Atelier Wen Perception V1 YING Grey Watch

The Atelier Wen Perception V1 Ying is a 40mm stainless steel watch from the Chinese independent brand Atelier Wen, built around a hand-turned guilloché dial. The case is 904L stainless steel with brushed and mirror-polished surfaces, 9.4mm thick and 47mm lug to lug, which keeps it slim and easy to wear. A double-domed sapphire crystal with 5 layers of anti-reflective coating covers the dial, and water resistance is 100 metres (10 ATM) with a screw-down crown.

The dial is the main feature. The Ying version has a smoky grey écailles de poisson (fish-scale) guilloché pattern, hand-turned on a rose engine by Master Cheng Yucai. It is a four-part construction inspired by traditional Chinese Sunmao mortise-and-tenon joinery. Applied rhodium-plated baton hour markers sit alongside a huiwen-patterned chapter ring printed in Super-LumiNova X1. The heat-blued leaf-shaped hour and minute hands are also filled with Super-LumiNova X1, and the heat-blued sweeping seconds hand has a slender profile with a flat-ended tail.

Inside is a customised, extra-thin Dandong (Liaoning Peacock) SL1588 automatic movement, only 3.4mm thick. It beats at 28,800 vph (4 Hz) with 32 jewels and a 41-hour power reserve, and the seconds hand is non-hacking. Each movement is regulated in 5 positions to within +/- 10 seconds per day. Finishing includes linear striping across the bridges and a custom blue-coated tungsten rotor. A semi-display sapphire caseback, secured by 4 screws, shows the movement and carries an acid-etched stone guardian lion motif.

The integrated 904L stainless steel bracelet tapers from 22mm at the lugs to 18mm at the clasp and has flat-edged links. The concealed folding deployant clasp uses a single-piece curved blade and a push-button micro-adjustment slide offering up to 1cm of adjustment. A quick-release grey FKM rubber strap is also supplied, designed to fit the case lugs.

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