Sensu Collection

The Sensu line is where Hajime Asaoka's design instincts meet mechanical scarcity. Three watches share the Sensu name, each built around a different movement sourced from Citizen's discontinued inventory or end-of-life production. The word sensu means folding fan in Japanese, and the guilloché power reserve indicator shaped like an opening fan is the visual thread connecting all three.

Both Sensu NOS variants side by side: cream with Arabic numerals, blue with Kanji

The first was the Reserve de Marche Sensu NOS, released in October 2024. NOS stands for new old stock. In 2022, Asaoka purchased the entire remaining inventory of the Miyota 9134 caliber directly from Citizen. The 9134 is a 26-jewel automatic with a power reserve indicator and 24-hour subdial, beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour with 40 hours of reserve. Citizen had discontinued production. Asaoka bought every last one, modified each movement by removing the calendar mechanism and regulating the accuracy, then rebadged them as the 9134PWT. The watch features a stamped Clou de Paris guilloché center with the fan-shaped power reserve indicator at ten o'clock and a 24-hour indicator at six. Two dial variants were produced, cream and blue. The case is 38mm at 11.2mm thick with a 45.6mm lug-to-lug span and 50 meters of water resistance. The dial is stamped, not engraved, which is a cost-conscious choice that somehow looks more authentic than machine-turned alternatives costing ten times more. The blue hands on the cream variant are heat-treated steel, not painted. The old-style Kanji numerals on the blue variant carry the same character set as the Grand Hagane. Priced at $2,150.

Blue Sensu NOS guilloché detail with fan power reserve and Kanji indices

The Jubilee Sensu EOL followed in 2025, celebrating Asaoka's 60th birthday. EOL means end of life. This time the movement is the Miyota 9133, another caliber that Citizen has stopped manufacturing. The ice-blue Shiraai dial and the guilloché fan are carried forward from the NOS, but the movement underneath is a different dead caliber. Building a watch around a movement that will never be made again is either bold or reckless depending on your perspective. I think it is both, and that is exactly why Asaoka does it. When these movements are gone, they are gone. The watches become mechanically irreplaceable. The Shiraai name translates to white indigo, and the ice-blue dial captures that perfectly. It is lighter and cooler than the blue NOS, almost silver in certain light. The concentric guilloché radiates from the center of the dial outward in waves that catch and release light as the wrist moves. The fan power reserve indicator at ten o'clock is the visual anchor. When the mainspring is fully wound, the fan is fully open. As it winds down over 40 hours, the fan slowly closes. It is the most elegant way I have seen any watch communicate its remaining energy.

Jubilee Sensu EOL Shiraai: ice-blue dial, discontinued Miyota 9133 inside

What connects the Sensu watches is a philosophy that Asaoka has not stated explicitly but that becomes obvious when you look at the pattern. He is not just designing dials and cases. He is rescuing calibers. The Miyota 9134 that powers the NOS was a 26-jewel automatic with integrated power reserve complication. Citizen decided the market did not need it anymore. Asaoka decided otherwise. He bought the entire remaining stock, modified each one by hand, removed the calendar mechanism that he did not want, regulated the accuracy to his standards, and created a movement designation that exists nowhere else: the 9134PWT. The P stands for precision, the W for watchmaker, the T for Tokyo. The NOS purchase of every remaining 9134 was not a business decision. It was a preservation act. These are movements that Citizen designed, manufactured, and then walked away from. Asaoka saw value in them that the factory did not, modified them to his specifications, and gave them a second life inside watches that will outlast the production line that made them.

The fan-shaped power reserve indicator and Clou de Paris guilloché up close

The guilloché work on the Sensu dials deserves attention. Guilloché is engine-turned engraving, patterns cut into metal by a rose engine lathe. The Clou de Paris pattern on the Sensu is a grid of small pyramids that catch light at different angles, creating a shimmering texture that changes as the wrist moves. The fan-shaped power reserve indicator at ten o'clock takes the functional complication and turns it into a design element. As the mainspring winds down, the fan closes. As you wind it or wear it, the fan opens. It is the most visually poetic power reserve indicator I have seen on any watch at any price.

All three Sensu watches share the same case architecture as the Calendrier and GMT lines: 38mm in polished steel with box sapphire crystal and 50 meters of water resistance. The larger case compared to the 37mm Classic and Grand lines gives the guilloché room to breathe. The additional millimeter matters more than you would think at this scale.

Both NOS variants: cream and blue, product shot

The 38mm case is a full millimeter wider than the Classic and Grand Series. On paper that sounds trivial. On the wrist it gives the guilloché room to breathe. The Clou de Paris pattern reads as texture from a distance and as architecture up close. Each tiny pyramid is a light-catching surface that shifts as the wrist moves. The effect is a dial that is never static. It is always doing something different depending on where the light falls.

The Jubilee Sensu EOL Shiraai on the wrist under a dress shirt cuff

The Sensu line sits in a space that no other brand occupies. Nobody else is buying discontinued Citizen calibers in bulk, modifying them by hand, and putting them inside watches with engine-turned dials and folding fan power reserve indicators. It is a category of one.