Awake Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf

Borna Bošnjak

How do you instantly incite curiosity as a budding watch model? Certain, you possibly can discuss nice worth for cash, or a uniquely embellished motion, however the one factor that the majority potential consumers will gravitate in direction of is the dial. It’s the part that can catch the attention scrolling by way of an Instagram feed, and the one that may make or break one’s buying resolution, even when all the opposite parts are excellent. Awake has been searching for its personal house within the watchmaking recreation, and located it in sơn mài – Vietnamese lacquer portray. The third iteration of this train is Awake’s new Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf, which provides one other layer of complexity to the dial execution, and fairly actually so.

The dials

Let’s get proper into what makes the Frosted Leaf so particular. As its title could recommend, the French model took the learnings from the Sơn Mài Silver Leaf and Jurassic Watch Undertaking, and is now including layers of silver leaf to the dial manufacturing course of. Atop a layer of black-coloured lacquer, Awake’s artisans first add after which sand a silver leaf earlier than portray it with darkish pigments. To essentially intensify the feel, extra layers of silver are added and colored with lighter pigment, earlier than the whole dial is sanded to unveil its intricacies. Lastly, making the floor easy, the dial-makers add extra coats of lacquer for shine, with Awake quoting 15 hours of labor per dial.

Stepping into the design of the dial itself, at first look, it looks like there’s actually not a lot right here to speak about. It is a good factor, and let me inform you why. To begin with, I wouldn’t need to see this dial marred by pointless strains of textual content – one line for the model title, and “handcrafted” squeezed in on both aspect of the 6 o’clock index is simply the correct quantity. And second, it’s not like Awake didn’t pay any consideration to the little design that is there.

The palms and indices nearly appear to be renders, floating ethereally above the sơn mài dial. Awake achieves this impact by making use of faceted, polished indices and palms atop three-dimensional blocks of lume. It’s actually fairly a neat impact, which implies that, through the day, the appliques are subtly highlighted, and after darkish, the lume will softly glow round their edges.

That mentioned, with a lot work going into the dials and their small parts just like the design of the lume, I want awake paid extra consideration to the model brand. I admire the minimalism of the textual content usually, however the default typeface of “AWAKE” at 12 does the watch an pointless disservice.

The case

You would have the perfect dial on this planet, however and not using a well-designed case to supply a very good match on the wrist, you might as properly be making a desk clock. Fortunately, Awake’s designers have been conscious of this when making the Frosted Leaf, leading to a principally polished affair, apart from a horizontal brush alongside the case flanks. Trying on the design extra carefully, you’ll discover that the lugs have small protrusions, as a substitute of neatly following the case strains, subtly evoking an angular cornes de vache model. Curiously, the extensive, polished bezel merely slopes down and not using a faceted edge, and continues to an equally shiny prime a part of the primary case. The outcome matches the dial indices and could be very reflective, however I do suppose the impact could be higher with alternating floor remedies that would assist add some well-defined strains.

At 39.5mm in diameter and 45.6mm lug-to-lug, the Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf hits the candy spot for a contemporary day by day wearer, and identical goes for the 50 metres of water-resistance. With regard to thickness, 11.8mm is a little thick for a time-only watch, however it’s so for good motive. In talking with the model, we realized that the dial base must be at the least a millimetre thick, which is considerably greater than on a primary dial. It’s a reasonably small trade-off should you ask me.

The strap

Bear in mind how I spoke about small particulars? The strap, or buckle, extra particularly, is yet one more instance that Awake offers a rattling about good design. I’d recommend you are taking a detailed have a look at the photograph above moderately than having me clarify the buckle intimately, because it’s really fairly advanced in form. I admire that its sides slope right down to extra carefully align with the thickness of the strap, with a skinny half that truly stays on prime of the strap for a sleeker look.

And talking of the strap, Awake selected a impartial, gray nubuck from Delugs to pair with the Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf. It’s a completely inoffensive, impartial alternative that actually lets the dials shine. If it’s a bit too muted to your tastes, quick-release spring bars and a 20mm lug width ought to make getting one thing funkier on that a lot simpler.

The motion

The La Joux-Perret G101 is just not the largest of actions, with the potential of trying considerably undersized even in a mid-size, 39mm case. Awake does one thing actually intelligent to rectify this, with a laser-engraved ring that surrounds the motion and sits below the sapphire crystal. The motion itself could be very merely adorned with a personalized rotor, but when it’s a must to go along with an open caseback, I’d a lot moderately have a look at this than naked (or spec sheet-engraved) metallic.

As for the motion itself, the G101 has established itself as not only a competitor, however the popular choice over the ETA 2824/Sellita SW200 counterparts for its improved energy reserve of 68 hours (vs the 40-ish of the ETA), in addition to arguably higher appears to be like. In essence, it shares a lot of its design with the Miyota 9000 – a wonderful motion that usually doesn’t get the reward it deserves – however strikes manufacturing to Switzerland and upgrades key parts just like the regulator.

The decision

With quite a few microbrands starting to dominate the entry-level and entry-level luxurious house, Awake has understandably tried to determine itself by carving out a particular area of interest. Sơn mài lacquer is most actually obscure, however Awake has totally accepted it and developed it, which ought to be applauded. The Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf specifically efficiently continues sure model design signatures, of which the floating indices and palms are my favorite, and as its backside line, has a reasonably spectacular dial. The value is indicative of the elevated consideration to element in additional than simply the dial, as I’d bundle within the nicer motion touches with that too, leading to a package deal that punches above its weight. It’s actually not as inexpensive as your entry-level microbrand, however it additionally provides one thing that no run-of-the-mill micros can, and for that, it’s worthy of your consideration.

Awake Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf pricing and availability

The Awake Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf assortment is proscribed to 50 items per colourway. Worth: €2,150 (exc. VAT)