RAÚL TENA
Raúl Tena is a Spanish maker who came to watchmaking from aeronautical engineering, launching his eponymous project at Dubai Watch Week in late 2025. His premise, stated as “Art to Watch”, is to build watches around hand-made miniature sculpture rather than around a complication. Each piece is produced in tiny numbers and treated as a three-dimensional object first.
The Pearl Diver
The debut piece, the Pearl Diver, places a sculpted scene on the dial and was released in an initial run of five examples. The construction is conceived so that the artwork, not the display of time, governs the composition. It introduced Tena to collectors as a métiers d’art proposition from an unexpected quarter — Spain has almost no modern haute horlogerie tradition.
Built With the Independents
Rather than claim capabilities he does not have, Tena assembled a group of established specialists around the project, drawing on Swiss watchmaking, dial-making, design and finishing expertise. The approach is common among new independents and unusual only in how openly he has credited it. Output is bespoke, deliberately minimal, and aimed at collectors who read horology as art.