News · Gerald Charles

Gerald Charles hand-hammers the Masterlink Atelier dial

Three Maillechort dial colours bring individually worked surfaces to the 7.99mm integrated-bracelet watch.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 3 min read · 4 September 2026

• Every Maillechort dial is hammered by hand in Geneva, leaving a pattern that cannot repeat exactly.
• The steel Masterlink case remains 38mm square, 7.99mm thick and water-resistant to 100 metres.
• The silver, yellow and rose-coloured versions are limited to 25 pieces each; price is on request.

Gerald Charles announced the Masterlink Atelier Edition on 2 September 2026, taking its slim integrated-bracelet watch and replacing the usual dial with a sheet of hand-hammered Maillechort. There are three colours and 25 examples of each, so the whole edition totals 75 watches. Prices are available through the brand rather than published on the press page.

The case and bracelet are familiar Masterlink architecture. It is the dial that changes the watch. Hundreds of individually controlled hammer strikes leave a field of small, uneven facets. Light breaks across those facets in different directions, giving the surface a much less predictable appearance than a radial sunburst finish.

The dial is made one impact at a time

Gerald Charles chose Maillechort because it is harder to machine than the brass normally used for watch dials. It requires longer production time, wears tools faster and produces a higher rejection rate. The material serves as both the structure and the decoration here, with no applied hour markers interrupting the hammered surface.

The three versions are silver, yellow and rose coloured. Each keeps blue hands for a sharp contrast against the metal. The layout is otherwise spare: two central hands and the brand name. Minute markings are kept at the edge, allowing the hammer pattern to carry most of the visual weight.

An experienced artisan in the company's Geneva workshop completes every dial by hand. The tool is controlled, but the pattern is not stamped from a single die. Small changes in angle, force and spacing mean the facets cannot repeat exactly. That makes individual variation part of the edition, surrounded by the Masterlink's tightly controlled case and bracelet geometry.

Unlike a sunray finish that reflects from one central direction, the hammered surface catches light across many facets at once. Highlights move around the dial as the wrist changes angle.

A slim case with a concealed clasp

The steel case measures 38mm by 38mm and is 7.99mm thick. That is notably slender for an automatic sports watch with an integrated bracelet, a screw-down crown and 100 metres of water resistance. Gerald Charles says the movement itself is 2.67mm thick, leaving limited vertical space for the dial, hands, crystal and case construction.

Its outline is square without being symmetrical. The six o'clock side curves into the shape Gerald Charles calls the smile, while the upper edge remains straight. The centre links of the bracelet follow those different lines before settling into a regular taper down the wrist. This is a more involved piece of geometry than attaching a straight end link to a conventional round case.

The bracelet hides its fasteners and closes with a concealed butterfly clasp. Its pushers are integrated into the final links, and half-links allow finer sizing than removing full links alone. Polished and satin-brushed finishing runs through the case and bracelet, giving the metalwork a continuous line from the head of the watch towards the clasp.

Seventy-five watches split three ways

Each dial colour is limited to 25 pieces. The references differ by their MI14HM, MI18HM and MI22HM dial codes, while the surrounding steel case and bracelet stay constant. The restricted numbers make the colour decision more consequential because the three variants are separate allocations, not interchangeable dials within one pool.

The rose and yellow versions bring warmth to the steel frame, with the rose version appearing the softest under direct light. Silver is more restrained and pushes attention towards the texture rather than the colour. All three use the same bright blue handset, which prevents the warm versions from drifting into a monochrome jewellery look.

There is an appealing tension in putting a deliberately irregular surface inside one of the brand's most tightly engineered cases. The Masterlink's construction is built to hide screws, clasp hardware and much of the mechanism's thickness. The Atelier dial does the opposite: it makes the visible marks of its production the main event.

Gerald Charles has not enlarged the case or added an openworked movement to signal that work. It has kept the 7.99mm profile, full water resistance and practical bracelet, then put the labour where it is seen every time the watch is read. For collectors who already understand the Masterlink shape, the hand-hammered dial is a substantial change without a new case pretending to be a new collection.

The absence of applied markers also makes this a useful test of the Masterlink's underlying proportions. Readability depends on the blue hands, the dial edge and the clear case shape. The decoration is elaborate, but the display remains a simple two-handed one in regular daily practice.