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Today the majority of sketetonized movement components are cut out by a machine. A machine-skeletonized movement has rounded edges since the milling cutter has round shape. When you see sharp, straight edges, it was likely done either by a watchmaker or specialist who processed the corners by hand after the machine cutout was completed.
In hand-sketetonizing, after sawing out the movement plate and bridges traces of the sawing blade are noticeable. To remove these traces, the whole movement is filed. Filing also aids in straightening the shape of the bridges and movement plate.
![](https://quillandpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Kudoke-Flieger-Concept-KFC-4-Peter-Tung.jpg)
Back of the unique piece Kudoke Flieger Concept (photo courtesy Kudoke/Peter Tung)
Kudoke wanted to give this flieger a bead-blasted finish as an homage to historical World War II pilot’s timepieces, so the stainless steel case received a bead-blasted treatment. Additionally, the brass movement plate and bridges were also bead blasted. After that the movement components were electroplated with black rhodium.
All the screws were thermally heated to a lovely deep blue color.
Finally, Kudoke handcrafted a double solar finish on the crown and ratchet wheels. He also reworked some of the finishing on the movement, so I took the opportunity to personalize it with a “50” engraved on the ratchet wheel in honor of my fiftieth birthday in 2020.
He hand-engraved the blue “50” on the ratchet wheel, which involved thermally heating the wheel to a perfect blue color before applying the double solar finish.
![](https://quillandpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Kudoke-Flieger-Concept-KFC-6-Peter-Tung.jpg)
Lume shot of the unique piece Kudoke Flieger Concept (photo courtesy Kudoke/Peter Tung)
My flieger has significant wrist presence but does not weigh much due to the skeletonized movement. The vintage-style painted numbers and hands are graced with a strong blue-toned Super-LumiNova, and the skeletonized subsidiary seconds dial gives my flieger the distinct Kudoke feel.
I picked up the Kudoke Flieger Concept from Stefan and Ev Kudoke over lunch at their favorite steakhouse in Dresden. Due to the COVID-19 shutdowns and travel restrictions, that in itself required a lot of luck and perseverance.
During lunch, Stefan told me that he has not given up on the idea of a making another Kudoke flieger in the future, but with a different design and perhaps as part of the Caliber 1 series. I am confident that it will come to fruition.
Stefan Kudoke also does fully customized timepieces, which you can find out more about by visiting www.kudoke.eu.
Quick Facts Kudoke Flieger Concept
Case: 42 x 10.5 mm, stainless steel
Movement: manual winding modified ETA Unitas caliber, 17 jewels, 2.5 Hz/18,000 vph, 46 hours power reserve, movement dimensions 36.6 x 4.5 mm, skeletonized
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds
* This article was first published on November 20, 2020 at Why I Bought It: Kudoke Flieger Concept (KFC).
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