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Results for Mother of Pearl Dial

32,742 articles · 144 videos found · page 443 of 1097

Fratello’s Top 5 Iconic Watches From The 1980s Fratello
May 29, 2026

Fratello’s Top 5 Iconic Watches From The 1980s

Another Friday, another list. After finding alternatives to some of the industry’s biggest icons over the past few months, we decided to switch things up. In the past week, some of the Fratello team members had a nice discussion about forgotten watches from the 1980s, so we thought, “Why not make that into a nice […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Iconic Watches From The 1980s to read the full article.

Zenith Introduces The Chronomaster Revival Liberty II Fratello
Zenith Introduces May 29, 2026

Zenith Introduces The Chronomaster Revival Liberty II

Zenith marks the 250th anniversary of the United States with the release of the Chronomaster Revival Liberty II. This launch follows the original North American exclusive from several years ago. The new model strengthens the historical link between the Swiss manufacture and American industrial history. Zenith founder Georges Favre-Jacot famously visited the United States in […] Visit Zenith Introduces The Chronomaster Revival Liberty II to read the full article.

First Look - The Formex Aria Manufacture Chronometer, a Bold Step into Integrated Sports Watches Monochrome
Formex Aria Manufacture Chronometer May 29, 2026

First Look - The Formex Aria Manufacture Chronometer, a Bold Step into Integrated Sports Watches

For years, Formex has been associated with robust, technically minded watches focused on ergonomics, innovative materials and practical engineering. The Essence, Reef, and Stratos collections built the Biel-based independent brand’s reputation as a maker of high-value sports watches with distinctive technical solutions, including the patented Case Suspension System and advanced clasp mechanisms. With the new […]

Formex Introduces the Aria, an Integrated Bracelet Sports Watch with a Manufacture Movement Worn & Wound
Formex Introduces May 29, 2026

Formex Introduces the Aria, an Integrated Bracelet Sports Watch with a Manufacture Movement

Formex has formally introduced what is likely to be at or near the top of many of our “Watch of the Year” lists when 2026 is all said and done. Long a brand synonymous with squeezing an absolutely insane amount of value from every dollar spent, the new Aria is Formex’s most ambitious watch to date, by a wide margin. We got a look at the Aria during Watches & Wonders week while Formex exhibited at Chronopolis, and then again at Windup San Francisco a few weeks later, and we remain impressed with what the brand has accomplished. This is a big step forward for them on a number of fronts.  The Aria is an integrated bracelet sports watch that is also ultra-thin and uses the brand’s first manufacture movement. It makes sense, I think, to start with the case and bracelet, because they are immediately striking to hold and wear when you first experience the watch. The Aria is 40mm in diameter and crafted from titanium, with a tapered bracelet that has meticulously hand finished elements throughout. The total case height comes to just 6.9mm, and a close examination of the case, bracelet, and how they are integrated to one another reveals an intense attention to detail on the part of Formex and their design team. The Aria seems to understand what makes an integrated bracelet sports watch really work, which is a continuity of form from the case to the bracelet, and all the way to the clasp. They are integrated in the truest sense of the word, with matching finishes and tight ...

Visiting Roventa-Henex SJX Watches
Longines May 28, 2026

Visiting Roventa-Henex

Jérôme Biard is good at keeping secrets. As chief executive of Roventa-Henex (Roventa), he needs to be. The historic manufacture in the sleepy Swiss village of Tavannes builds watches for dozens of watch brands — some are internet-native ‘micro-brands’ while others are historic names with 19th-century roots. Naturally, few of the firm’s customers choose to reveal this arrangement, preferring the unstated implication of in-house expertise. We went inside this secretive manufacture to see a different side of the Swiss watch industry. Roventa-Henex CEO Jérôme Biard in his office in Tavannes. A short history of Roventa-Henex To better understand Roventa, it’s worth examining the history of watchmaking in Tavannes, a small village in the canton of Bern just 16 km from Biel/Bienne. Watchmaking came to Tavannes relatively late — in the 1860s — nearly two centuries after the first Swiss watches were made. Despite its late start, Tavannes quickly became a major centre of industrial watchmaking in the 1890s when Henri Sandoz — with the backing of two prominent families from La Chaux-de-Fonds — opened an industrialised factory based on the American model of production, complete with the latest American machine tools. By 1905, Tavannes Watch Co.’s factory employed more than 600 workers, making it Switzerland’s third-largest watch factory after Longines and Omega. By 1914 its staff had doubled, and the factory was producing more than 3,000 watches per day. Tav...

Albishorn Introduces the New Type X-Graph Worn & Wound
Ming new features May 28, 2026

Albishorn Introduces the New Type X-Graph

Swiss brand Albishorn is known for their rather daring mission of recreating vintage watches that never existed; a goal that seems confusing until you see their wide swathe of “imaginary vintage” offerings, each of which draws from iconic timepieces of the past while forging their own new identities. It’s an exercise in parallel history with an added touch of impossibility, and it’s what makes Albishorn watches a category of their own. Carrying on that hypothetical tradition is the new Type X-Graph, which borrows elements from the legendary Type 20 design, while adding features that were simply not possible in the era that Type 20 pieces were being built.  Rather than taking a Type 20 silhouette and cramming new features in, Albishorn has taken to imagining what a predecessor “Type 10” may have looked like instead. Calling it a “missing link” in the history of the Type 20, the Type X-Graph is, of course, a pilot chronograph, with stylings from the late 1940s to pre-date the Type 20’s 1950s introduction. A monopusher military chronograph design, the Type X-Graph measures in at 39mm (a first hint of the modern innovations that remind us that it’s of an imagined history) in case diameter, and 20mm in case thickness. The lug width is a democratic 20mm, with the final lug-to-lug measurement coming in at a wearable 47.7mm, and kept slim by the 12mm thickness. But that’s just the boring stuff; the visuals and functionality of the X-Graph are what make it st...

First Look - The Norqain Adventure Chrono Swiss Football National Team Limited Edition Monochrome
Norqain Adventure Chrono Swiss Football May 28, 2026

First Look - The Norqain Adventure Chrono Swiss Football National Team Limited Edition

Hockey first, now football. After earlier NHL and NHLPA editions, as well as the recent refresh of the Adventure lineup, Norqain presents the new Adventure Chrono Swiss Football National Team Limited Edition. Unlike many sports-team watches that stop at a logo or a few colours, this one was actually developed with input from several members […]

Introducing: Albishorn Type X-Graph (Live Pics) Hodinkee
Rolex Zerograph inspiration May 28, 2026

Introducing: Albishorn Type X-Graph (Live Pics)

What We Know We've featured a lot of Albishorn on Hodinkee recently, and for good reason. It's a fan-favorite brand, and, as our former head of limited editions said, it's hard to find someone who knows how to handle the technical side of watches, the design side, and pricing, all so well. The new Type X-Graph is no exception. If you want more info on the design inspiration behind the brand, you can read one of my previous stories here. But while other launches trend more vintage, this one feels a bit more modern. The Rolex "Zerograph" inspiration is obvious, with the slightly smaller dial and oversized bezel (that overhangs the case). This time, the dial pushes the look into modernity, with a semi-translucent fumé grey dial that lets you catch small glimpses of the skeletonized ALB04 M movement. But at the same time, Alibshorn was able to maintain the pebbled texture of some of their other dials. It's not a fully smoked sapphire like a Patek 5316 or a Lange Lumen, but at the price, it strikes a balance between creativity and affordability. Add the green-emission Super-LumiNova on the PVD-coated bi-directionally rotating steel bezel, and it's a cool monochrome finish. You'll notice that the watch is a chronograph with a 30-minute counter at the lower left and running seconds at the right, but right above the logo is the chronograph running indicator. It switches from red while running to white when stopped. The design of this is patented as part of the brand's modificatio...

Zenith Introduces the Chronomaster Revival Liberty II in Stainless Steel and Forged Carbon Worn & Wound
Zenith Introduces May 28, 2026

Zenith Introduces the Chronomaster Revival Liberty II in Stainless Steel and Forged Carbon

Back in 2020, Zenith released the Chronomaster Revival Liberty, a North American exclusive limited edition that is still one of the most popular of the A384 reissues we’ve seen. In fact, you could probably make a case that the early success of this particular A384 revival laid the groundwork for all that came after (and there have been many of these A384s released in the last six years). The original Liberty, with its red and white chronograph seconds hand and subtle blue fumé dial, was an attractive watch regardless of whether you saw it as part of a patriotic exercise. So it’s no surprise that Zenith has gone back to the well with the new Chronomaster Revival Liberty II. Coming as it does in the year of America’s 250th anniversary, the brand is leaning a bit harder into the connection Zenith has always had to the United States with this release.  Part of the conceit of the Chronomaster Revival Liberty II is that Zenith’s founder, George Favre-Jacot, was inspired by the watchmaking industry in America in the way he built the Zenith brand. In the middle part of the 19th century, the Swiss watch industry worked largely on an éstablissage system, which meant individual components were to be produced separately before final assembly. When Favre-Jacot visited the United States as a young man, he encountered a much more industrialized and efficient way of making a watch, which served as a model for the early days of Zenith.  To that end, the Chronomaster Revival Lib...

Introducing - The Very Dutch Christiaan van der Klaauw Ariadne Holland Edition Monochrome
Christiaan van der Klaauw Ariadne Holland Edition May 28, 2026

Introducing - The Very Dutch Christiaan van der Klaauw Ariadne Holland Edition

This weekend, together with our friends at Reijersen Juweliers, a retailer based in the city of Oudewater and specialising in many of our favourite independent brands and rare limited editions, we’ll be hosting the annual “Taste of Time” event. For the third edition of this show, which focuses on independent watchmaking, Reijersen will be teaming […]

The Barrelhand Monolith Takes Flight SJX Watches
Omega Speedmaster Skywalker X-33 But May 28, 2026

The Barrelhand Monolith Takes Flight

First teased more than two years ago, the Barrelhand Monolith makes its official debut. An impressive sophomore effort from San Francisco-based mechanical engineer Karel Bachand, the Monolith was designed — and rigorously tested — to accompany the next generation of manned spaceflight missions. Initial thoughts I tend to look at astronaut-oriented watches with a degree of scepticism. For one thing, many modern mechanical watches are inherently capable of performing well enough in space, especially within the pressurised, temperature-controlled conditions of a spacecraft or space station. Today’s astronauts often travel with numerous personal watches, either for sentimental reasons or to boost future resale value. For another, the demands placed on astronauts make electronic multi-function watches superior to their mechanical counterparts. Almost as soon as such watches were developed, astronauts adopted them enthusiastically, which is why the Timex Datalink was flight qualified by NASA in the 1990s. The European Space Agency (ESA) even patented a set of purpose-built functions devised by astronaut Jean-François Clervoy. These functions were brought to life by the Omega Speedmaster Skywalker X-33. But mechanical watches still have a place in the unforgiving vacuum of space, where massive temperature fluctuations and unpredictable levels of radiation wreak havoc on batteries and LCD displays. These are the conditions for which the Monolith was developed, and the maker...

Considering What “Tudor Blue” Means With The Newest Black Bay 54 Fratello
Tudor Blue” Means May 28, 2026

Considering What “Tudor Blue” Means With The Newest Black Bay 54

After the dust had settled from Watches and Wonders 2026, fans and critics agreed that Tudor had a relatively quiet showing. The Monarch, of course, was the big release to celebrate 100 years of Tudor. On top of that, we got a series of updates and new versions of already existing models. While less surprising, […] Visit Considering What “Tudor Blue” Means With The Newest Black Bay 54 to read the full article.

Fratello Talks: The Watches We’d Buy If We Started Collecting Today Fratello
May 28, 2026

Fratello Talks: The Watches We’d Buy If We Started Collecting Today

Every watch collector has wondered about this at some point. If you could go back to the beginning, armed with everything you know now, what would you do differently? Would you buy fewer watches, take bigger risks, or even skip certain phases altogether? In this episode of Fratello Talks, Nacho is joined by RJ and […] Visit Fratello Talks: The Watches We’d Buy If We Started Collecting Today to read the full article.

Review: The Fears Arnos Pewter Blue Worn & Wound
Christopher Ward May 27, 2026

Review: The Fears Arnos Pewter Blue

Four years ago I spent a fortnight with the Archival 1930, and ultimately proclaimed it the closest Fears has come to parting me from my hard-earned money. Since then, two things have happened. Firstly, Fears did earn my business by way of the Alliance 01 collaboration with Christopher Ward. Secondly, the modest lineup of rectangular watches from the brand has grown ever so slightly but remains overshadowed by the flagship Brunswick and sporty Redcliff families, and are perhaps therefore a little underappreciated. With so many iterations based on the Brunswick template, including the hugely popular cocktail trilogy produced in collaboration with Studio Underd0g, I find myself rooting for the Arnos – Fears’ first watch to build on the template of the Archival 1930 which captured my heart. When analyzing the Arnos ($4,500), it feels appropriate to start with the dial. I haven’t sought out common opinion in preparation for going hands on with the watch, but I fully expect the dial to be a polarizing factor. As is the case with any rectangular watch, there’s going to be a lot of space to fill. Space where the hands just can’t reach. That’s true of square dial watches too, but exacerbated further in a rectangle. Some watches fill this space with stretched indices, or an inner minute track matching the same outer rectangular shape. Even the aforementioned Archival 1930 (in two-hander form) lined the indices up vertically to cleverly use the corner spaces. Here, howev...

Dennison x Collectability’s Second Collab Gives Us Four Funky Twists on Its Inaugural Offering Worn & Wound
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore May 27, 2026

Dennison x Collectability’s Second Collab Gives Us Four Funky Twists on Its Inaugural Offering

While some brands regularly take the collaborative approach, this hasn’t been the case for Dennison. Its first co-designed model came to us just about a year ago when the Maison first teamed up with Collectability, the brainchild of Patek Philippe expert and horological icon John Reardon. The pair’s initial offering achieved an impressive balance of design language. It combined some clear inspiration from Patek’s Ellipse as well as some of the brand’s lesser-known models with elements of the collection that revived Dennison in the modern era – the A.L.D. – developed by acclaimed watch designer Emmanuel Gueit, whose resume includes the Rolex 1908, Harry Winston Z1, and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. The duo has just spun up its second collaboration, available for pre-order for one week only, beginning today through June 3. If you didn’t immediately click over to place an order, and you’re still with me, let’s unpack these latest additions. The new Oblique collection certainly has echoes of the original co-design but with a little bit more edge. The pair’s inaugural offering was relatively classic and timeless whereas the latest interpretations are a bit more modern and sculptural. This time, Dennison and Collectability give us two variations: the bold Enigma dial and the more sober Vector dial. In both iterations, the brands lean further into the funky design language that began emerging in the 1960s with asymmetry being a focus. Here, the familiar ...

Highlights: Notable Independents at Phillips Hong Kong SJX Watches
F.P. Journe May 27, 2026

Highlights: Notable Independents at Phillips Hong Kong

Phillips’ spring auction season wraps up with The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XXII on May 30 – 31. As is now the norm, independent watchmakers have carved out a significant section of the catalogue including the usual suspects from F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour, as well as rare showings from under-the-radar makers like Oscillon and Yosuke Sekiguchi. Lot 878 – Oscillon L’instant de Vérité Despite how hot the indie segment has become, Oscillon has largely stayed under the radar, perhaps due to its intensely cerebral nature, or because the brand only produces about five watches per year. The duo behind the brand, Dominique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey, are collectors of pre-computerised watchmaking machines. Their collection is so extensive that they can produce all movement parts – save for the jewels and shock protection – under their own roof using these machines. Even putting this context aside, the watches themselves are still mechanically interesting. The most striking detail is the bowtie-shaped balance, which is harder to poise and less aerodynamic than a conventional annular balance, but looks much cooler. L’instant de Vérité uses an unusual tensator constant-force spring. To explain this, consider a tape measure. The force required to pull more length from a tape measure doesn’t noticeably increase regardless of the length already paid out. Now imagine hooking the end of the tape to a pulley, so that turning the pulley (winding) pulls tape out, and ...

Introducing - The New Konstantin Chaykin Matroskin the Cat Wristmon Monochrome
Konstantin Chaykin Matroskin May 27, 2026

Introducing - The New Konstantin Chaykin Matroskin the Cat Wristmon

It’s refreshing to come across a serious master watchmaker who knows how to have fun. Konstantin Chaykin, the Russian indie watchmaker, knows how to inject humour into his creations, including the anthropomorphic face of his smiling ThinKing, the world’s thinnest mechanical watch with a profile of just 1.65mm. His popular menagerie of Wristmons (wrist monsters) […]

A Hands-On Introduction To The Limited-Edition Oblique Collection By Dennison And Collectability Fratello
Patek Philippe specialist John Reardon unveil May 27, 2026

A Hands-On Introduction To The Limited-Edition Oblique Collection By Dennison And Collectability

After last year’s limited-edition ALD watches, Dennison and Collectability are back with another collaboration. Designer Emmanuel Gueit and Patek Philippe specialist John Reardon unveil four watches featuring a new asymmetric design. The Oblique Enigma features a stepped dial, just like last year’s ALD editions. The Oblique Vector features a sunburst dial enhanced by subtle printing […] Visit A Hands-On Introduction To The Limited-Edition Oblique Collection By Dennison And Collectability to read the full article.

Introducing: Timex MK1 For J.Crew Hodinkee
Casio n May 26, 2026

Introducing: Timex MK1 For J.Crew

What We Know The day after Memorial Day brings the promise of warmer days, long summer nights, and backyard cookouts. Timex and J.Crew have decided to mark the occasion in a way that feels entirely right for the season—and perfect for us here at Hodinkee—with the release of the Timex MK1 for J.Crew. The MK1 is one of Timex's most storied models, originally rooted in military-inspired design. This version trades military-spec field watch utility for a leisurely day on the water. Housed in a 36mm gold-plated stainless steel case with a clean white dial, crisp Arabic numerals, and a printed rail track, the star of the show is unmistakably the small figure swimming across the dial. That figure, true anglers will recognize it immediately, is a brook trout—rendered from an original watercolor by J.Crew's in-house artist. It's a matter-of-fact detail that is unexpected, and works. With the trout and enlarged numbers taking up precious dial real estate, branding is limited. The Timex logo is on the front, the J.Crew logo on the caseback. Built for long days on the water, the MK1 for J.Crew offers 50m of water resistance and sits behind an acrylic crystal. It runs on a quartz movement, with an 18mm lug width and a neatly braided dark brown leather strap that has the signs of it only getting better with time. The Timex MK1 for J.Crew launches May 28th at $198 and is available at Timex.com, JCrew.com, and select J.Crew retail locations. What We Think What more could you ask for...

Introducing: Louis Vuitton Unity Time Object Hodinkee
Louis Vuitton Unity Time Object What May 26, 2026

Introducing: Louis Vuitton Unity Time Object

What We Know For the last ten years, Louis Vuitton has worked with UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, to support humanitarian and developmental aid for children worldwide. To mark the tenth anniversary of the partnership, the house is releasing a one-of-a-kind time object—a soccer ball reimagined as a clock—to be auctioned exclusively at Sotheby's from June 9 to 18, with the hammer price going directly to UNICEF. The piece brings together La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the Swiss movement maker L'Épée 1839, and the house's trunkmaking heritage, all in the shape of a soccer ball, timed perfectly ahead of this year's World Cup. With Louis Vuitton's F1 partnership now in its second year, the brand has been planting its flag deeper in the world of sport. Having a soccer ball serve as the vessel for this milestone feels like a natural extension of that direction, and there's something fitting about the spherical choice of form to commemorate this occasion. At the center of the piece, time is told through a sculpted golden steel dome that forms the upper half of the clock. Two rotating cylinders handle the work: one tracks the hours, the other the minutes. The minute track is engraved with Louis Vuitton's Monogram motif and flowers, and the top of the cylinder carries the "Louis Vuitton Paris" signature. Moving outward, the hour and minute apertures are rimmed with diamonds—144 white for the hours, 120 black for the minutes, totaling 1.03 carats. Inside, L'...

Seiko Brings their 145th Anniversary Celebration to the Prospex Collection with the HBC005 and HBB001 Worn & Wound
Seiko Brings their 145th Anniversary May 26, 2026

Seiko Brings their 145th Anniversary Celebration to the Prospex Collection with the HBC005 and HBB001

We’ve recently covered 145th anniversary limited edition releases from Seiko in the Presage and Astron collections, and I bet some of you have probably been wondering, “Hey, what a dive watch?” Seiko, of course, has not forgotten about the Prospex line when it comes to anniversary themed limited editions, and have recently announced the HBC005 and HBB001 in the same blue/silver colorway that is becoming the visual signature of this anniversary celebration.  First up is the HBC005, which is built on the platform of their current 62MAS inspired reissue. This heritage focused dive watch has its (modern) origins with watches like the SPB143, but received a handful of small updates about two years ago to make it more wearable (and fix the somewhat awkward 3:00 date window for what I believe is a more under the radar 4:30 execution). The case comes in at 40mm in diameter and 13mm thick, with a lug to lug measurement of 46.4mm. Water resistance is 300 meters, and the movement is the 6R55 with a 72 hour power reserve.  The dial is silver with a subtle brushed finish and lume filled, rectangular hour markers. The blue seconds hand is matched with an aluminum bezel insert in blue. There are no obvious signs of it being a limited edition on the dial – just the normal Seiko wordmark at 12:00 and the Prospex logo and two additional lines of text highlighting the power reserve and water resistance below it. The clean silver/white dial paired with the blue accents give this div...

Hands-On: The Petermann-Bédat 1826 Limited Edition for The Hour Glass Japan - Now in a Smaller Size Hodinkee
Petermann Bédat May 26, 2026

Hands-On: The Petermann-Bédat 1826 Limited Edition for The Hour Glass Japan - Now in a Smaller Size

Just last week, I visited the workshop of Petermann-Bédat in Renes. I had a morning to kill on the way to Lausanne for a project, and instead of sleeping off some jetlag, I decided to do something productive. And, actually, something that makes me happy. Spending time with Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat is always a pleasure. I put a lot of stock in the personalities of independent watchmakers, and I think it's fair to consider them artists you want to support, not just for the art but also for how you connect with them. Far from a buyer, I still seem to operate on a similar wavelength to the two. But the added bonus is that I finally got to see their new reference 1826, which was launched for The Hour Glass in Japan, and boy, was it a stunner.  No, the name isn't a typo. While the larger (and relatively recently released) ref. 1825 from 2025 featured a 38mm case; the watchmakers have been able to downsize the two new versions to 36mm, made in white and rose gold. Actually, they made the original caliber with a 36mm case in mind, but, to paraphrase, they didn't feel the market was ready. Turns out that it was maybe not the best for the global stage, but perfect for one market in particular. The difference is pretty dramatic in person. But so is this recent generation of watches in general. Petermann-Bédat's business arch has been a yo-yo from a simple-looking but technically complex deadbeat watch (shown above) that launched the brand, then an incredibly complex spli...

Introducing: The 2026 Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition Hodinkee
Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition May 26, 2026

Introducing: The 2026 Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition

What We Know The Annual Editions from German brand Glashütte Original are quite self-explanatory from their name. Each year, Glashütte Original adorns one of its vintage-inspired designs from the Sixties collection with a new colorway. There's no hard-and-fast rule about what colors make an appearance—past dials have ranged from subtle to loud, muted to saturated, and smooth to textured. This year's Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition goes for maximum visual impact with a very unconventional purple dial, produced in-house at their dialmaking facility in Glashütte. This 2026 edition opts for the distinctive textured dial that has accompanied a few of the past Sixties models, produced through a stamping process for the bronze dial base. After a galvanic coating process that adds a layer of gold to the base dial, purple lacquer is hand-applied and then fired at high temperatures to set the color.  A unique design detail of the dial is the lack of applied hour indices. Rather, the now purple lacquer dial is hand-engraved to reveal strips of the bronze base, acting as those markers and a warm contrast to the rest of the dial. Once this step is completed, the entire dial gets a protective clear lacquer coating, and the dial text is printed on. Gold-plated hands are paired to complement the tone of the bronze hour indices. And of course, any Sixties Edition from Glashütte Original means some heavily stylized numerals, seen here at twelve and six o'clock. As this year's Annu...

Awake Introduces the Son Mài Guilloché Main Collection Worn & Wound
May 26, 2026

Awake Introduces the Son Mài Guilloché Main Collection

The evolution of Awake has been fascinating to observe over the last few years. From high concept blockchain and space inspired sports watches, the brand took a left turn into traditional craft techniques, and is now working to refine those ideas further in their latest collection. The new Son Mài Guilloché Main Collection combines the Son Mai lacquer techniques the brand has employed in previous collections with evocative, hand-applied guilloche work. These new watches also have updates to the case and dial that we imagine will carry through to further Awake releases in the pipeline.  I had a chance to see these watches in person at Chronopolis in Geneva earlier this year, and then again at the Windup Watch Fair in San Francisco, and each time I came away very impressed with the dial work, which is clearly the chief selling point here. To summarize, these dials use the same “Son Mai” lacquer technique, perfected by artisans in Vietnam, that we saw the brand debut in 2024. The resulting bold, vibrant colors really carry these watches and give a very old practice a lot of modern charm. For the new collection, Awake has added guilloche to the mix. Before the lacquer finish is applied, each dial has a meticulously applied guilloche pattern engraved into the dial by traditional rose and straight line engines by craftspeople in Italy. When the lacquer finish is added later, it accentuates the guilloche in a dramatic way, highlighting the depth of the engraving and the ri...