URUGA 31 Leather Model [UG02-CDLNBL-SSB]

Most watch dials are decorated in circles. The URUGA 31 runs its pattern horizontally instead, in gradated bands, and the difference is immediately obvious.

MINASE took the idea from the Minase River, which flows through the deep valleys of Akita where the company's workshop stands, and describes the dial as an image of its glittering, languid water. In blue the reference is unmistakable. Each hour index is cut on an angle, a detail the brand traces to the crossed front of a kimono, so the markers produce a wavering light rather than a fixed glint.

The case around it is held by MINASE's clamping structure: four separately faceted clasps that grip case and crystal in the way a setting grips a stone, with a slight vertical curvature to the sapphire between them. Sharp cuts, smooth curves, mirror surfaces polished by hand so nothing in the reflection bends.

Steel, 31 by 39 mm and 9.9 mm thick, on a leather strap. The self-winding KT8001 with date is a Swiss ETA 2671 and Sellita SW100 base finished and decorated by MINASE. Water resistance is 5 atm.

Perfect for: blue dial leather watches, unusual dial patterns, compact automatics for everyday wear.