French brand Awake has launched its latest run of limited-edition pieces in collaboration with Chris Alexander aka The Dial Artist; a British-based Scot known for his innovative use of color.
The intriguingly named ‘Sơn Mài Year of the Sssnake’, features a black Sơn Mài base – the name for a traditional Vietnamese lacquer where objects are coated with the dried sap of a particular tree – onto which The Dial Artist has painted the texture of snakeskin in a variety of colors to give it an almost lustrous effect.
Once the texture has been created, a layer of thin textured material called a pellicle is applied, which gives a three dimensionality to the dial.
Due to the handcrafted nature of the dials, each of the 50 numbered editions produced will be subtly different, meaning every owner will have a unique piece of wearable art for their wrist.
Powering this horological python is a La Joux-Perret movement, a classic three-hander used in everything from Anordain to MB&F. This model has a tungsten rotor designed exclusively for Awake and also has a bead-blasted ring laser engraved with the Artist’s name.
Awake may be slightly late to the party with a Year of the Snake edition but when you look this good, who cares what time you turn up?
Sơn Mài – “Year of the Sssnake” – By The Dial Artissst; € 2,100; awakewatches.com