Introducing The Sexy, Secretive Toledano & Chan Oshinobi, With Commentary From Phil Toledano

Toledano & Chan, the horological design collaboration between artist and collector Phil Toledano and watch designer Alfred Chan, is back with their latest brutalist architecture-inspired watch, the Oshinobi. This one throws a new concept into the mix: concealment.

O-shinobi is a Japanese term used to describe a person of high rank travelling incognito, which should give you a hint at how this Toledano & Chan watch works. It’s a secret watch, fitted with a horizontally sliding cover that reveals an organically shaped and concave dial set with two carats of snow-set diamonds. To fly even further under the radar, the crown is hidden, accessible from the underside of the case at 12 o’clock.

The inspiration for the Oshinobi's dial and crystal shape also comes from this idea of concealment, inspired by natural geodes that look like any other rock until they’re cracked open to reveal a world of crystals festooning the inside. The result is this architecturally aggressive bracelet shape that hides an organically shaped, irregularly diamond-studded secret inside.

Phil, Jamie and I sat down over the weekend to talk about the Oshinobi, and he tells me that he’s long been fascinated with vintage secret watches that conceal their dials. Hearing conversations in the watch community about safety concerns about traversing cities with flashy watches, he sees the Oshinobi as the antidote.

“There’s a secret joy in walking around somewhere like London, and you know you’ve got two carats of diamonds on your wrist, and no one knows," he tells us, adding: "The idea behind the Oshinobi is that you can now safely wear a diamond watch in public, and like horological lingerie, no one will know you’re wearing it!”

The grade 5 titanium case is sandblasted and consists entirely of what appears to be solely b/1-style asymmetric links in an alternating pattern. Looking top down at the watch, you’d be remiss to think the Oshinobi was just a bracelet and not a watch at all. Only when viewing the Oshinobi from the side would you spot that it has the case depth to hold a movement and dial, and that’s partly the point. It’s 21mm across with no bracelet taper and meets at a hidden butterfly clasp similar to that found on the b/1, Toledano & Chan's lauded inaugural model.

The Oshinobi also marks a couple of firsts for Toledano & Chan. Excluding the b/2 AREA 51 one-off sold at Sotheby’s, it’s the first manually-wound Toledano & Chan, the first to conceal the crown, and the first that doesn’t use a Sellita SW100 movement. Instead, Phil and Alfred have opted for a calibre from Le Temps Manufactures. The decision to change movements was primarily driven by the Oshinobi's size: with a case that’s just 21mm across, the smaller LTM movement is a better fit, and being hand-finished and assembled, it’s of much higher quality than the Sellita. Details on which LTM calibre it is are being kept close to Chan and Toledano's chests for now, so expect to hear more about the movement when the production Oshinobi launches soon.

You’re looking at the prototype Oshinobi, which features ‘TIME FOR ART’ engraved on the caseback, and that’s a hint at its next stop. It will be crossing the blocks at the Phillips TimeForArt charity auction on December 5, 2026. A limited release of the production Toledano & Chan Oshinobi will hit the market in 2027, and we’ll bring you more details when that time comes.

The Oshinobi is the latest in a surprisingly long lineage for a watch brand that launched just two years ago, and during our chat, Phil expanded on how it fits into the Toledano & Chan lineup.

“The thing we always try to do with our watches is have an organic-inorganic counterpoint. The brutalist b/1 case contrasts the ripple of the dial [on the b/1.3r], so there’s that counterpoint. With the Oshinobi, the organic is the geode shape. You have this brutalist bracelet, and then you have a concave dial, cause we were trying to get as much geode-ness as possible, and the snow setting of the diamonds means they’re different sizes, so it feels like you’ve opened up this rock and found these crystals inside it.”

There are two distinct concepts at play with the Oshinobi: the diamond-studded tycoon travelling incognito, and the glistening cracked-open geode within a hardened, unassuming exterior. At first, these felt like two disparate concepts, but after talking to Phil and spending some time looking at the Oshinobi, these two concepts began to feel more cohesive. Again, they’re both about concealment, hiding something spectacular inside the unassuming.

One small detail that caught my eye about the Oshinobi is the oscillating link pattern. The links are the same shape as the b/1's, but by rotating every other link, it draws symmetry out of an asymmetrical design. A by-product is the jagged, razor-like edge to both sides of the bracelet that makes it read even less like a watch and more like a functionless bracelet. You can tell this is intentional, as it extends to the right side of the case plate surrounding the dial when the cover is slid open, and from the side, the case looks like some sort of sandblasted sci-fi battleship's armour plating.

A significant criticism of Toledano & Chan’s watches has been their use of Sellita movements, considered by critics to be an inferior calibre for watches at the brand's price point. Personally, it’s not a criticism I’ve ever held, as with a Toledano & Chan the appeal is in the artistic case, crystal, and dial shape and construction, not in showcasing an impressive movement. You’re paying for design and case finishing, and I think focusing on the movement is missing the forest for the trees. Would I prefer a more impressively made and finished movement for the price? Absolutely, but I've never seen it as a dealbreaker. (Editor's Note: The watches have closed casebacks anyway...)

The LTM calibre in the Oshinobi should satiate buyers who value a watch for its movement more highly, and we’ll be able to dig further into the calibre, pricing and production numbers when the production Oshinobi lands in 2027.

Brand: Toledano & Chan
Model: Oshinobi
Diameter: 21mm
Case Material: Grade 5 sandblasted titanium
Dial: Secret dial with 2 carats of snow-set diamonds
Lume: No
Water Resistance: Not stated
Strap/Bracelet: Integrated titanium bracelet, butterfly clasp

Calibre: Le Temps Manufactures LTM 200
Functions: Hours and minutes
Power Reserve: 38 hours
Winding: Manual
Chronometer Certified: No
Frequency: 25,200 vph (3.5 Hz)

Price: Pending auction result
Availability: Prototype to be sold via the TimeForArt charity auction at Phillips on December 5, 2026
Limited Edition: Pièce unique for now, with a limited production run planned for 2027 (pricing TBC)

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