Awake's Sơn Mài Collection Gets Vignette Dials and a Purple Limited Edition
Awake has extended its Sơn Mài Silver Leaf collection with four gradient vignette dials in a redesigned 38 mm case, plus an audacious purple limited edition. The dials pair pure silver leaf with roughly twelve layers of pigmented lacquer, each requiring more than ten hours of work. Here is what the new pieces change and what remains unconfirmed.
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Awake's Sơn Mài collection has always been about surfaces. Since the Paris-based brand first combined silver leaf with Vietnamese Sơn Mài lacquer in 2024, the technique has sat at the center of its releases rather than at the edges, and the newest additions push that idea further: four gradient vignette dials in a redesigned 38 mm case, joined by a purple limited edition.
The dial work is the story. According to Fratellowatches, each dial requires more than ten hours of careful work: artisans apply pure silver leaf, then build roughly twelve layers of pigmented lacquer, sanding and polishing between coats ¹. That layering is what produces the depth the collection is known for, and it also means no two dials come out identical. The report describes the result as a one-of-a-kind surface that changes in the light, with polished indices set over slightly larger Super-LumiNova BGW9 platforms so that in darkness the indices appear to float above the dial in blue.
The vignette framing is not new to the collection. Awake previously introduced the Atlantis Blue model, a blue gradient dial inspired by the myth of the submerged city, which Chronos Japan describes as reminiscent of the vignette dials of the 1970s and 1980s ². That report explains the term usefully: vignette comes from photography and optics, where light falls off toward the edges of a lens so the center appears brighter. On a watch dial, the effect concentrates color and light in the middle and darkens toward the perimeter. The new release takes that same 1970s color language and applies it across a trio of brightly colored pieces.
For the Atlantis Blue, the Japanese outlet lists an automatic Cal. G101 movement with 24 jewels and a 28,800 vph frequency, paired with a peacock blue suede calfskin strap. Whether the new vignette pieces share that movement and strap treatment is not established in the available excerpts — the Fratellowatches excerpt is truncated before the common specifications section, so full case dimensions, water resistance, pricing and availability for the new dials could not be confirmed. The Atlantis Blue details should be read as a reference point for the collection, not as a confirmed specification for every new model.
What the sources do support is the positioning. Awake sits among relatively affordable independent makers, and the Sơn Mài line is its distinctive proposition: traditional métiers d'art technique executed on watches intended for daily wear rather than safe storage. The brand's still-new script signature appears on the dial, and the overall effect is contemporary rather than heritage-revival. The purple limited edition sits alongside the three colored pieces as the more audacious option, though the sources do not state its production number or price.
The practical takeaway for anyone considering one: the appeal is the dial first and the specification second. A lacquered silver-leaf surface built up over roughly twelve coats is a finishing choice you either want to look at every day or you don't, and the vignette layout makes that choice more dramatic than the earlier, more even gradients. Buyers should confirm case thickness, lug width, water resistance and price with the brand or an authorized retailer before committing, since those figures were not available in the material reviewed here. What is clear is the direction: Awake is treating artisanal dial work as the main event, not a trim package.
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