British brands get plenty of coverage these days, but the French are pushing just as hard and delivering incredible timepieces. AWAKE, launched in 2019, has just announced a watch that shows a true evolution of the brand. AWAKE’s first few collections all used the same case and featured meteorite, NASA, and doodles. Add an Alain Silberstein collab and you’ve got a brand that’s having plenty of fun but perhaps not taking things seriously. The recent Summetria releases with stamped guilloche suggested the beginning of an evolution into a more serious brand. Now, we have the proof: the AWAKE Sơn Mài the brand’s first permanent collection, with an entirely new case and a handmade lacquer dial with silver leaf gilding.

As is true of all AWAKE watches, the case is made from recycled materials. While previous models have relied on titanium, the Sơn Màiuses recycled 316L steel, which is polished throughout except for the case band, which features a crisp brushed finish. The case measures a very wearable 39mm with an 11.8mm thickness and a very modest 45.6mm lug-to-lug. 39mm, I think, is fast becoming the gold standard of wearability. Some will bemoan this, but it’s a happy middle ground between too big and too small, and we’re seeing it as the go-to sizing for new releases from small brands. Whether you’re on board or not, my 7-inch wrist had no problem with the fit. The watch is completed with a sapphire crystal with AR coating and a pull-out crown with the AWAKE logo. The case offers 50m of water resistance, which I feel is perfectly adequate for this style of watch.

The silhouette of the case has a relatively flat line to it, but most notable are the subtle protuberances that form the beginnings of the lugs. These are suggestive of welded lugs you might see on a much more expensive product, and they telegraph such luxury without commanding the same price. It’s a nice subtle design element that adds both character and refinement to the watch. Regarding the facets and finishing, I think the transition between the polished top and polished chamfer could have been more well-defined, and that those small bumps might’ve been made a bit sharper as they look soft from the top down.

For the straps, AWAKE has enlisted enthusiast darling Delugs, equipped with custom tang buckles with cutout sides and a mix of brushed and polished surfaces. If you’ve experienced Delugs straps, you know they’re top quality, and that’s certainly the case here. The 20mm pale grey nubuck leather strap included on the AWAKE Son Mai Amethyst allows the dial to shine and has a rubber lining that allows all-day comfort. I’ve half a mind to pick up some more after wearing this for a bit.

While I’m certainly glad to see AWAKE introduce a new case design, the Sơn Mài is undoubtedly all about the dial. Offered in the Amethyst seen here as well as green Emerald, red Laval, and Outre Blue, the dials combine two artisanal techniques to achieve their color and texture.  The dial features a special kind of Vietnamese lacquer called Sơn Mài, which sees the base coat of lacquer dried then sanded and polished to achieve smooth surfaces.  A layer of silver leaves is then placed and fixed with a brush, followed by the addition of the natural color pigments and additional coats of lacquer. AWAKE informs that this is an “ancient art” and one of Vietnam’s most prized traditional artistic practices. That’s all good and well, but what matters is the end result, and here I think AWAKE delivers something quite beautiful, with a pink-purple dial with a varied texture that captures the light for a wide array of hues.

There are essentially two other elements to the dial: the indices and hands and the logo. I’ll talk about the logo first. When I reviewed the Tissot PRX Carbon a few weeks ago, some commenters mentioned the applied polished logo and how it looked cheap. I think the same is true here of the “AWAKE” on the dial. It just doesn’t jibe with the sophistication of the Sơn Mài, and I think it would’ve been a great opportunity to use the AWAKE graphic logo, which is already used on the crown. But the more intriguing part is the hands and indices. AWAKE has taken a novel approach that sees the hands and indices backlit by lume. What’s going on is that polished indices and hands are resting on molded Super-LumiNova, creating the illusion that the indices themselves are glowing. You do lose some of the brightness that you’d get from a traditional lume application, but I think the effect is well worth it. To be sure, I found myself going out of my way to see the lume glowing from beneath.

For the new Sơn Mài series, Awake has made the jump to Swiss movements. After releasing three collections that used Miyota’s 9000 series movements, Awake has pushed upmarket to La Joux-Perret. While LJP movements are part of the same family as Miyota, they have better specs and the vaunted Swiss Made label. Here, Awake has used the La Joux-Perret G101, the no-date version of the manufacture’s base G100 movement. The G101 offers hand-winding, hacking, and a 68-hour power reserve at 28,800 vph. Those familiar with the whir Miyota movements can expect a bit of the same here, as the G101 also features unidirectional winding. Personally, I didn’t mind it. While the brand isn’t clear, it appears that it has gone for the upgraded soignée execution of the G101, which brings Côtes de Genève striping on the plates and tungsten rotor, as well as upgraded accuracy adjusted in four positions to -/+7 seconds per day.

I don’t think there’s ever a time when I don’t want to see brands evolving. I don’t want AWAKE to stop having fun, and I don’t think the Sơn Mài represents a brand pivot towards more “serious” watches. But I do like to see this growth, and I see an opportunity for the brand to create two distinct silos for its watches: refined and casual. With the Sơn Mài, the groundwork has been set to build out a family of polished, attractive timepieces that can act as a counterpoint to the watches that preceded it. The AWAKE Sơn Mài is priced at $2,150 USD. For more information, please visit the AWAKE website.