Born to Shine: The New Atelier Wen Inflection 烁 Shuò

When French sinophiles Robin Tallendier and Wilfried Buiron founded Atelier Wen in 2018, they set an uphill objective for the brand: to spotlight the breadth and depth of Chinese handcraft in a world that often associates “Chinese” with “cheaply made”.

By elegantly integrating traditional Chinese decorative techniques into mechanical watchmaking, through head-turners like the hand-hammered and enameled Ancestra, the painstakingly engine-turned Perception, and the brand’s experimental Millésime collections, the atelier won the respect of the community.

Each Atelier Wen masterpiece is christened with a nuanced Chinese character, and the brand’s latest offering in collaboration with Massena Lab is named “烁 (Shuò)”, which refers to the glitter of its tremblage (frosted) dial.

While Atelier Wen sought out Chinese masters like enameler Kong Lingjun and guillocheur Cheng Yucai for previous creations, the unassailable tremblage on the Inflection Shuò was realized by Coralie Mercier of GT Cadrans.

Its glimmer is juxtaposed by the brand’s creative interpretation of a California dial: Hand-engraved Arabic numerals above the “Atelier Wen” marque meet calligraphed Chinese numerals that underline the “Massena” logo. This ring rising above the tremblage forms an abstract representation of the character 回 (huí; “return”), which can be interpreted as the recalling of heritage or the comfort of something familiar.

Shuò extends Atelier Wen’s Inflection collection, which is distinguished by its sculpting of bluish tantalum integrated bracelets to achieve remarkable visual depth and light play.

This shimmering design theme continues across the laser-etched bridges and rose gold rotor of its Girard-Perregaux GP03300 movement, which is themed on ancient Chinese depictions of the wind.

The 40mm Atelier Inflection 烁 Shuò comprises 10 white gold examples reserved for long-standing clients of both houses, and 40 two-toned white-and-rose gold models that can be ordered via the Atelier Wen and Massena LAB websites. The publicly available version is priced at CHF33,800 and can be ordered from today.

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Andre Frois

Asia Editor · Haute Time

Andre Frois, previously the Editor-in-Chief of Revolution Asia, brings a wealth of experience to Haute Time. A Singaporean of Portuguese-Chinese descent, Frois has been creating compelling watch content since 2010 for prestigious publications such as Tatler, World of Watches, and The Peak. Renowned for his ability to distill the technical, historical, and financial aspects of watches into accessible narratives, he has also made a mark with investigative stories for VICE and the South China Morning Post. A graduate of NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a specialization in biomedical engineering, Frois furthered his expertise with a specialist diploma in Sport Science.