From the brand that brought you the Porcelain Odyssey, it’s time to introduce the new Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán), complete with Pietersite stone dial
Summary
Summary
- The second from the Millésime series, launched back in 2024, Atelier Wen Founders Robin Tallendier and Wilfried Buiron are back with a bang with their latest installment for 2026.
- Incorporating extra dimension and visual depth, the material takes inspiration from a storm-forged stone, swirling with blues, golds, browns and fiery reds, evoking mountainous Chinese terrain, nearby landscapes and verdant plains.
- The textured dial, similar to the swirl effect on the Pequignet Attitude Tiger’s Eye is complemented by 904L stainless steel, tapered bracelet, ten layers of AR coating and a Dandong SL1588A movement.
- At 40mm x 9.4mm, the watch is 1mm less in diameter than a Rolex Submariner reference 126610LN, and 0.6mm slimmer than a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712
The Rolex price increase 2026 may have come and gone.
But time is on our side. With only a few weeks of the year down, releases are coming thick and fast, which brings us on to the boys from Beijing…by way of France!
Founders Wilfried Buiron (L) and Robin Tallendier (R)
Atelier Wen, a contemporary watch brand rooted in Chinese artistry, architecture and heritage
blending traditional craftsmanship, like guilloché and porcelain dials, with modern design has come out of the blocks this year faster than a Zenith El Primero.
Presenting a new Pietersite stone dial, with as much intrigue as a Maigret novel, let’s take a look at the new Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán).
You’ll be stoned in love, that’s for sure!
Press Release - Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán)
While still riding the horological train to success, thanks to the full tantalum Atelier Wen Inflection, the Pietersite stone dial is testament to how far the brand will go to set the bar…and clear it by some distance!
Here below, is the press release in full, of this new launch…with absolutely no stone left unturned!
ATELIER WEN INTRODUCES MILLÉSIME 2025, PERCEPTION 漩 (XUÁN) IN 904L STEEL, WITH A NATURAL PIETERSITE DIAL
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Key Features
- New natural pietersite stone dial
- Inspired by 山水盆景 (shānshuǐ pénjǐng), or mountain-water landscape gardens - classical features in Chinese architectural compounds
- 904L steel case and bracelet
- US$3,600 / Around GBP £2,620 (excl. taxes and duties)
- Open order window, from 28 January to 6 February 2026 (11:00 HKT, GMT+8)
- Early-access window for the Atelier Wen community
- First 225 pieces delivering in Q2, 2026, subsequent orders delivering in Q4, 2026
- All orders will ship DDU with the exception of orders placed from the USA, which will ship DDP with a surcharge of 6% on account of ongoing tariffs.
Introduction - Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán)
After launching a series of annual, community-driven Millésime editions in 2024 with Perception 睦 (Mù), Atelier Wen follows this up with its second Millésime, Perception 漩 (Xuán).
In what is the first new rendition of Perception in over a year, this edition introduces an all-new natural pietersite dial.
The stone dial has been selected for its resemblance to the textures and colours of 山水盆景 (shānshuǐ pénjǐng), or mountain-water landscape garden.
They form integral components in traditional architectural compounds, and serve as visual and symbolic centres of the surrounding buildings.
Atelier Wen Perception Millésime 2025 漩 (Xuán): An Overview
When Perception was first conceived, Atelier Wen’s designer, Alfred Chan, drew inspiration from traditional cues in Chinese architecture - from the elegant geometries of classical rooftops and windows, to the smiling faces of stone guardian lions, and the intricacies of Chinese joinery.
A key feature of many traditional Chinese architectural compounds was the presence of a 盆景 (pénjǐng), or landscape garden.
Far from being merely decorative, these miniature worlds of rock and water were placed at the heart of a home or courtyard to serve as visual and symbolic centres.
They acted as focal points, bringing visual balance, anchoring the flow of the buildings around them, and guiding how this surrounding architecture was experienced.
Pietersite, with its deep blue-black tones and swirling patterns, naturally echoes the visual imprint and spirit of 山水盆景 (shānshuǐ pénjǐng), or mountain-water landscape gardens.
These were the oldest and most classical renditions of such gardens, and placed emphasis on representations of movement and flow through the use of cascading water, mist and careful arrangement of rock formations.
Incorporating a pietersite dial into the 2025 edition of the Millésime, Perception 漩 (Xuán) brings a symbolic emblem that connects the origin of Perception's design with the shifting landscapes of this age-old Chinese tradition — that places nature at the very heart of architectural composition.
Perception Millésime 2025 漩 (Xuán): Features
For the second year running, the Millésime arrives in the familiar form of the brand’s integrated bracelet steel sports watch, Perception.
With a case and bracelet crafted out of 904L stainless steel, and a customised extra-thin Peacock SL1588A calibre, it is designed to stand up effortlessly to the demands of daily wear.
The most significant change is the replacement of the guilloché dial with one that has been delicately crafted out of natural pietersite.
This rare and captivating semi-precious stone features a swirling mix of blue, black, gold and brown veins.
The selection of suitable slabs of raw pietersite was a painstaking process, due to the need for the selected stones to reflect the inspirational aesthetic of the 山水盆景(shānshuǐ pénjǐng), since some of the natural inclusions resulted in colour combinations and/or distributions that were less suited.
The creation of the dial also proved extremely challenging due to pietersite’s natural brittleness and the delicacy of the twelve individual cut-outs for Perception’s hour indices.
These are wirecut by-hand in a stonecraft workshop in Zhejiang, before being sent to polishers in Guangdong.
This step also requires threading a fine balance between polishing the pietersite to a perfect sheen, and preserving enough thickness in the stone such that it retains its integrity.
Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán) once more carries the Millésime’s hallmark of a small engraving of the brand’s logo on the caseback as a subtle marker of the edition.
The Evolution of the Millésime Edition
The French word “Millésime” is most frequently employed in winemaking nomenclature and denotes a particular year or “vintage”.
The Millésime edition was launched as a yearly, limited and community-driven timepiece that allows the freedom of a blank canvas on which the brand can try out its boldest, most experimental and/or requested-for configurations of existing collections.
Most of the brand’s limited editions are launched with collaborating parties and sell out extremely quickly. Because of this, many members of the community consequently miss out on these special editions.
Owing much of its growth to this global Atelier Wen family, the Millésime project enables the
brand to pay the community back by offering a still-exclusive, yet obtainable edition that they can get their hands on.
These will be released in the form of a yearly limited edition that will prioritise the community in its format.
Once gone, they will never be available again — thereby reflecting and upholding the idea of a yearly vintage.
As this is a Millésime edition, those in the Atelier Wen WhatsApp community will be given early-access to Perception 漩 (Xuán) in the form of a 2-hour window, giving them priority access to the first batch of 225 pieces that will deliver in Q2, 2026.
A portion of the initial 225 pieces will be set aside and made available on our website at launch, with all subsequent orders thereafter to be delivered in Q4, 2026.
Customers will be notified clearly of their delivery batch during the purchase/checkout process.
Official Specs - Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán)
|
Case Diameter |
40mm |
|
Case Thickness |
9.4mm |
|
Anti Reflective Coating |
Yes, 10 layers |
|
Case Material |
904L stainless steel |
|
Caseback |
Semi-display caseback with hammered texture surrounding raised stone lion motif |
|
Engraving |
Yes, CNC-engraved, 3D lettering |
|
Crystal |
Sapphire (Double domed) |
|
Lug to Lug |
47mm |
|
Type of Dial |
|
|
Indices |
Applied, rhodium-plated |
|
Chapter Ring |
Chinese huiwen-patterned, printed in Super- LumiNova ®, X1 grade, PVD-plated in black |
|
Bracelet |
|
|
Spring Bars |
Quick release |
|
Tapering |
From 22mm at the case to 18mm at the clasp, and thinning gradually from 3mm at the case to 2.6mm at the clasp |
|
Crown |
Screw down |
|
Water Resistance |
100 metres / 10 ATM / 10 Bar / 328 feet |
|
Functions |
Hours, minutes seconds |
|
Limited Edition |
003/XXX).
|
Official Movement Specs
|
Movement Name |
Customised, extra-thin (3.4mm) Dandong Peacock SL1588A |
|
Decoration |
rhodium plating. |
|
Type of Movement |
Automatic, winding |
|
Number of Jewels |
32 |
|
Vph |
28,800 bph (4Hz) |
|
Power Reserve |
~41 hours |
|
Daily Accuracy |
+/- 10s per day |
|
Movement Testing |
Tested exhaustively by the horological research institute of light industry (HRILI) |
|
Movement Adjustments |
Yes, further adjusted in 5 positions and for temperature fluctuations |
Where Can You Buy An Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán)?
Sold directly via their official site, this one is a time limited release and will be gone as quickly as it has appeared, given the pre-order window closes on February 6th 2026.
All details on pricing can be found below;
- US$3,600 / GBP around £2,620 / Approx 3,028 Euros (excl. taxes and duties)
- All orders will ship with the exception of orders placed from the USA, which will ship DDP with a surcharge of 6% on account of ongoing tariffs.
Conclusion
So what are our final thoughts on the new Atelier Wen Millésime Perception 漩 (Xuán)?
Limited edition or not, straight off the bat, these watches will no doubt sell like hot cakes.
Despite the fact that you only have until the 6th of February, you’re buying into a brand that is slowly becoming collector status.
Don’t take my word for it.
Tallendier and Buiron’s credentials speak for themselves, as one of the best microbrands out there (if they are still deemed such a term).
Their last few watches have not only involved French Haute Horologie brand Pequignet, renowned for the 96 hour Calibre Royale but Girard Perregaux, responsible for the movement in the all-tantalum Inflection execution. Mic drop.
All in all, the level of detail is a tantalising prospect for collector and enthusiast alike.
Sadly though, time is running out…
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Images: Unless otherwise specified
Atelier Wen
Further Reading:
Awake So’n Mài Silver Leaf "Vignette" Collection Launches Five New Dial Variations
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