Worn & Wound
A New and Very Limited Atelier Wen Perception Puts a Spotlight on Craft by Highlighting Errors
In the year since Atelier Wen and Wristcheck collaborated on their first limited edition Perception, Atelier Wen’s stature in the burgeoning affordable independent scene has only grown. This has largely been on the strength of a series of smartly timed and well executed limited editions, all of which provide a gorgeous showcase for some excellent guilloche work, and serve as a reminder that well made, integrated bracelet sports watches need not drift into five figure retail prices, and that they can come from places other than Switzerland. Now, in a turn of events that is anything but surprising given the attention this team received a year ago, Wristcheck and Atelier Wen have partnered once again, but this time they’ve added a third collaborator: Paris-based artist Seconde/Seconde, who I feel like has been part of virtually every LE launch over the last several months (only a slight exaggeration). The new piece, officially dubbed the Wristcheck x Seconde/Seconde/ x Atelier Wen Perception “锔瓷” Special Edition, calls attention to the high level of craft in this watch in a unique way: by highlighting the inevitable mistakes that are made in its production. The concept here originates with the production of the first Atelier Wen x Wristcheck collaboration last year. During the making of that LE, 36 dials in total were rejected for various imperfections in the guilloche. Not wanting to put them to waste, those dials have now been “healed” (with Seconde/Second...