How it works
Your idea, real parts, our hands.
Atelier is a small workshop that builds mechanical watches from modular parts. You design the watch; we make sure it can really be built, then build it.
You describe it, the designer proposes
Tell the AI designer what you have in mind: a style, a size, a colour, an occasion. It picks real parts from our catalogue and explains its choices. Or skip the chat and choose every part yourself.
The rules engine checks real dimensions
Every design is checked against the measured sizes of each part, the way a watchmaker would at the bench. When something doesn't fit, it tells you why and suggests parts that do.
We assemble it by hand, then test it
We source the parts, fit the dial and hands, case the movement and regulate it on a timegrapher. It ships only after a pressure test, a 24-hour run and a close look under the loupe.
A few of the rules, in plain words
Each rule comes from how the parts physically go together. Some only warn you about a trade-off, like a date the crown can set but the dial doesn’t show. Others stop the build, because the watch couldn’t be assembled or wouldn’t work.
The AI never decides whether a watch can be built.
It suggests; the rules decide. The same design always gets the same answer, and every answer comes with its reason. If the AI proposes something that doesn’t fit, you’ll see exactly why.
- The dial must sit in the case's dial seat to within 0.2 mm. Too small and it rattles; too big and it won't go in.
- Hands press onto the movement's pinions, so their holes must match to within 0.02 mm.
- A dial's feet are placed for one crown position. A dial made for a crown at 3 won't line up in a case with its crown at 4.
- A date window needs a movement that can show a date there, or it would frame a blank disc.
- The strap must be exactly as wide as the space between the lugs.
- A GMT movement needs a fourth hand, and a scale to read it against.
- We never print another watch brand, or “Swiss”, on a dial: our movements aren't Swiss, and honesty matters.
Starting small, with the big picture in mind
We’re learning the craft one watch at a time. Here’s where that leads.
Phase 1Now
Hand-built NH35 watches
Modular automatic watches built around the NH3x family of movements: robust, serviceable and honest. Each one assembled, regulated and tested by hand, one at a time.
Phase 2Next
Open the atelier to other creators
Designers and small brands publish their own designs and parts on the platform, with the same rules engine checking every build.
Phase 3Later
Our own brand and higher horology
What we learn at the bench goes into a line of our own: finer finishing, better movements, and eventually watches made with more of our own hands.
Ready to design yours?
Start from one of our designs, or from a single sentence.