The traditional Vietnamese art of sơn mài and the watch brand championing it Awake have made waves over the past couple of years. The microbrand’s dials are up there with some of the finest vitreous enamel numbers in terms of colour and visually mesmerising impact, but at a fraction of the cost. But what is it that makes their Sơn Mài collection what it is? Well, it’s all right there in the name: sơn mài, or traditional Vietnamese lacquer.
In the West, enamelling has reigned supreme for centuries as the de facto face of metiers d’art and it’s not hard to see why. The vibrant colours, the painstaking paintings of true artisans, it all adds up to the kind of scholarly art form watch collectors love. In Vietnam however, the de facto art form since the feudal era was sơn mài, a very specific technique using a very specific lacquer. In the 1930s, sơn mài saw a renaissance and has since become the country’s contribution to fine art worldwide. So, what exactly is it?
Sơn mài starts with the lacquer itself, which is a completely natural resin, derived from the cây sơn tree in the mountains of Phú Thọ, northwest of Hanoi. The tree’s not exactly rare, but it has to be over a decade old before the lacquer can be harvested – and even then, at most 200ml at a time and only during June and July each year. The lacquer needs the humidity. It then needs to be refined, filtered and dehydrated before it’s even usable.
Once ready, the lacquer is painted on in an incredibly thin layer, before being slowly allowed to dry. Before the next layer can be painted on, the previous has to be sanded and polished to a perfect sheen for an even finish. Given the number of layers needed to build up the finished piece, that’s a lot of polishing. So why the effort?
If you’ve seen Vietnamese lacquer in person, you’ll know the answer: shine. This natural lacquer has a sheen unlike anything else and, when applied in thin layer after thin layer, builds up a rich depth that’s like few other materials. Add a dash of pigment into the lacquer and the layers come alive with ever-building colour.
Because of the semi-transparency of the lacquer and the thinness of the layers, the material underneath also comes through. Vietnamese artists have experimented with plenty of different materials over the centuries, traditionally using wood but also incorporating more precious materials. Nguyen Van Tuan for example used gold leaf in his painting, The Golden Lotus, and the work seems to glow from within because of it, using a technique locally known as laminage.
Laminage dates back nearly 300 years, to when gold and silver leaf were used for Buddhist statues, royal status symbols and fine objets d’art. It’s still practiced today in the village of Kieu Ky and is as precise and painstaking a craft as sơn mài. How do you get a paper-thin piece of precious metal? Hammer it from a solid ingot. Needless to say, it takes time, effort and a strong arm, so it’s no surprise that there are only around 50 families in Kieu Ky keeping it alive.
In their Sơn Mài collection, Awake embraced both Vietnam’s traditional lacquering technique and laminage by applying the distinctive lacquer onto a silver leaf dial. The result is an almost impossibly delicate texture deep within the dial, under a perfectly smooth, polished lacquer finish. They’ve also leant heavily into colour with blues, greens, purples and reds, because when you have this depth of colour available, why would you do anything else? It’s colour and texture that set sơn mài apart from enamel, and these dials have them both.
While there is more to each Sơn Mài watch than the dial – their recycled steel 39mm cases and La Joux-Perret movements make for great timepieces no matter how you look at them – those dials are the stars. Honestly, they’re the kind of thing that you can only really appreciate in person. Sure, I can wax lyrical about the colours, the craft, the ode to Vietnamese heritage that they are, but until you see that depth and beauty for yourself those are all just words.
Fortunately, Awake will be showing off their watches at Hands on Horology tomorrow. At time of writing there are still tickets, so make sure you secure your place at London’s premier new watch show – and discover the beauty of sơn mài for yourself.
More details at Awake.
Oracle Time