Whether fair or not, there is a stigma attached to Chinese-made goods here in the U.S.
China is by far the world’s largest manufacturing superpower, accounting for nearly a third of all manufactured goods globally. That manufacturing prowess was built through decades of producing cheap goods with low-cost labor, a practice that is still widespread, as evidenced by practically everything for sale on sites like Temu, Alibaba and Wish.
But not everything made in China is cheap, disposable junk like you’ll find on Temu. Today, many goods produced in the nation — like Apple products, for instance — are legitimately high-end and require complex production methods, state-of-the-art technology and highly skilled workers.
One area where China has a massively robust industry is the watch industry. Some of the fruits of this labor are indeed seen in cheap Alibaba watches and replicas, but much of it also makes its way into big-name Swiss luxury watches — even if those brands would never admit it. Practically every major watch brand in the world is getting some of its parts from Chinese factories, and the Chinese are more than capable of producing high-quality, high-end watches.
That idea is the whole conceit behind Atelier Wen, a Chinese watch brand founded by two Frenchmen with deep ties to China who set out to change perceptions of the Chinese watch industry by producing a luxury watch that is proudly made in China from all Chinese parts.
The brand’s flagship watch, appropriately named the Perception, debuted in 2022 to great acclaim. Now, Atelier Wen has unveiled the next generation of the Perception, and it might just be the most surprising watch of the year.
Atelier Wen
