Awake - Son Mài Frosted Leaf Royal Red
The breakthrough lies in the inversion. With Royal Red, Awake has reinvented its Frosted Leaf technique by suspending pure silver leaf—tinted with copper pigments—as the final layer of the dial. Light now interacts directly with precious metal through translucent Sơn Mài lacquer, creating living textures and unfathomable depth. It is a technical first that transforms each of the 100 dials into a unique experiment in refraction.
Handcrafted in Awake’s Hanoi atelier, this evolution demanded rethinking centuries of tradition. Harvested from Vietnam's rare Rhus verniciflua tree, the lacquer is applied in a meticulous "mille-feuille" of layers, each demanding precise resting periods and delicate finger sanding. Nearly fifteen hours of focused labor yield a dial where copper-infused silver shimmers beneath crimson, evoking the patina of ancient Asian ritual objects. No two are identical; each bears the trace of an unrepeatable gesture.
Cultural Alchemy
Red and gold have spoken across civilizations for millennia—not as opposites, but as partners. Red: vital energy, the courage to create. Gold: wisdom, mastery of light. Together they embody the balance between emotion and consciousness. Royal Red draws directly from ritual artifacts weathered by time, their surfaces where these colors intertwine to suspend time itself. As Awake founder Lilian Thibault reflects, "'Royal' does not refer to power, but to a form of inner nobility… transforming every gesture into an act of artistry."
Luminescence as Revelation
The exclusive "coiffe" luminous signature departs from tradition. By day, Super-LumiNova BGW9 hands offer subtle legibility. In darkness, they produce a sophisticated backlit effect—Japanese chiaroscuro rendered in glow—that reveals the lacquer's topography without ever dominating it. Light becomes a narrative tool, not a functional afterthought.
Technical Specification
Case: 316L recycled stainless steel
Diameter: 39 mm
Lug-to-lug: 45.6 mm
Lug width: 20 mm
Thickness: 11.80 mm including crystal / 10.90 mm without crystal
Arts & Crafts Dial: Entirely handcrafted using the exclusive “Frosted” technique, combining polished lacquer and pure silver leaf gilding with natural pigments in an unprecedented way
Indices and Hands: Super-LumiNova® BGW9, AWAKE “coiffe” luminous signature
Water Resistance: 5 ATM (50M)
Crystal: Sapphire glass with anti-reflective treatment
Caseback: Screw-down, sapphire crystal
Movement: La Joux-Perret G101 automatic, 68-hour power reserve
Decoration: Custom tungsten rotor with recessed and raised surfaces, brushed, micro-beaded, and polished finishes; micro-beaded encircling ring engraved by laser
Strap: Red suede 20-16mm with rubberized calf lining, tone-on-tone stitching, mounted on a pin buckle
Warranty: 3 years international
Price: HKD $22,000