Awake Presents The New Collection“Sơn Mài – Frosted Leaf”

Artisanship, Awakened

PRESS RELEASE | 1595 WORDS | 15 MINUTE READ

The age-old art of Vietnamese lacquerware viewed through the prism of contemporary watchmaking.

AWAKE continues its journey through the world’s ancestral craftsmanship, venturing into the hidden ateliers of Hanoi—where Vietnam’s most revered lacquer masters still practice their timeless art.

In a rare fusion of tradition and contemporary creation, these exceptional artisans have lent their hands and vision to an extraordinary endeavor: to elevate the beauty of our planet through hand-crafted dials, produced in a strictly limited series.

From this encounter emerges the “Sơn Mài – Frosted Leaf” collection—a poetic and sensory expression, inspired by the Earth’s hues as seen from space.

Three interpretations—in blue, green, and brown—pay tribute to oceans, forests, and fertile lands. Each dial is deep, luminous, and textured, conceived as a true work of art.

Through an exclusive new technique blending traditional lacquer with silver leaf gilding, AWAKE invites Vietnam’s master lacquerers to reinvent the contemporary watch dial—
a dialogue of art, nature, and innovation.

Photo Courtsey: Awake

Key points to remember:

Three exclusive editions inspired by the colors of the Planet: The three versions of the FROSTED LEAF collection—Mocha, Blue, and Green—are limited to 50 pieces each and combine traditional Vietnamese techniques with modern aesthetics to poetically and artistically evoke the textures and colors of the Earth as seen from space.

An exclusive new technique: It took the craftsmen several months to perfect an exclusive new technique in watchmaking: sanded lacquer and silver leaf gilding, combined with natural pigments. This technique, which we call "FROSTED LEAF," is complex, demanding, and entirely handcrafted, offering a unique, organic, deep, and mysterious finish with frosted reflections.

15 hours of work per dial: Each dial differs subtly from the one that follows or precedes it and possesses an extra soul that will connect you to the lives of humble craftsmen, who carry within them the transmission of an ancient tradition, of time passing and rendering things even more beautiful.

Exclusive luminous signature: All watches in the FROSTED LEAF collection feature our innovative luminous signature, inspired by Japanese chiaroscuro. It took a full year of research and development to understand and master this expression of luminescence.

Swiss Manufacture La Joux-Perret (La Chaux-de-Fonds) at the service of AWAKE: The FROSTED LEAF collection is equipped with our La Joux-Perret G101 automatic unidirectional winding caliber. Elegantly encircled by a textured "Clous de Paris" ring, this caliber is renowned for its sturdiness and performance (68-hour power reserve) and features a tungsten rotor specially designed for AWAKE, with elegant surface contrasts of relief and recess, enhanced by refined finishing techniques.

An unrivalled value/emotion proposition: Unique dials designed by hand as works of art in their own right, ancestral techniques brought up to date with a contemporary approach blending creativity and innovation, a unique and exclusive luminous signature, renowned Swiss calibers, recycled stainless steel cases and buckles, DELUGS bracelets made to measure and by hand for AWAKE—the FROSTED LEAF collection is priced at 2,150 Euros, excluding tax. True to our vision—to celebrate the beauty of the world—we work tirelessly to offer, in our price segment, a unique proposition combining aesthetic demands, watchmaking quality, craftsmanship, and pure emotion.

"The FROSTED collection was born from a desire to reinterpret, in a poetic and artisanal way, the beauty of the Earth as seen from space on our dials, using ancestral techniques. To suggest a reality, rather than trying to copy it."

– Lilian Thibault, Founder of AWAKE

Between age-old tradition and present-day awareness: 21st-century watchmaking in dialogue with the Earth

1.The starting point: "Art is Man added to Nature" – Francis Bacon
Since 2019, AWAKE has drawn inspiration from art and nature, the aesthetic pillars of its creations. Seen from space, the Earth reveals a striking palette of shapes and colors—blue, green, brown—to which we have often paid homage, inviting wonder and reflection.

Through our exploration of Métiers d'Art, and particularly the Vietnamese lacquerware tradition of Sơn Mài, these emotions—once impossible to translate—now come to life on our dials. It is an artistic language shared with our master lacquerers, who, with sensitivity and expertise, express the planet’s fragile beauty through the FROSTED LEAF collection.

2. "Nature acts, Man does" – Emmanuel Kant
Nature is an essential source of inspiration for our lacquerers. They cannot conceive of creation without it, as it embodies the world’s essence and nourishes all forms of art. They have always drawn from their surroundings and enhanced them with creativity, constantly pushing the boundaries of their craft.

Following the launch of the first Sơn Mài collection at the end of 2024, we continued working hand-in-hand to elevate the complexity of our dials, enriching them with modern design and more contemporary inspirations. Several months of work—and an exceptional level of dexterity and focus—were required of the master lacquerers to invent new ways of combining Sơn lacquer, silver leaf, and natural pigments, and to perfect a new exclusive technique, even more intricate and demanding. This enabled the creation of organic, deep, and mysterious dials with icy, frosted reflections.

Since mastering color is essential for our lacquerers, we first invited them to immerse themselves in satellite images of Earth as seen from space. Then, in complete confidence, we left them free to make the aesthetic (colors, shapes, shades) and technical choices they deemed best to create three dials with organic textures and harmonious, soothing hues, instantly evocative of nature.

3. A new, complex glazing technique called FROSTED

It all begins with sap from the Rhus Verniciflua tree in northern Vietnam, whose exceptionally brilliant natural lacquer forms the base of each dial. Master lacquerers first apply black pigments, followed by a layer of pure silver leaf, hand-sanded to reveal the initial textures. Next comes a veil of dark pigments, before the key step in our exclusive technique: FROSTED LEAF.

Unlike traditional dials, a second layer of silver is added here, then covered with lighter pigments. This mille-feuille of materials is then finger-sanded by the most experienced craftsman, who reveals, with delicate gestures, the buried layers—creating effects of depth and light that are unique to each piece.

Finally, several coats of lacquer are patiently applied, sanded, and polished to lock in a timeless shine. It is a 15-hour process, where every gesture matters, and where mistakes are unforgiving.

4. When Vietnamese know-how reshapes 21st-century watchmaking

The three dials in the FROSTED LEAF collection each evoke, in their own way, the raw beauty of our planet—forests, oceans, and nourishing lands—inviting a sensory journey that fosters introspection.

MOKA: pays tribute to the Earth and its profound roots, with warm, comforting tones that embody authenticity and grounded strength.

BLUE: evokes escape and infinity, with enigmatic shades of blue that recall water, sky, and vast open horizons.

GREEN: honors life, vegetal freshness, and balance, with organic textures that reconnect us to nurturing nature.

Three sensitive, harmonious variations, offering a new way to contemplate the world—through material.

“Observing nature is a way to escape and dream. We wanted the dials in the FROSTED LEAF collection to encourage a kind of visual and sensory letting go, away from the urban hustle and bustle and modern distractions.

Lilian Thibault – Founder, AWAKE

5. Controlling Luminescence

The three limited editions in the FROSTED LEAF collection feature our innovative luminous “cap” signature, inspired by the poetic aesthetics of Japanese chiaroscuro. This refined effect took a full year to perfect. Designed to reveal the beauty of our dials in interplay between light and shadow, this luminous signature blends elegance, legibility, and respect for the material. Rather than overpowering it with light, we chose to elevate it with subtlety—a philosophy reflected in the unique and complex construction of our hands and indexes, shaped through multiple machining stages.

The hands and hour markers are composed of a slim yet robust base of Luminova BGW9, topped with faceted, polished steel inserts, each finished to a fine glaive point. This exclusive design offers a discreet and refined reading of time, never detracting from the richness of the dial. In the dark, the glow diffuses softly, casting a poetic halo that reveals the lacquer’s deep reflections and the delicate shimmer of silver leaf.

6. Caliber LJP G101: Reliability and Mechanical Excellence

The FROSTED LEAF collection is powered by the automatic, unidirectional La Joux-Perret G101 caliber—designed and manufactured by the esteemed Swiss manufacturer La Joux-Perret. A modern benchmark in robustness and performance, it features a 68-hour power reserve. This movement is distinguished by a tungsten rotor developed exclusively for AWAKE, showcasing an elegant interplay of raised and recessed surfaces, enriched by meticulous finishing techniques that produce a striking visual effect.

Encircling the movement is a textured “Clous de Paris” ring, protected by sapphire crystal. Our signature water-resistance hallmark (the fish) and recycled 316L steel hallmark (the anvil) are subtly engraved within the lugs, adding a playful and original touch.

7. DELUGS for AWAKE: Handcrafted by Enthusiasts, for Enthusiasts

Globally recognized by watch collectors for its relentless pursuit of quality, DELUGS continually explores new techniques and materials to enhance the joy and craftsmanship of horology. As knowledge transmission is at the heart of both our philosophies, DELUGS is also deeply committed to the education and training of the next generation of leather artisans.

For this collaboration, we selected a 20x16mm light gray Nubuck leather strap with a soft, luxurious texture, lined in black rubber for enhanced comfort and flexibility. Tone-on-tone topstitching, a 316L recycled steel pin buckle, and presto spring bars complete the ensemble—an elegant and durable bracelet that complements each dial in this new collection to perfection.

For further information visit awakewatches.com