Atelier Pieters arrives with the kind of first watch that asks for a slower look.
The new independent brand from Maarten and Jessica Pieters isn’t leaning on spectacle for its debut, but on a large hand-wound tourbillon calibre, serious finishing, and the combined experience of two watchmakers who’ve spent decades inside the craft.
The Atelier 1 Founders’ Series is a platinum, manually crafted watch offered in two dial expressions, with just eight pieces planned for each colourway.
At a glance
- Atelier Pieters has introduced the Atelier 1 Founders’ Series as its inaugural watch.
- The platinum watch uses the hand-wound calibre T2-03RM with a one-minute tourbillon and dual power reserve display.
- Production is limited to eight pieces per colourway, priced at CHF 148,500 excluding VAT.
A debut shaped by two experienced watchmakers
Atelier Pieters is led by Maarten and Jessica Pieters from Les Hauts-Geneveys, Switzerland, between Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Maarten Pieters’ background runs through prototyping work at THA and Janvier SA, involvement with modern Breguet Sympathique production, and time leading Omega’s complications department, including work connected to the Omega Central Tourbillon.
He later spent 15 years as Director of WOSTEP, the independent watchmaking training centre supported by the Swiss watch industry.
Jessica Pieters, originally from Australia, also comes through the WOSTEP world, first as a graduate and later as an instructor and Manager of the WOSTEP Worldwide Partnership.
Her speciality is finishing and decoration, which gives the Atelier 1 much of its character when the watch is turned over.
Jour and Minuit give the same watch two distinct moods
The Atelier 1 Founders’ Series is not a small watch, nor is it trying to be one.
Its polished three-piece case is made in 950 platinum and measures 43.50mm across and 13mm thick, proportions largely dictated by the 36mm movement inside.
Sapphire crystals are fitted front and back, with a domed crystal on the dial side and a planar exhibition caseback, while water resistance is rated to 30 metres.
The watch is worn on a 20mm hand-stitched ostrich foot leather strap with a platinum pin buckle.
The Jour version pairs a warm rose-gold-toned dial with blue accents, giving the watch the familiar appeal of a salmon-style dial against a white-metal case.
Minuit takes the opposite route, using an anthracite dial with silver accents for a more restrained, monochrome feel.
Both dials are built in layers, with a slim minute track, a fluted hour chapter ring, and applied faceted markers at the cardinal points.
The centre carries a textured repeating pattern derived from the Atelier Pieters logo, while the openworked hour and minute hands are milled and diamond faceted.
A small seconds display sits low on the dial, framed by an arched plaque marked for the tourbillon and power reserve.
The calibre T2-03RM is the real statement
The movement side is where the Atelier 1 becomes more than a conventional independent debut.
The calibre T2-03RM is a 36mm hand-wound movement conceived by Maarten and Jessica Pieters, with the majority of its components produced inside their own workshop using manually operated conventional machines.
Its one-minute tourbillon rises from the mainplate and is held by a black-polished transversal bridge.
The regulating organ combines a variable inertia balance with eight regulating screws, a free-sprung Breguet overcoil balance spring, and an anti-magnetic pallet fork and escape wheel in nickel-phosphorous.
As the tourbillon turns, the cage carries an “8”, a quiet nod to the eight-piece limit for each colourway.
The other key complication is a dual-display planetary power reserve.
On the back, remaining energy is shown by an arched gauge, while the dial side offers a smaller, more discreet indication through a round aperture at 3 o’clock.
The finishing is deliberately tactile rather than glossy throughout.
The German silver mainplate and bridges use a grainage technique created by thousands of strikes from tiny hardened steel bristles, giving the surface a softly animated texture while also hardening the material’s outer layer.
Hand-applied bevels define the layered architecture of the movement, while moving steel parts are mirror polished to stand apart from the warmer matte surfaces around them.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Atelier Pieters |
|---|---|
| Model | Atelier 1 Founders’ Series |
| Case size | 43.50mm diameter, 13mm thickness |
| Case material | 950 platinum |
| Crystal | Domed front sapphire crystal and planar exhibition sapphire caseback with anti-reflective treatment |
| Water resistance | 30 metres |
| Dial versions | Jour with rose-gold-toned dial and blue accents, Minuit with anthracite dial and silver accents |
| Movement | Calibre T2-03RM, hand-wound |
| Movement size | 36mm |
| Complications | One-minute tourbillon, dual-display planetary power reserve, small seconds |
| Regulating organ | Variable inertia balance with 8 regulating screws and free-sprung Breguet overcoil balance spring |
| Escapement components | Anti-magnetic pallet fork and escape wheel in nickel-phosphorous |
| Strap | 20mm hand-stitched ostrich foot leather strap |
| Buckle | Platinum pin buckle |
| Production | 8 pieces per colourway |
| Price | CHF 148,500 excluding VAT |
| Availability | Directly from Atelier Pieters in Les Hauts-Geneveys, Switzerland |
Production will be deliberately slow
The Atelier 1 Founders’ Series will not move through production quickly, and that’s part of the point.
Atelier Pieters expects to make around four watches per year, with the first completed example scheduled for November 2026 and subsequent pieces planned at roughly three-month intervals.
At CHF 148,500 excluding VAT, the watch sits in the serious independent collecting space, where buyers tend to care less about brand noise and more about who made the object, how it was finished, and whether the movement carries a distinct signature.
For collectors drawn to small-scale Swiss watchmaking with visible handwork and a clear personal authorship, the Atelier 1 Founders’ Series is a considered, quietly ambitious opening move.
