As a consumer publication, we at Boss Hunting generally like to greenlight stories on the proviso that what we’re covering – especially in the realm of watches – is at least nominally available for our audience to purchase. That said, on occasion, we get wind of the odd release that merits closer inspection – even if you can’t immediately scroll to the bottom of your browser and click “Add to Cart.”
To close out November, I’d argue that said new watch is the Wristcheck x Atelier Wen collaboration – a run of 100 watches between the eponymous Hong Kong-based trading platform and Chinese indie brand, that more or less sold out overnight. One can’t imagine that, at present, our North American friends are feeling too chipper.
In practice, a new variation of Atelier Wen’s aptly named 40mm ‘Perception’ sports watch – itself the figure of much controversy and performative outrage over at Hodinkee – this is the first such model from that collection to incorporate a titanium construction (for the bracelet and case) and a jade green dial.
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Importantly, it’s worth reiterating that the guilloché pattern used to decorate the dial is hand-executed: carried out by a single bloke, Mr Cheng Yucai, for a painstaking eight hours apiece, using a rose engine of the veteran machinist’s own design.
Like the Baltic and Furlan Marri releases of the world, this one-off Perception (nicknamed 传承 or “Inheritance” in Chinese) has managed to capture the attention of young watch enthusiasts in Asia and North America, precisely because it has been made by people who live and breathe the culture.
Robin Tallendier and Wilfred Buiron, Co-Founders of Atelier Wen, have had a front-row seat to most, if not all the shortcomings of the traditional watch industry; and their solution was to build a product that fuses craft with affordability, whilst remaining attuned to the unique pulse of watch culture in 2022.
Sure, the Inheritance has a certain ‘craft’ quality that’s most palpable when you’re looking at the dial; but it’s also a deceptively contemporary proposition – winking at developments in the horological zeitgeist such as the sudden surge in popularity of titanium watches and obligation to provide multiple ways to style a single watch. (The Inheritance’s bracelet can, in the blink of an eye, be swapped out without any tools for a grey FKM strap.)
The watch does indeed incorporate a number of culturally specific design queues – drawn by Atelier Wen from Chinese architecture and mythology – but yet again, these lack all the signposts of lazy tokenism. If anything, the total package offers a hopeful glimpse into where China’s indie watchmakers might be headed – towards a meritorious, more globally recognised future.
