Anoma's A1 Prehistoric watch launches as a 100-piece collector's piece

Anoma opened orders for its A1 Prehistoric on July 8, capping the run at 100 pieces and pricing each watch at $3,900 before duties and taxes, with deliveries expected in October 2026. For the collector who wants a gift that feels rare from the moment it is ordered, this is the kind of watch that rewards planning, not impulse.

The Prehistoric keeps the A1’s rounded triangular, lugless shape, but the new grey-grained Italian leather strap and chiselled surfaces push it closer to sculpture than standard sports watch. Matteo Violet-Vianello said the idea came after a visit to a Brancusi sculpture exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where primitive tools such as arrowheads and hand axes helped shape the concept. Anoma has built its identity around that same art-first language, describing its watches as “wearable sculptures” imagined in London and made in Switzerland.

The finishing is what justifies the price. Steven Brunel, an engraver based in Mornand-en-Forez in France’s Loire region, hand-chisels the case and buckle, and each one takes about five hours to complete. The brass dial gets roughly 600 individual sunburst lines cut by hand before it is finished in anthracite, a detail that gives the face a depth most small-run independents simply do not attempt.

The watch measures 39mm by 38mm and is 9.45mm thick, with a case made from 316L stainless steel and water resistance to 50 meters. Inside is the Sellita SW100 automatic movement, a practical choice that keeps the watch wearable every day, even if the appeal here is less about utility than about the object itself. For the buyer who already owns a conventional steel sports watch, this is the one that feels like a conversation piece at dinner and a collector’s flex on the wrist.

The Prehistoric also marks a return to the limited-run format that helped build Anoma’s reputation after the brand launched in 2024. Earlier in 2026, some A1 versions moved into a permanent Core Collection, but this release restores the scarcity that made the line feel special in the first place. For the right recipient, especially someone drawn to design history, Brancusi, Charlotte Perriand, and watches that look like nothing else in the room, the A1 Prehistoric is the sharper gift.