Atelier Mephalie
Atelier Mephalie is a Shanghai watchmaker reviving a Chinese name with roots in the nineteenth century, and in October 2026 it launched a collection of three in-house minute repeaters priced far below their European counterparts. The collection was announced on 23 October 2026, the 150th anniversary of the name, and Monochrome's headline describes it as priced at a tenth of what Europe asks for the complication. The atelier says its production capacity is more than 200 movements a year, and the inaugural series of 218 watches uses that capacity for the year.
The name goes back to 1876, when Sun Tingyuan founded Mephalie. In 1915 his son, Sun Meitang, opened a clock factory in Shanghai that brought mechanised production to the trade while keeping decorative crafts such as carving and mother-of-pearl inlay alive. The factory was destroyed in 1932, and the name lay dormant for decades. Atelier Mephalie is its revival, led by Lin Xiaolin, who joined the watch industry in 2011 and spent about fifteen years in watch manufacturing; he is also behind the brand Lucky Harvey. He assembled a team of watchmakers, repair specialists, movement architects and precision machinists to build a movement in the atelier's own workshop.
All three watches share one movement and one case design. The movement is a hand-wound minute repeater, developed over five years with the stated aim of repeatable production. It is 37 mm across and 6.89 mm thick, with 39 jewels, a 28,800 vibrations per hour balance and a power reserve of more than 45 hours. A flying governor regulates the rhythm of the chime, two hammers strike coiled gongs, and the repeater is activated by a slide on the case band. The brand says the chime lasts up to about 23 seconds and can exceed 80 decibels. The calibres are numbered CAL.L37-689R&A for the Conductor, CAL.H37-689R for the Galloping Horse and CAL.M37-689R for the Voice of China. The case is 42 mm across and about 12 mm thick (11.5 to 12 mm depending on the version), with a lug to lug of about 50.5 mm, 21 mm lugs, sapphire crystals on both sides and an alligator strap with a pin buckle. Water resistance has not been announced.
The three watches differ in their dials. The Conductor (MPL.L011), in stainless steel and limited to 99 pieces at USD 25,000 before taxes, pairs a deep blue hand-guilloché plate, turned by Cheng Yucai on a rose engine, with silver orchestra figures and an automaton conductor whose arms swing with the strikes. The Galloping Horse (MPL.H011), also in stainless steel and limited to 99 pieces at USD 28,000, has a cloisonné enamel dial by Xiong Songtao, a third-generation inheritor of the Xiong family craft, with 0.04 mm gold wire outlining a horse head filled with amber and chestnut enamel on black; other motifs can be commissioned for an additional fee. The Voice of China, limited to 20 pieces at USD 59,500, is made entirely in 18K rose gold, with a solid gold dial hand-engraved in relief with No. 12 The Bund in Shanghai, so that each dial is unique.
The collections are named Hua, Li and Mei. Monochrome's reviewer, who handled the watches, praised the ambition but noted that the hammers are not well defined, the bridges are not hand-chamfered and the gongs have a square profile, and the brand claims an accuracy of minus 10 to plus 25 seconds a day. These are first-generation movements from a brand that has just returned, and the claims and prices come from the brand and the press launch rather than from long-term ownership.
The watches are sold directly by Atelier Mephalie or through retail partners. The brand has said nothing yet about further references beyond the inaugural series. This listing draws on Monochrome and Splendore Unique; Fratello Watches also published a piece on the launch on 24 October 2026, but its text could not be retrieved in full and it is not cited here.