We ought to look at horology as a living organism that is constantly morphing and changing shape as much as it abruptly changes directions and sometimes circles back to where it started. As styles of watches come and go, and come back and go again, because sometimes something that is created becomes iconic and timeless, and because some other times we couldn’t get it right and we had to try again. Looking back at the past century, designers have come up with many ways to indicate time on dials in all shapes and forms, colors and textures, or to make dials into canvases to showcase other types of artistic disciplines. And so we either have (had) watches that directly tell the time or which don’t because they become means of self-expression instead of instruments. Again, they can be one thing or another, or begin as one and transition into another, but rarely be both at once. And so there is one type of horology brands are still attempting to get right. 

I couldn’t find a proper (official) description for such a style of watches so we can go with brutalist minimalist. A proposed nomenclature which describes a style of timekeeping devices which encompasses the raw and direct aesthetics of brutalist architecture with the essential and distilled philosophy of minimalist design. In other words, a watch that can be a time measuring instrument as well as a piece of art in and of itself, where shapes and movement can be fully integrated within the traditional functionality of a watch. And that is what the brand Tessé attempted to do by revisiting its first collection, the Michel GMT—strickly speaking: stripping the dial from the case to begin anew—by changing its nature of being a dressy GMT timepiece into a display of bold design, a model named the Michel Architect which comes in five variants and which can be worn on the wrist and acquired by way of a Kickstarter campaign through November 22, 2025 for the price of $1,131 USD.

Specifications

I was exaggerating just a bit just right now: Tessé didn’t fully discard the dial design of the Michel GMT to create the Architect, because it saved a couple of visual elements of the old to plop into the new, but we will chat about that a little later. What the brand did however was to reuse the singular case of the GMT for the Architect, which is nice because the case was outstandingly designed and manufactured and finished, but also because it creates a nice sense of continuity between the brand’s first two collections (or sub-collections to be exact.) After all, both are called Michel because the name refers to the bespoke and unique case profile Tessé brewed in its studios, a bold move to begin with. We indeed find the same stainless steel chassis on both models which measures 40mm in diameter, 41.7mm lug-to-lug, 10.8mm thick and comes with a 20mm lug width. The case of the Michel Architect also comes with the same glorious curved striations on both flanks which remain to me a first in horology (to my knowledge of course.)

Because the Michel Architect is no longer a GMT, Tessé swapped the Sellita SW330-2 caliber for an ETA 2892 A-2 élaboré which beats at 4Hz, comes with 42 hours of power reserve, and is regulated to run at -4/+6 seconds per day. Looking at the photos I took of the Michel GMT I can tell you right away at the ETA is much more handsome to look at as all of the plates, as well as the rotor, are decorated with either Côtes de Genève (Damaskeening) or Œil de Perdrix (Beading) patterns which the brand complemented with a representation of the dial pattern engraved in a repeating formation on the movement holder (which looks like a rehaut.) Since we can see all of this of course then there is a see-through case-back made of sapphire and that is the material the top crystal is made out of as well. The case, by the way, is complemented by a hardening coating raising its scratch resistance to 1,200 Hv, a neat little detail. Moreover, there is lume on the hands and for the hour markers in BL10* lume blocks securely nestled within the rehaut. 

*BL10 is a blend of X1-grade SuperLuminova that is white but emits a blue light at night. 

Design

But the reason why you would want to read about or reserve a Michel Architect is the dial. Obviously. This marvel or horological design is made of 21 elements—I count one for the dial, six for the half-circles, 13 lume blocks and a mystery one—which together create a little cosmos of various shapes, angles, and finishes which is…to put it simply…superb. Tessé indicates that the half-circles are hand-polished but they are in fact endowed with a radial brushing, so I assume the brand meant hand-finished. Whatever the case is, looking in very closely we can see that each of them sits inside grooves and are perfectly aligned north-south (something that would make Seiko feel extremely ashamed of itself since the Japanese giant routinely mis-aligns bezels and slents dials) and that each slopes down towards the center of the dial. The half-circles are interlaced by flat surfaces decorated with sunburst effects, together creating a brustalist lattice work I have never seen before. And which is not only sublime to look at but perfectly executed. 

At this point in the review I want to bring your attention back to the Kickstarter asking price of $1,131 USD which to me is little money to spend on such a singular horological creation. And the spectacle continues friends, as the maze-like dial is complemented by a rehaut of the exact same color as that of the dial, also radially brushed, in which we find the small lume blocks resting inside small notches—and I would add, perfectly centered inside them—which I assume wouldn’t have been easy to get made. These blocks therefore both aid in nighttime legibility as well as marking the hours, and now I’m starting to appreciate how Tessé and other brands manage to create designer-type dials whilst preserving a watch’s basic time-telling functionality, which is clever. To wrap the bow on the Michel Architect’s delightful design we will take a look at the handset: blacked out, polished and faceted—the center section of each hand is raised and therefore flanked by bevels on both sides, including the seconds hand—which won’t show in the photos. 

Alas. 

The Heart of the Matter

It is time to make a confession which I don’t think will come as a shockwave to you: I don’t typically feel moved by elegant and artistic watches as much as I do by utilitarian ones. My heart beats the strongest when my eyes witness the simplistic and straightforward nature of a tool watch, but it can also beat at a reasonable cadence when observing the meticulous work some brands manage to put out—not only when it is singular, unique, and bespoke to them, but also when it is thoughtfully created and complemented by a precise and square execution. In other words, not when a brand decided to come up with a different concept that is however poorly and cheaply executed, but when they put as much effort in walking outside the beaten path as they did carving out their own way. In other words: it is as beautiful as it is meticulously executed, as that is what Tessé did with the Michel Architect and which is today’s heart of the matter. It is a full package if you will and one which is reasonably priced. 

Conclusion

Conversations about horology are often littered with arguments about prices. There is the school of watch enthusiasts who is convinced that a watch should only cost as much as the sum of its parts (literally,) meaning that a brand shouldn’t charge more than what it paid to get it manufactured and assembled. Then there is the school of watch nerds who believes that the price of a watch is not only determined by what it is made out of and how well it is put together, but also by how original its design is. I believe you know which school I belong to because my motto is “We can’t put a price tag on design” and I know this couldn’t be truer looking at the Tessé Michel Architect. So if we are sitting on the same side of the horological aisle, then I encourage you to take a closer look at the Kickstarter campaign linked above. 

FYI: deliveries are slated for May of 2026.

Thanks for reading.