In the world of watchmaking, there is perhaps no other metal that commands a reputation as mysterious and perplexing as tantalum. Its dark, bluish-grey hue and uncommon heft are rarely encountered, and fully-braceleted timepieces have only ever been made of its like in singular, unique iterations.
Enter our latest collaborative release, this time with Grail Watch, an initiative by Revolution Media that seeks to celebrate and champion the best in independent and artisanal watchmaking through the creation of the coolest, most desirable limited editions in the watch world.
At first glance, this piece might seem to call back to our previous sold-out collaborations with Revolution, and in many ways, it does. It is, after all, still executed in the form of Perception and its integrated bracelet, whilst marrying the intricate, diamant-patterned guilloché dial of ‘粹 Cùi’ with the striking scarlet tones of ‘喜 Xǐ’.
However, that is really where the similarities end. '鸿' (Hóng) is executed in 99.99% pure tantalum — representing a distinct departure from our previous executions in 904L steel and grade 5 titanium. Its release is no small milestone, and not only marks our very first foray into rare metals, but will in fact be the world's very first serially produced integrated bracelet tantalum watch.
Perception 鸿 (Hóng) represents a tremendous step towards our aims to establish Atelier Wen at the forefront of independent watchmaking, and its name suitably reflects this, translating to "vastness", and capturing the groundbreaking and expansive spirit with which we have approached this creation.
It will, as-mentioned, feature a 99.9% pure tantalum construction, and this extends to every single external component of the watch (including the crown, solid caseback and clasp), with the sole exception of the clasp's deployant blade — which once again features our telescopically-extensible system! The caseback will this time be fully closed, and will feature an engraving demarcating the purity of the material, as well as the details of the edition.
It is for good reason that tantalum is not a material used frequently in watchmaking. Being both the most uncommon stable metal in the solar system, and one that is notoriously difficult to work with owing to its unique combination of natural hardness and density, the execution of fine finishing on it requires far more extensive work than other softer metals.
Tantalite ore, Pilbara district, Australia (Image: Wikipedia Commons).
Even in Switzerland, there are less than a handful of companies able to work with the metal - and none, we have been told, that are willing to supply it to unfamiliar parties or even approach the notion of a tantalum bracelet due to the sheer difficulty. This was the challenge that H. Moser & Cie faced back in 2017, when their CEO, Edward Meylan, pitched the idea of creating a Streamliner in tantalum. A 2024 article in the New York Times, quotes him as saying that his team "started asking around and no one wanted to work with [them]"; with the one workshop that agreed to try giving up after two years, citing that it was an "impossible" task. Till today, he admits that the full-tantalum Streamliner is still a "dream", and perhaps something he will only pursue as a "retirement gift" to himself.
This difficulty only increases exponentially when individual tantalum components are executed in mixed finishes and this is also why most brands stick (pun-intended) to one finish entirely. Outside of a small number of exceptions, most renditions of tantalum cases tend to be executed in matte or brushed surface textures, and the few who can achieve a high degree of polish tend to jealously guard their techniques and rightfully so.
We are therefore exceptionally proud of the fact 鸿 (Hóng) that will not just possess a full bracelet in the material, but also be executed in-mixed-finishes of brushing and polishing that are on-par with (and perhaps even exceed) our Perception line in steel. The ability to achieve this level of finish serves as a clear operational gatekeeper to the material's scarcity within the watchmaking industry. Pierre Halimi, General Manager for the Americas at F.P. Journe one of the few brands to offer a fully-polished tantalum case sums up the safeguarding of this rarefied skillset, claiming that "if gold is difficult to the level of 100, platinum would be 200 and tantalum 600".
Journe is, in fact, the producer of one of only four successfully manufactured full-tantalum bracelets that we know of outside our own. This came in the form of the tantalum Chronomètre Furtif Bleu, a pièce unique that the brand specially created for their Only Watch entry in 2024. It follows on from two other pièce uniques - in the form of a Louis Vuitton Tambour that sits on the wrist of the group's Director of Watches, Jean Arnault, and another that Audemars Piguet created specially for the King of Spain back in the 1970s. The final bracelet debuted at Geneva Watch Days 2024, as a joint project by J.N. Shapiro, Ming Watches and Fleming Watches to design and create the singular prototype of a made-to-order tantalum bracelet that was finished in Shapiro's workshop.
To further demarcate the unique proposition of this edition, ‘鸿' (Hóng) will come in an extremely special box that will feature no branding, and be fully executed in a very special, traditional 犀皮 (xī pí) lacquer that is hand-applied by a lacquer artist by the name of Guan in China. With the lacquer layers taking approximately a month and a half to cure, it is another example of the exceptional artisanship that remains largely uncelebrated in China, and hints towards a craft that we will be introducing in the fairly near future.
Technical Specifications
— Self-winding extra thin Dandong caliber SL1588; 41-hour power reserve— Hours, minutes and seconds
— 40mm x 9.4mm; 99.9% pure tantalum; water resistant to 100m; solid tantalum caseback
— Red guilloché with ‘diamant’ pattern; rhodium-plated applied indexes; Chinese huiwen-patterned chapter ring; Super-LumiNova filled hands and chapter ring
— 99.9% pure tantalum bracelet (polished inner angles of center links), stainless steel bracelet pins and sliding mechanism.
— USD 10,000 (excluding taxes) Availability: Limited to 25 numbered pieces