Review: Atelier Wen Porcelain Odessey – Hao

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Interesting new independent watchmaker Designed and conceived in two Frenchmen who are Sinophiles, and in collaboration with Chinese designers The watches feature a strong Chinese influence, and rather proudly made in China.

Does does this watch hold? Yay or nay for this indie? Here is our full hands on review.

One of the two dial versions offered One in a blue porcelain, and our review watch – owned by a good Deployant friend, in white porcelain.

Atelier Wen Porcelain Odessey – Hao

Atelier Wen are two young Frenchmen, both Sinophiles who have lived, studied and worked in China Both speak, read and wrist Chinese fluently and seem to have been heavily influenced by Chinese culture and history.

Together with two Chinese designers, they began the watch project The inaugural watch was launched in Kickstarter, but it soon took flight and though the original target demographic was China, it seemed to have some worldwide appeal

The team behind Atelier Wen.

From top left to bottom right: Robin Tallendier, Wilfried Buiron, Li Mingliang, Liu Yuguan

The case, dial and hands

The case is 39mm diameter in Japanese 316L stainless steel, and is elegantly designed, following traditional lines of a classical Swiss wristwatch with rather thick, faceted lugs The case is alternately polished and brushed to give a varied finish which has some depth The sapphire crystal is 2mm thick and domed, coated with 5 layers of anti-reflective coatings.

Hands are beautifully crafted in flame blued steel, and are leaf shaped The dial is marked in blue with arabic numerals for the even hours and dots for the odd ones A minute railway track adorns the outer perimeter.

The subdial is marked with the Chinese “Dizhi” (地支) cycle – a method of measuring the day in ancient China, marking the hours of dawn at the lower right with the Chinese character “Mao” (卯) and at the dusk hours at the upper left with the character “You” (酉)

The dial is where we think the beauty resides The dial is made of porcelain zicronium oxide, and heated to 1400°C, in a technique which we understand is similar to that used in enamel dials.

Wastage in the dial is reported to be about 80%!

The white dial is inspired by the ancient Chinese porcelain Qinghua Ci” (青花瓷) ceramic, which features blue motif markings over a white base The dial and markings are mildly reminiscent of the recent enamel dialed version of the Rexhep Chronomètre Contemporain, if only in spirit

The case back bears another artistic item – a 0,6mm high relief engraving of the Chinese mythical beast Kunpeng – the Chimera The Atelier Wen literature does not say if the engraving is done by hand or machine, but to our examination with our untrained, non-artistic eye, it looks quite beautiful

The Movement: Peacock SL-3006

The movement is the Peacock SL-3006, which is a clone of the ETA 2824-2, which Atelier Wen points out has been in public domain for a while.

As far as we know, Atelier Wen is the []

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