Awake introduced the Sơn Mài Silver Leaf in 2024 and have added a new treatment pretty much every few months since, from Fragments and Guilloché to Frosted Leaf, Royal Blue and the Blood Moon, Storm and Lagoon editions. Earlier this year, though, the Sơn Mài line got a subtle refresh with a redesigned 38mm case, a new lume construction and a redesigned movement ring, so it’s time for the Silver Leaf to catch up. There are three new core collection ‘Vignette’ models and a fourth limited edition.
Anyone with an interest in photography will recognise ‘Vignette’ as the effect on old photos, where the centre of the image stays clear while the edges fade away. In watchmaking it’s more often called a fumé gradient, and that’s what Awake are doing here, running the dial from dark at the perimeter to lighter at the centre. It follows the style of the 2025 Silver Leaf Vignette references even reusing three of those colours, just in different shades.
Moonlight Blue is now Gentian Blue, Carmine Red is now Indian Red and Ultra Violet is now Purple Viola. The colours look properly different side by side rather than just being renamed. The new purple (which is the limited edition option) stands out especially, where the older shade ran deeper this one sits closer to pink. Java Green is a completely new colour for Silver Leaf.
Every dial is handcrafted from silver leaf and traditional Vietnamese Sơn Mài lacquer, which is why when Awake say that the blue, red and green options are ‘permanent’ , that still only means around 100 pieces will be produced each year. Each dial takes more than 10 hours to produce and roughly 12 layers of lacquer, with every layer sanded and polished before the next goes on. Purple Viola is limited to 200 pieces total.
For the hands and indices, steel caps sit over blocks of Super-LumiNova BGW9 rather than the lume coating them directly. Awake call it their Chiaroscuro luminous signature, almost invisible by day but throwing an intense halo of light in the dark. The dial also carries the new handwritten-style logo, part of Awake’s wider identity refresh.
The case is 38mm in diameter and 11.5mm thick, down from 39mm and 11.8mm on the original Silver Leaf. It has a sapphire crystal and 100m of water resistance. Inside is the Swiss-made La Joux-Perret G101, with a 68-hour power reserve. A redesigned movement ring surrounds it, visible through the exhibition caseback, engraved with Awake’s mission, “Illuminating the hands and heritage behind rare crafts”, alongside their slogan, “Artisanship, Awakened”.
It comes on a red, blue, green or grey strap in Alcantara or nubuck, handcrafted in France by Maisons Jean Rousseau and Bouveret. The quick-release system makes swapping easy, which is handy with so many colour pairings, and each strap has a Fitwell M1 micro-adjustable pin buckle.
The dial colours are what’s new, everything else is just the Silver Leaf catching up with the rest of the Sơn Mài range. All four references arrive in late November at €2,640 including VAT (approx. £2,300).
Price and Specs:
More details at Awake.
