Atelier Wen has long been championing Chinese craftsmanship, but the brand actually comes from a multi-national background. The name Atelier Wen itself reveals this, as it is a combination of the French word for workshop and the Chinese word for culture. With the new generation of their flagship Perception model, they want to highlight this dual-national heritage more than ever with the introduction of an independent French movement to the collection alongside its guilloché dial produced in a Chinese workshop. The new model is called the Perception V3 and we got hands-on with it in Geneva.
Let’s jump straight to that movement. It’s the Pequignet EPM03, an automatic movement with a 65-hour power reserve and an accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day (within chronometer grade tolerances). It’s also the first movement in the Perception to feature hacking seconds, making setting the watch much easier. Pequignet is one of the few modern independent French manufactures and operate in the French watchmaking heartland of Morteau, near the Swiss border. It’s a meaningful upgrade over the Dandong SL1588 movement in the V2, which only had a 41-hour power reserve and an accuracy of +/-10 seconds per day.
However, Atelier Wen’s work with Pequignet is more than a case of plugging in a third-party movement. They worked closely together to develop a custom finish for the movement to highlight the French-Chinese connection. The bridges were redesigned to emulate traditional Chinese motifs of wind and then filled with mirror-polished aventurine lacquer. It’s important to note that the version of the watch we saw in Geneva was a prototype, so the aventurine is a much darker shade of blue than will feature in the final product, which is nice and bright (as you can see in the press image provided).
In order to accommodate the new movement, the dimensions of the watch have changed slightly. It’s still 40mm in diameter with a 47mm lug-to-lug, but it’s mildly thicker at 10.4mm instead of 9.4mm, thankfully because it was so slim to begin with, those are still completely reasonable proportions for a watch this size. In fact, with the integrated bracelet it actually enhances the sporty vibe of the piece. On the wrist it’s comfortable with a lot of presence.
There are three versions of the Perception V3 being produced. The first two are returning editions from the V2 series: Piāo and Xiá in blue and salmon respectively, featuring the signature guilloché design and a combination of brushed and polished finishing across the case. Third is a new colour, Yún, bamboo green. It’s the first new colour to join the series since the V1 four years ago. Marking it as even more special, it has a frosted finish across its case to separate it from the other versions.
For price, the Atelier Wen Perception V3 is $4,850 (approx. £3,650), an increase of $1,530 from the V2 which is $3,320 (approx. £2,480). Given the upgrade in movement that’s not a surprising increase. It’s also still seriously respectable value in comparison to a watch like the Girard-Perregaux Laureato at £12k that ticks similar boxes in terms of design and specs.
Price and Specs:
More details at Atelier Wen.
