Introducing: Awake Sơn Mài Silver Leaf Collection

Founded in 2019, the French independent brand Awake expanded its Sơn Mài Silver Leaf watch collection with four new gradient Vignette dial colors inspired by 1970s and 1980s watchmaking. According to Monochrome Watches, the new additions comprise Gentian Blue, Indian Red, Java Green, and the bolder Purple Viola. Hodinkee reported that Java Green, Gentian Blue, and Indian Red join the main line permanently, while the Purple Viola is a numbered limited edition restricted to 200 pieces worldwide. Time+Tide Watches noted that the permanent core models are capped at around 100 dials per year per colour.

The series features a redesigned 38mm stainless steel case crafted from 316L steel, measuring 44.75mm from lug to lug. Monochrome Watches stated the case is 11.5mm thick with the anti-reflective sapphire crystal or 10mm without it, offering 100 meters of water resistance. The caseback features a sapphire crystal revealing the automatic movement alongside an engraved mission statement reading, "Illuminating the hands and heritage behind rare crafts", as reported by Monochrome Watches. Hodinkee added that the case carries the brand's new handwritten logo first introduced in May.

Dials are produced in a lacquer workshop in Hanoi using a combination of silver leaf gilding and Sơn Mài lacquer. Hodinkee and Monochrome Watches explained that the technique requires applying roughly twelve successive layers of pigmented natural lacquer over sheets of silver leaf, with each layer individually sanded and polished. This painstaking process takes more than ten hours per dial. The watches retain Awake's Chiaroscuro luminous signature, using solid BGW9 luminous bases topped with sculpted steel caps that conceal the material during daylight and emit a subtle halo in the dark.

Powering the collection is the La Joux-Perret G101 automatic calibre, which operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour and delivers a 68-hour power reserve. Monochrome Watches stated the exhibition caseback reveals a tungsten oscillating weight machined from a solid block with brushed, micro-blasted, and polished finishes. The watches are paired with straps handcrafted in France by Maison Jean Rousseau and Bouveret in Alcantara or nubuck, lined with rubberized calfskin, and equipped with quick-release spring bars and a Fitwell M1 micro-adjustable pin buckle allowing up to 3mm of adjustment.

All versions are priced at €2,640 including VAT, with Hodinkee noting this equates to around $2,950 USD. Time+Tide Watches and Monochrome Watches confirmed the watches are available now for order in shops and discovery studios, while Hodinkee stated that deliveries are scheduled to start in late November.