Artisanship, Awakened.
Son Mài - Guilloché Main
In a contemporary approach true to AWAKE, three limited editions of 200 pieces each feature dials inspired by celestial phenomena, where two ancestral techniques, Guilloché and Son Mài lacquer, engage in a powerful dialogue, blending tradition and modernity into singular pieces crafted for enthusiasts seeking emotion and exceptional craftsmanship.
Two Exceptional Crafts United for the First Time.
At AWAKE, Métiers d’Art transcend the mere function of timekeeping to become a true cultural language, inviting a slower, more conscious perception of time - deeply rooted in gesture and material.
With the Son Mài - Guilloché Main collection, we bring together for the first time in watchmaking two exceptional crafts drawn from rare and demanding traditions: traditional Guilloché Main, perpetuated in Italy by the Renzetti family using historic 19th-century machines entirely guided by human skill, and the ancestral Vietnamese art of Son Mài lacquer, a national heritage requiring patience, dexterity, and a keen eye for detail.
The Art of Guilloché Main.
For the creation of our dials, we collaborate with the Renzetti family, one of the last European workshops dedicated to Guilloché Main - heirs to an exceptional craft considered one of the most demanding forms of watchmaking artistry, learned from masters such as Peter Carl Fabergé and passed down from generation to generation since the late 19th century.
To create the patterns of our three versions, master guillocheurs operate entirely by hand historic machines such as the straight-line engine and the rose engine, both requiring absolute mastery of gesture.
Authenticity and Craft Excellence.
The artisan simultaneously controls the rotation of the dial with one hand and the cutting tool with the other, sculpting into the metal the fine grooves of the “Alba,” “Sunset,” and “Borealis” versions, ranging from flowing lines to circular forms.
Each dial is unique - the hundreds of engraved grooves varying from one piece and one artisan to another - and reveals patterns of incomparable depth and brilliance, where aesthetics, craftsmanship, and emotion converge. This long and meticulous process, where even the slightest mistake requires starting over, demands many years of practice and reflects an exceptional level of artisanal mastery and quality, unique to fine watchmaking.
The Ancestral Art of Son Mài.
To enhance our Guilloché Main dials, we pair them with the ancestral Vietnamese art of Son Mài lacquer, renowned for its depth and unique reflective qualities. We continue our collaboration with one of Vietnam’s most prestigious workshops, where master lacquerers perpetuate a traditional craft that demands precision, patience, and dexterity, while also opening it up to more contemporary expressions.
Derived from the rare sap of the Rhus Verniciflua tree and carefully harvested, the lacquer is then purified and enriched with natural pigments to create the deep, intense color gradients of our dials.
Unrivaled Depth and Brilliance.
Applied in multiple ultra-thin layers and meticulously polished, this natural lacquer reveals a smooth surface of remarkable visual intensity. This long and demanding process, based on highly controlled gestures, gives the three versions of this collection their exceptional richness and brilliance.
As the work progresses, the lacquer enhances and freezes the brilliance and depth of the guilloché patterns for eternity, turning each dial into a true work of art - captivating, refined, and subtly evolving with the light, reflecting our commitment to craftsmanship and creation.
