Ancestra
蛟 (Jiāo)

All around the world, the figure of the dragon looms large throughout popular culture, yet few recognise the provenance of its tale.

Between 4700-2900 BC, the Hongshan culture of Northeast China developed a startling affinity with the handicraft of jade carving. Uncovered amongst their ancient burial sites was a curious, C-shaped jade object with the snout of a pig, a coiled, serpentine body and a flowing mane.

This 猪龙 (zhū lóng), translated literally as pig-dragon, would come to represent humanity’s very first known depiction of a dragon, as well as one of the earliest demonstrations of cultural sophistication and craftsmanship in China.

Ancestra reimagines the mythology around this draconic depiction with its case, conceived through the combined eyes of the talented Sifan Guo and Alfred Chan.

Interpreting the 猪龙 (zhū lóng)’s sinuous curves as elegant lugs, these encircle a finely brushed, pebble-like mid-case and mirror the jade dragon’s owns curves and coiled form, and tribute to these early-Chinese cultural and artisanal traditions.

The detached construction of the lugs allow us to finish the case to a far higher degree, with sharper transitions between finishes, as well as a greater array of finishing treatments. These lugs are secured to the mid-case with internal screws and intricately engraved, external bolts featuring a traditional Chinese 回纹 (huí wén) motif, adding a minute, yet sophisticated detail to the complex construction of the watch.

From the beginnings of Atelier Wen, watchmaking has been the brand’s canvas for the celebration and uplifting of the rich traditions of Chinese craftsmanship and culture. Parallel to this, we see it as our responsibility to constantly pursue the elevation of our mechanical standards and provide the best-possible stage for these crafts to shine.

Ancestra marks our very first foray beyond the Chinese watchmaking ecosystem in pursuit of this, with a newly-minted partnership with Pequignet, France’s oldest true manufacture in continuous operation.

In their Calibre EPM03, we find one of the finest scalable modern calibres available, boasting a generous 65 hours of power reserve, a hyper-efficient, pawl-based “Pellaton-style” winding system and a patented tooth profile within the winding assembly delivering improved efficiency and reducing wear-and-tear.

The movement is regulated to the chronometer-defining accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day, and Pequignet goes above and beyond the COSC-required 10 days — with 16 continuous days of observation and testing, thus comfortably meeting the standards of the Observatoire Chronométrique de Besançon. Following this comprehensive testing, each movement is further adjusted manually in 6 positions and for temperature fluctuations.

The elaborate micro-etching on this rendition of the EPM03 imbues the movement with continuity, preserving its connection to China’s rich cultural traditions, reflecting the mythological inspirations that 蛟 (JIĀO)’s case and dial enact even as we transition to a movement of French origin.

This main bridge took an enormous amount of work to perfect, with the 0.25mm thinness of the three-quarter plate often distorting due to the laser’s heat. The engravings themselves are made to a depth of 0.10mm, and the degree of legibility and finish on this unique approach are extremely uncommon throughout the industry. The text is framed beautifully by the generous anglage present on each edge, and stands out distinctly against the ratchet return wheel and balance bridge, both of which exhibit an edge-to-edge sheen through meticulous rounds of black-polishing with increasingly fine abrasives.