The indices alternate between lab-grown baguette-cut diamonds and custom calligraphed printed numeral indices in one of two styles. One option features Chinese characters designed by Hong Kong calligraphy artist Elaine Wong, while the other offers Western Arabic numerals inspired by Chinese bamboo paintings and designed by artist Lee Yuen-Rapati.
Even the hands are impressive. They’re leaf-shaped, 0.45mm-thick, rhodium-plated and feature a frosted finish in their center with a mirror polish on their concave sides. The dial is protected by a box-shaped sapphire crystal with five layers of anti-reflective coating.
Unique Case, Unexpected Movement
Moving on to the case, it’s nice and compact at 38mm across, 11.3mm thick (9.05mm sans crystal) and 46mm lug-to-lug. The case is water resistant to 100m and is made from 904L stainless steel, the same grade used by Rolex for its Oystersteel, and features some impressive finishing — especially on the lugs.
The lugs are a unique detached design where two lugs are carved from the same piece of steel and then screwed internally into the case and secured from the outside with engraved bolts. Because they exist as a separate piece from the case, the lugs are able to be finished to a degree that wouldn’t be possible on traditional lugs, with Atelier Wen utilizing several different finishing techniques on all surfaces of the lugs.