AWAKE Jurassic Watch T-Rex Edition Review

I've said this many times before, but creating Hourstriker has exponentially broadened my view of the watch world. Prior to starting the site my twenty years in the watch industry was dominated by the large Swiss brands and I was never exposed to smaller independent brands. With Hourstriker being around for over two years I have been exposed to so many fascinating independent brands. I'd say this exposure is probably what I find most rewarding about running the site.

One such independent brand is Awake which is based out of Paris and manufactures their watches in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. AWAKE only hit my radar earlier in the year when we did an article on the release of their Son Mai Frosted Leaf collection. The thing that really made AWAKE stick out to me was their mind blowing hand lacquered dials which looked like nothing I had seen before.



AWAKE was founded by Lilian Thibault in 2019. Thibault is a passionate watch collector who had fifteen years of experience in the watch industry before forming the brand with a close friend and fellow watch collector. The goal for AWAKE was to craft truly new timepieces that looked like nothing that had come before them. AWAKE also strives to draw attention to the beauty around us, be it from nature or something created by the human hand. AWAKE was picked as the name from the brand as a wakeup call to just take a moment to reconnect with what is important to each of us. This is especially when we're constantly being bombarded by digital notifications and other modern day annoyances. Also to take note that time is precious and we're only given so much of it in our lifetimes.

A cornerstone to AWAKE's philosophy is to change how watches are traditionally made to be more environmentally conscience. To achieve this, the brand tries to only use materials that are from circular and regenerative processes and even developing their own cleaner alloys. The choice in being friendlier to our finite resources reflects Thibault's personal views and beliefs as well.

As I touched upon earlier, one thing that really sets AWAKE apart from other watch manufactures is their use of hand lacquered dials. The goal is for every dial, texture and surface to be made by a human hand instead of by made by a soulless automated machine. This reliance on the human touch naturally increases the production time and in turn makes each piece unique and limited.



While AWAKE designs their watches in France and produces them in Switzerland, the dials are created by artists in Vietnam. Vietnamese lacquer work has been a craft practiced in that region for thousands of years and has a very storied history. Vietnamese lacquer sets itself apart with its brilliance and depth. Along with lacquered dials, AWAKE has also started to embrace the use of micro-painting. By using lacquer and micro-panting on their dials, AWAKE is truly creating miniature masterpieces for the wrist.

Initial Thoughts

Now that we've gone over the history of AWAKE we can now take a look at the watch that AWAKE sent us to take a closer look at. Lilian allowed me to pick any watch from their current collection and I ended up deciding on the Jurassic Watch T-Rex edition. The T-Rex is part of a duo of watches that take inspiration from the seminal 90's summer blockbuster Jurassic Park. This orange dialed beauty is paired up with the green dialed Raptors version. I can vividly remember when Jurassic Park was released and it being one of the only movies I saw in the theater multiple times. Also living in Austin, Texas orange is pretty much the official color of the city because of my alma mater, the University of Texas.



When the watch arrived the first thing I took noticed naturally was the brilliant orange dial. AWAKE's master lacquerer created a unique color that took inspiration from the T-Rex found in Jurassic Park for the dial of this timepiece. The dial has an amazing texture formed by many layers of lacquer, natural pigments as well as the stunning effect of silver leaf. Even in dim lighting the dial is something special to look at, but when taken outside and exposed to sunlight it just explodes. A fun little nod to the tyrannosaurus is also seen by two applied claw marks at 6 o'clock which look like they were caused by the two claws found on the hand of the T-Rex.

The next thing I noticed about the T-Rex during my initial time with the watch was the super unique bright orange strap. AWAKE was somehow able to recreate the color and texture of the dial on the strap, which is highly impressive. This isn't an ordinary calfskin strap either but instead is made out of scaled salmon leather by French tannery ICTYOS. Straps are often an afterthought on watches but here I feel the strap really helps complete the watch. This is kind of like the strap on my Royal Oak Offsore Montoya, I really couldn't imagine that watch on any other strap.



The final thing I noticed about the T-Rex was ring encapsulating the movement under the display back. This like the strap is typically something that really doesn't define a watch and is merely an un-decorated piece of the movement. On the T-Rex this ring is decorated with leaves of flora that would be present during the age of the dinosaurs. Additionally there are four areas of text using identical text to what was used for Jurassic Park with two of those areas having the individual limited edition number of 50 as well as "Swiss Made". Making it just that much more special are the final two areas of text which have the phrase "Jurassic Watch" along with "Spared No Expense" which is a quote from the park's owner John Hammond when speaking about the development of Jurassic Park. Alternately the Raptors edition has the quote from Dr. Ian Malcolm stating "Life Finds a Way". These are details that nobody except the owner of the watch will ever see and really make the watch something special.

Technical Specifications

Having gone over my initial thoughts of the AWAKE Jurassic Watch T-Rex let's now take a look at its technical specifications. The T-Rex is made out of recycled 316L stainless steel and has a case diameter of 39 mm with a lug to lug length 45.5 mm. On the salmon leather strap with a recycled stainless steel pin buckle the T-Rex comes in at a feather light 69 grams. At its thickest point the T-Rex is only 11.9 mm tall. All these measurements make the watch look very proportionate both on and off the wrist.



The T-Rex uses a slightly raised and domed sapphire crystal that is treated with an anti-reflective coating. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire lies the star of the show, which is the handmade lacquered dial. The dial is created by first adding pure silver leaves to the base of the dial before applying the layers of Son Mai lacquer. The artistry behind this practice is extremely complex and time intensive, so you are not likely to see anything similar on dials from other watch brands.

The green and orange hues for the T-Rex and Raptor dials were created by AWAKE's master lacquerer. The orange for the T-Rex was chosen to instill the horror and terror felt by those in the cars being attacked by the T-Rex in the rain from the movie. The color was created with natural pigments and is exclusive to the T-Rex watch. With each dial being done by hand, each individual T-Rex will have a slightly different dial from the other 49 pieces. The orange on the T-Rex dial is stunning enough in normal lighting, but when the dial gets hit by bright sunlight it really becomes something that is hard to describe without seeing it for yourself.

The T-Rex uses applied polished hour markers that have a backing of BGW9 Super-Luminova that glow a brilliant bluish green in low light. I can't really remember another watch which used "backlit" hour makers and gives the T-Rex a very unique look in low and UV light. There are three centrally mounted hands on the T-Rex being the hour, minute and seconds hands. These hands are also polished and the hour and minute hands have the same type of backlit Super-Luminova treatment that perfectly match the hour markers.



Finishing the dial off is the applied AWAKE branding at 12 o'clock and printed "Hand Made" at 6 o'clock. There are also two long applied claw marks at 6 o'clock that reference the two claws found on each hand of the T-Rex. It's a fun nod to the Tyrannosaurus that along with the bright orange dial gives that slight sense of dread that encountering a T-Rex would have instilled in you.

Moving on from the dial is a rather thick polished stainless steel bezel that houses the sapphire crystal. Like the bezel, the top of the case is also done in high polish. The sides of the case are brushed and give a nice contrast to the other polished areas of the case. Looking at the profile of the case you can also see there is an interesting bump out where the lugs start. There is also a gentle curve to the lugs which helps the watch form to the shape of your wrist.

The right hand side of the case features the nicely scalloped non-screw down crown. The crown has a mixture of brushed and polished finishes and has the AWAKE logo on top of it. You can manually wind the automatic movement in the crowns resting position and since there are no calendar functions there is only one additional position. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the time and also stops the seconds hand. Pushing crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and either. Even without a screw down crown, the T-Rex still offers 50 meters of water resistance.



The lug width of the AWAKE Jurassic Watch T-Rex is 20 mm and if for some reason the orange salmon leather strap isn't for you, that lug width means you basically have limitless third party strap options. The salmon leather strap tapers down from 20 mm at the lugs to 16 mm at the recycled stainless steel pin buckle. Mirroring the case, the buckle is polished on top and brushed on the sides, also being partially skeletonized on the sides. The AWAKE logo is found on top of the buckle as well.

As touched upon before the scaled salmon leather strap is made by French tannery ICTYOS. The bright orange color does a great job of mirroring the bright orange lacquered dial and has an iridescence to it. The back of the strap is lined with orange calfskin and does a great job of keeping the watch centered on your wrist. The strap required no break in and was supple and comfortable from the first wear. There is also a large and easy to use quick release pin on each strap that makes strap changes a breeze.

Flipping the watch over shows off the polished screw down case back with a sapphire crystal display window. Through the large crystal you can see the outer ring complete with engravings of prehistoric plant leaves and the Jurassic Park font that highlights the limited edition number, Swiss Made and the Jurassic Watch name and movie quote that we covered earlier.



Underneath beats the Swiss made La Joux-Perret G101 automatic caliber with a customized winding rotor for AWAKE. The movement beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of 68 hours. The G101 is also finished nicely with ample usage of circular graining. On our timegrapher the movement showed an accuracy of -3 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. This is a solid result and should prove the watch to be more than accurate enough in the real world.

On The Wrist

The case diameter and lug to lug length of the AWAKE T-Rex means that watch can be worn by a huge variety of wrist sizes. For example my wife is a foot shorter than I am and we could both wear the T-Rex with no issue. I do prefer a lug to lug length of around 50 mm, but the T-Rex has more than enough wrist presence to make me feel comfortable wearing a timepiece that is smaller than I normally wear. On my 7.25 inch wrist the watch covered my wrist rather nicely and you could still see some wrist on either side of the lugs.

At just 69 grams the T-Rex is a complete treat on the wrist. Even when wearing the watch for hours it never becomes a chore on the wrist or causes any wrist fatigue. The T-Rex just disappears on wrist when you're not thinking about it and is there when you need it. It served as a perfect companion when running boring errands like going to FedEx or the grocery store.



To test legibility I use a very simple test of seeing how easy it is to tell the time while driving with just a quick glance. In these tests dive watches do the best and skeleton dial watches do the worst. I wasn't really sure how well the T-Rex would do since the dial is so vibrant and might not provide the best contrast to the polished hands and markers. Much to my surprise the T-Rex was very easy to read at just a glance with the orange dial and polished markers working well with each other. Of course the legibility is nothing like a large dive watch, but I don't think that is what AWAKE was shooting for with the design of the T-Rex. Also with the inventive use of lume on the hands and markers, telling the time in low light was no problem.

The orange of the dial and strap of the T-Rex went very well with my typical dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. If the T-Rex had a more muted dial and strap I might consider it a dress watch, but in this guise it is definitely more of a casual watch. This is actually something I appreciate since I hardly have any reason to dress up and sometimes I feel out of place wearing dress pieces. This is not the case with the T-Rex and it was a super fun watch to wear around in more laid back situations, the orange even leant itself well to being in Austin and also to it being the middle of summer.



The AWAKE Jurassic Watch T-Rex is definitely not a wallflower of a watch. No matter if it was just running errands or going out for dinner and drinks, the T-Rex got noticed constantly. The bright orange dial and strap definitely catch people's eyes, probably more so here in Austin. I did have a few people come up to me and ask about the watch and all were extremely impressed with the dial and strap. The people that asked me about the watch had not heard about AWAKE before, so it was fun telling them a little about the brand. Most people I showed the watch to, including some friends were pleasantly surprised by the price of the T-Rex as well.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the AWAKE Jurassic Watch T-Rex edition retails for just over $2,400. For that price you are getting a very well executed and exclusive to 50 pieces watch. Also don't forget the handmade silver leaf and lacquered dial made by master artisans using ancient techniques. The T-Rex is powered by a very accurate La Joux-Perret movement with ample power reserve as well. Finally the watch comes in a very nice large presentation box which is getting rarer and rarer. AWAKE is also including a real T-Rex tooth in one random Jurassic Watch box, which is an incredible gift for that lucky owner. Now is a good time to compare the T-Rex to other watches with similar specifications and features and see how it fairs value wise.



First up we have the Model 1 Green Fume from AnOrdain which has a 38 mm case made out of stainless steel. The watch has a fume enamel dial made in Glasgow Scotland which like the T-Rex is just unique and stunning. The Model 1 also runs a La Joux-Perret G101 automatic movement like the T-Rex and has the same 50 meters of water resistance. The Model 1 is a good deal more expensive than the T-Rex at $4,154 though.

Next up is the SB04-E Ruby Platinum from Sartory Billard which is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 39.5 mm. The dial features a stunning red Heart of Ruby surrounded by a fume platinum coated outer ring. The Ruby Platinum is powered by the same La Joux-Perret G101 movement as the AWAKE and anOrdain pieces and offers 100 meters of water resistance. The Ruby Platinum is much more expensive than the AWAKE at around $5,400.



Moving on is the Experimental ARC II Green Fairy from Arcanaut which has a 40.5 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The dial is a solid disc of lume topped with resin-filled aerospace aluminum foam, the result is an extremely interesting and unique dial. The watch is powered by a Swiss made Soprod M100 automatic movement with 42 hours of power reserve. The watch is good to 100 meters of water resistance as well. The Experimental ARC II much more expensive than the T-Rex at $5,450.

Finally we have the Ancestra from Atelier Wen which has a 38 mm stainless steel case. Like every watch we have compared to the AWAKE T-Rex, the Ancestra has a stunning dial as well. The grand feu enamel dial is hand hammered and is done in brilliant blue. The Ancestra runs on a heavily modified Pequignet EPM03 automatic movement with 65 hours of power reserve. The Ancestra also has an impressive water resistance of 100 meters. The Ancestra is more than twice as expensive as the T-Rex at $5,850.



As you can see when you add a handmade or finished dial to a watch the price goes up very quickly. The T-Rex and the four watches we compared it to are all stunning in their own right and each are very unique so it's kind of hard to directly compare them. The T-Rex is by far the least expensive of the bunch and offers specifications that are more than comparable if not better than the others. I also can't get over how crazy the orange lacquer dial is as well. By doing this comparison you can see just how great of a value the T-Rex is when looking at other watches with handcrafted dials.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the AWAKE Jurassic Watch T-Rex Edition for me? Typically I shy away from smaller watches that are well below 50 mm in lug to lug length. Also I'm generally not a fan of stainless steel watches due to the weight penalty they have when compared to titanium, carbon and ceramic watches. While the 45.5 mm lug to lug length is small for my preference the T-Rex does have great presence on the wrist likely due to the amazing orange lacquer dial and bright orange salmon leather strap. The watch is also a size where both my wife and I can wear and enjoy it. The 69 gram weight is also feather light, so going with recycled stainless steel really can't be seen as a negative when talking about weight.

The T-Rex is just a joy on the wrist and we were both delighted each time we wore the watch. It truly never gets old glancing down at the watch and seeing the stunning orange lacquer dial. Being a child during the time Jurassic Park was released also rings home for us. We still look forward to every new film in the series even if they struggle to replicate the masterpiece of the original. The little tie-ins to the movie like the T-Rex claw marks, Jurassic Park font and movie quote really make a great watch that much better.



So then would I recommend the T-Rex to somebody looking for a truly unique handcrafted watch? Naturally if my wife and I liked the watch so much I'd have no issues giving my full recommendation to somebody looking for this type of timepiece. The T-Rex is a very bold and out there watch, even switching the strap to something more neutral will still leave you with a very loud watch. That is the appeal of the watch though. I would say because of this the T-Rex might not make the best daily wearer where something more muted might be a better choice.

More than likely the T-Rex will be a watch for a seasoned collector who already has more daily appropriate pieces. For this the T-Rex is an excellent choice that not only adds a strong dose of color to your collection but also is handcrafted and extremely limited. The chances of running into somebody else wearing either of the Jurassic Watches is virtually zero, which a lot of collectors value. The movement inside of the T-Rex is also very accurate and has a power reserve long enough to sit for a day or two between being worn. Finally the price AWAKE is asking for the T-Rex is more than fair and comes well below other watches that feature either handmade or hand finished dials.



I'd really like to thank Lilian and AWAKE for sending us this Jurassic Watch T-Rex Edition to review and we will really miss it when we send it back. The T-Rex was a great introduction to AWAKE and their just plain stunning hand lacquered dials. As I said earlier in this review, these dials really need to be seen in person to get a full sense of their brilliance. After spending time with the T-Rex I can now look at the rest of their catalog and get a general sense of what those watches would look like in person. Hopefully in the next few months we'll get more watches from AWAKE in for review as well. I'm genuinely excited to see what AWAKE has planned for their future releases and if the T-Rex is anything to go by, I'm sure they'll be extremely impressive.

For more information about the Jurassic Watch T-Rex Edition please visit : AWAKE

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: T-Rex

Retail Price: $2,400

Case Size: 39 mm

Lug to Lug: 45.5 mm

Thickness: 11.9 mm

Weight: 69 grams

Case Material: 316L Recycled Stainless Steel

Bezel: 316L Recycled Stainless Steel

Strap: Orange Salmon Leather Strap with a Stainless Steel Pin Buckle

Movement: Swiss Made La Joux-Perret G101 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes and Seconds

Power Reserve: 68 Hours

Water Resistance: 50 Meters