). The rest of the creation process is quite similar to other watchmakers: at first I do hand-sketches with first ideas, then I construct it, do the first prototypes and once it is how I want it, the series (which is quite small compared to others) is going to be manufactured.
Aesthetically, what are your sources of inspiration?That is a difficult question, as inspiration can come from different things that surround me, like the forest I walk through or the people I meet. Additionally I love to browse through old books about historic watches and clocks. In the creation process I sometimes use specific design elements translate them into the modern age and interpret it in my own way.
You are known very much for your skeleton watches. What can you tell us about your approach to these?
Unfortunately skeletonizing is not part of watchmaking education nowadays. In former times skeletonizing was a highly respected handicraft. But today mostly machines cut out parts of movements producing more and more interchangeable watches. So inspired by antique mechanical watches I started to saw out movement plates. In the beginning of course I created a lot of wastrel. It took years to reach the quality level that a KUDOKE watch characterizes today. So the studying process was a long one - the more I practiced the better I became. Skill comes with practice. But of course you also need a great deal of imagination and creativity. And this is hard to learn - either you have it or you don't. My personal approach for those pieces is to combine my artistic & creative vein with the technical aspect of watchmaking. That is why this collection line is called „KUNSTwerk", the German word for work of art. It is about creating little ticking pieces of art for the wrist. Maybe this is the reason, why our skeleton watches are different from most of the others. I like to incorporate motives or special image concepts, like an art painter, who arranges his canvas.
You are someone who does not follow trends. Would you say that you are not connected to the "watch community" - or what is your relation to it?Correct, I do not follow trends. Trends are most of the time short-lived. I want to manufacture watches that last. But that does not mean, that we are not connected to the „watch-community". We are in close contact with our customers, work with them on special projects and listen carefully to what they like and wish for. This exchange can also be a valuable source of inspiration.
But of course there is also a dilemma here - as a small team with no Marketing-department we can not attend every event etc.. We need this time at the workbench and actually manufacture our watches. But we can observe, that our customers and watch enthusiasts do support us a lot by distributing our philosophy and work especially through Social Media and so spread word of mouth. For this we are very grateful.
As a final question, what watch would you like to make in the future? Why?
For the time being, I am satisfied with the way things are. So we will focus on further developing the HANDwerk line with different models/indications and additional calibers. What appeals to me for the future is not so much doing a specific watch, but to refine my skills, to learn and deepen almost lost handcraft techniques, especially with regards to finishing and to incorporate those into future models. I consider my main task the securing of knowledge in watchmaking and its passing on to my children, so that it does not get lost in the age of digitalization and eventually dies out. In the end it is all about humanity.
Thank you!Fraquoh and Franchomme
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