Naoya Hida & Co. 2026 Collection — A First Chronograph on a Restored Valjoux 23, and a 31 mm Dress Watch on an All-New In-House Calibre

Description

For its fifth annual production cycle, Tokyo-based independent Naoya Hida & Co. has opened purchase applications today (18 May 2026, 10 am JST) for ten watches in total — three carry-overs and seven new references. Two pieces lead the lineup. The NH Type 7A is the brand's first-ever chronograph, built around a restored vintage Valjoux Calibre 23, the legendary mid-20th-century Swiss column-wheel manual-wind chronograph movement. The NH Type 8A is the brand's first sub-32 mm dress watch, a 904L steel piece on a brand-new in-house calibre developed specifically for its small case.

Naoya Hida's annual ordering window is a fixture of the independent calendar: applications open and close inside a roughly three-day window — this year, 18–21 May (10 am JST start and end) — with allocation handled directly via the brand's own site and via The Armoury in New York and Hong Kong. Approximately 87 examples of the seven new references will be produced over the next year or so, which is the entire run for most of these pieces until the 2027 cycle.

Design

The Type 7A keeps Naoya Hida's quietly classical visual language — concave bezels, deep dial architecture, hand-engraved indices — but introduces a two-counter chronograph layout dictated by the Valjoux 23's column-wheel architecture. Pump-style pushers flank the crown, and the dial surface, in the brand's recognisable hand-finished texture, sits behind a domed sapphire crystal. The case retains the brand's preference for substantial polished surfaces between brushed flanks.

The Type 8A is a sharper departure. Naoya Hida cites the Patek Philippe Reference 96 and the Breguet Reference 3210 as design touchstones — both reference points for what a small, time-only dress watch is supposed to be. The 904L stainless-steel case measures just 31 mm across and 8.9 mm thick (including the domed sapphire crystal), with applied hand-finished indices and the hour, minute and off-centre running-seconds layout the new movement makes possible. The other five new references — Type 1E (flagship time-only evolution), Type 2C-2 (silver dial development), Type 3B-4, and Types 5B / 5B-1 — continue the brand's salmon, grey and ivory dial work.

Specifications

Brand: Naoya Hida & Co.
References (new for 2026): NH Type 1E, Type 2C-2, Type 3B-4, Type 5B, Type 5B-1, Type 7A, Type 8A
Total approximate production (new refs): ~87 pieces
Application window: 18 May – 21 May 2026 (10 am JST start and end)
Channels: naoyahidawatch.com and The Armoury (NYC / HK)

NH Type 7A (chronograph)

Movement: Restored vintage Valjoux Calibre 23, manual wind, column wheel chronograph
Complications: 30-min counter, running seconds, chronograph
Case material: Stainless steel
Crystal: Domed sapphire
Strap: Leather
Limited: 10 pieces total over 2026–2027
Price: JPY 5,300,000 / approx. USD 38,300

NH Type 8A (small dress watch)

Case material: 904L stainless steel
Case diameter: 31 mm
Case thickness: 8.9 mm (including domed sapphire crystal)
Movement: New in-house Calibre 2326SS, manual wind
Complications: Hours, minutes, off-centre running seconds
Strap: Leather
Limited: 20 pieces
Price: USD 23,100

What's Exciting

The Type 7A is the most genuinely uncompromising move in independent watchmaking this month. Building a brand's first chronograph by restoring a vintage Valjoux 23 for every example — rather than sourcing a modern chronograph movement, or building one in-house at a price point most chronograph buyers could not access — is exactly the kind of decision that defines this category of watchmaking. The Valjoux 23 is a movement collectors revere, and putting it inside a contemporary Naoya Hida case turns the watch into a bridge between vintage and present-day independent horology. Ten examples over two years means it will essentially never trade.

The Type 8A is the structurally important release. Sub-32 mm time-only dress watches are an entire category that mainstream Swiss brands have ceded; bringing one to market on a brand-new in-house calibre built around the small case's geometry signals long-term ambition, not a one-off. The reference to Patek 96 and Breguet 3210 also makes it clear which conversation Naoya Hida intends to join.

History

Naoya Hida founded the eponymous brand in 2018 after a long career inside the watch industry — including the better part of two decades at F. P. Journe Japan — with the express goal of making small-batch, hand-finished, classically proportioned Japanese watches that don't follow current size or finishing trends. The brand has built a quiet but intense following on its salmon, grey and ivory dials, applied indices, and willingness to use unusual case materials (including its signature 904L steel).

Each annual cycle adds new references and revisits some existing ones, with total production typically capped around 80–90 watches across the entire range. The 2026 collection is the brand's fifth full-year cycle and its most ambitious to date — both because of the move into chronographs (which doubles down on Naoya Hida's vintage-component philosophy) and because of the introduction of an entirely new in-house calibre for the smallest watch in the catalogue.