How many watches does Tessera produce each year?

Eighteen wristwatches per calendar year, finished entirely by the six craftspeople in our Geneva workshop. We have not raised this number since 2018, and have no intention of doing so.

What is the current waiting time?

Approximately fifty months from confirmed commission to delivery. We open the order book for ten days each spring and accept commissions in the order received.

Are commissions customisable?

Within tight bounds: dial colour, hand style, case finish, and engraving. The movement, calibre, and case proportions are not configurable. The shape of each watch is a position, not a menu.

// Rue des Bains 14 // 1205 Geneva // Open Tuesday by appointment

Cohort 12 — Spring 2026 18 watches a year, since 2018 Waiting list: ~ 50 months

eighteen hand-finished watches a year.

Tessera is an independent atelier in Geneva, established by Hélène Schaerer in 2014. Six craftspeople. One workshop. Eighteen mechanical wristwatches a year, finished entirely by hand under the same loupe.

FoundedGeneva · 2014by Hélène Schaerer

WorkshopSix craftspeopleOne bench, one bell

01 — Atelier

A watch is a small machine for paying attention. A finished one refuses to be hurried — through the loupe, by the file, in the patience of the bench.

Three years. No detours.

Each Tessera moves through the same three rooms. The same six hands. The bell on the wall — given to Hélène by her teacher in Le Locle — is rung when a calibre passes its first regulation.

Calibre & case

The movement is laid out on the bench in the morning and not lifted again until evening. Every chamfer is filed by hand. The case is finished from a single block of steel or rose gold. Twenty-two months.

Hand anglage
Black-polished bridges
Single-block case
Twenty-two months

Dial & hands

Dials are fired in grand-feu enamel by Frédéric over two seasons. Hands are cut, heat-blued, and polished one set per watch. There are no spares; the dial that survives is the dial you receive.

Grand-feu enamel
Heat-blued hands
Hand-applied indices
Six months

Regulation & delivery

Final assembly. Forty days of timekeeping observation in five positions. A regulation card written in pencil. The bell on the wall, then a leather case, then a phone call to the patron the day before delivery.

Five-position COSC+
Forty-day observation
Pencil regulation card
Hand-delivered when possible

The eighteen.

Three references, six examples each year, one bell. A patron may commission either reference; the third is reserved for the atelier and seldom shown.

N° 01

Reference Tessera 01.A — Heure Calibre T-21 manual, 65h reserve Case 38 mm, polished steel Edition 6 per year, no exceptions

The quiet reference.

Hours, minutes, small seconds at six. Grand-feu enamel dial, dauphine hands heat-blued. The first watch the atelier produced; refined yearly, never replaced.

A close-up of a deep midnight-blue grand-feu enamel watch dial with applied gold indices and faceted gold hands

N° 02

Reference Tessera 02.B — Réserve Calibre T-22 manual, 8-day reserve Case 39 mm, rose gold Edition 6 per year, no exceptions

The long-running reference.

An eight-day mainspring barrel, exposed power-reserve indication on the dial side, slow-beat T-22 calibre. The longest project on the bench at any time.

An extreme close-up of a luxury mechanical watch movement with hand-finished tourbillon escapement, polished steel bridges, and brass mainplate with circular graining

N° 03

Reference Tessera 03.X — Atelier Calibre T-23 minute repeater Case 41 mm, platinum Edition 6 per year, atelier reserved

The seldom-shown one.

A minute repeater calibre developed in collaboration with a retired master in Le Locle. Reserved for the atelier's own collectors and shown by request only. We do not photograph it for the website.

A watchmaker's atelier at dusk with a single bench under a focused work light, brass tools, magnifying loupe, and a half-disassembled mechanical movement

04 — By the year

0 Watches finished annually since 2018.

0 Craftspeople in the workshop. Hélène, four watchmakers, one apprentice.

0 Components outsourced. Verified, audited, and listed in every regulation card.

0 Months in the current waiting list.

05 — Press & collectors

06 — Commission

apply for
cohort thirteen.

atelier@tessera.atelier +41 22 555 0014 Letter of intent (PDF) Instagram, occasionally