This Attainable Everyday Watch Channels My Favorite Ultra High-End Brand

Good looks, good price.

Close-up of a wristwatch with a textured blue dial, silver markers, and a blue suede strap against a light blue background.

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Published March 20, 2026

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French microbrand Awake has only existed for eight years, but the brand has already found a lasting flagship in its Son Mài watch.

A well-sized steel everyday watch that straddles the line between dressy and sporty, the Son Mài has become known for its drop-dead gorgeous, handcrafted dials, which typically combine a layer of silver leaf with its titular traditional Vietnamese lacquering technique.

The dials are among the best-looking and impressively crafted you can get for the money, and the brand’s latest is my favorite yet.

Silver wristwatch with a textured teal dial and matching suede strap worn on a wrist. — Silver leaf, a dozen layers of lacquer and natural pigments combine to create the stunning Atlantis Blue dial.

Wide awake

Dubbed the Son Mài Atlantis Blue, Awake’s new teal fumé stunner brings to mind some dials made by my favorite ultra high-end brand, H. Moser & Cie., which is regarded for its Grand Feu enamel fumé dials. Awake’s new Atlantis Blue dial feels to me like a cross between the dials on Moser’s now-discontinued Pioneer Mega Cool and the brand’s current Endeavour Perpetual Calendar.

In other words, it’s a seriously attractive and impressive-looking dial.

Close-up of a silver wristwatch with a textured blue-green dial and silver hour markers and hands. — Not quite a Moser, but not bad.

Like most other Son Mài dials, Atlantis Blue is produced by hand in a process that takes ten hours. First, silver leaf is draped over a base dial. Then, natural pigments are mixed with Vietnamese lacquer, which is applied in a dozen layers over the top of the dial and polished once dried. The result is, as you can see, quite stunning.

Another unique aspect of the Son Mài dials is the lume signature. Rather than filling the hands and applied indices with Super-LumiNova, Awake places the blue-emission BGW9 around their outlines, resulting in a unique, ethereal glow.

Silver wristwatch with a textured teal dial, luminous hands and markers, and a teal suede strap on a black surface. — Awake’s unique “coiffe” lume signature makes it look like the hands and indices are surrounded in glowing energy force fields.

The stainless steel case is polished and well-sized for versatile wear, measuring 39mm across, 45.6 mm lug-to-lug and 11.80mm thick to the top of the domed, AR-coated sapphire crystal. There’s a sapphire exhibition window on the caseback, revealing the lightly decorated La Joux-Perret Calibre G101 automatic movement and tungsten rotor. The power reserve is a solid 68 hours.

The watch is water resistant to 50m, making it a nice everyday option, and the included strap is both elegant and comfortable. Its exterior is blue suede, while the interior lining is rubberized calfskin. It tapers from 20 down to 16mm at the polished steel pin buckle.

Silver wristwatch with a textured teal dial and matching suede strap held by a hand. — The blue suede strap is lined with rubberized calfskin.

Availability and pricing

Awake isn’t what I would call a budget brand, but its watches are relatively affordable for the levels of beauty and craftsmanship on display. The Son Mài Atlantis Blue is limited to just 100 pieces and retails for € 2,400 (~$2,775).

That’s not cheap, but it is attainable, especially if you’re after that Moser look but lack the $95K to drop on an Endeavour Perpetual Calendar.

Silver wristwatch with a textured blue dial, silver hour markers, and a matching blue leather strap.

Awake Son Mài Atlantis Blue

Specs

Case Size	39mm
Movement	La Joux-Perret Cal. G101 automatic
Water Resistance	50m

$2,775 at Awake

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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