Berneron Mirage 38 and 34–All Gold, No Notes (Almost) | Unpolished Index

Finally, a real review of the hottest indie watch.

Happy Sunday. We’re doing a very soft opening of the online Unpolished Store by selling a few hats here.

💚 I won’t be in New York for its unofficial watch week, but one of the more exciting releases should be from Petermann Bedat. Gaël Petermann’s allowed me to tease that it has a closed dial featuring enamel and a simple movement. The case keeps the identity from their split seconds. Gaël and Florian will be in New York and then San Francisco, L.A., and Miami, so reach out if you’re interested in seeing it.¹

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Berneron Mirage 34 Chrysoprase and Mirage 38 Sienna.

Thanks to a local collector, I recently spent a week with the Mirage 38 “Sienna” and Mirage 34 “Chrysoprase.” Many pixels have been spilled on Berneron, but I’m not sure I’ve seen a review from someone who’s had more than a few minutes ogling a Mirage.

This made my week with the Mirage 38 and 34 the perfect opportunity for the second installment of the Unpolished Index, our monthly review column that actually rates watches on a scale of 1–100. For more on the Index:

Introducing: The Unpolished Index

The Mirage 38 and 34 aren’t perfect—I’ll pick some nits—but each is a beautiful, pure expression of Berneron’s vision as a designer and brand builder.

Behind Berneron

The large barrel gives the Mirage its asymmetric shape (and 3-day power reserve).

You’re probably familiar with Sylvain Berneron (the man), Berneron (the brand), and the Mirage. If you follow this newsletter, you know the story.² Berneron has been hyped to near overexposure, with the Mirage being introduced in 2023, just as shaped watches peaked. But the Mirage was different, shaped from within by its asymmetric, all-gold movement. This fall, Berneron released his second collection, the Annual Calendar, which we got an early look at in April.

Meanwhile, he’s begun delivering the Mirage 38 to clients, 24 per year (CHF 65k), and the Mirage 34, 24 per dial per year (CHF 54k). The Mirage 38 is offered in white or yellow gold, while the Mirage 34 features stone dials of lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye, or a quietly offered chrysoprase. I prefer the warm yellow gold of both.

Let’s start with the Mirage 38, the larger and more technical of the pair.

Hands-On: Berneron Mirage Sienna

We won’t belabor the specs. The Mirage Sienna measures 38x34mm (42mm lug-to-lug), with 20mm lugs. It wears similarly to a round 38mm dress watch with short lugs and a large dial.

The case is large, flat, and thin with a polished bezel and lugs, and a brushed midcase. It can sit a bit “pancake”-like on the wrist, and the lugs are slightly downturned, though more curvature in the case or lugs might’ve helped. The large movement fills up the case, dictating its flat profile.

The Mirage's oblong crown

The oblong crown fits the Mirage’s geometry, though the first wind can feel funny. There’s a click spring that gives the winding a loud and satisfying click. The same asymmetrical lines from the case and dial are echoed in the movement’s bridges and wheels.

There’s a 72-hour power reserve thanks to a large barrel that gives the case its bulge at 1 o’clock. Thinness was a priority, and the movement is just 2.3mm thick. In the larger Mirage, this thinness does not compromise horology—there’s also a freesprung balance.

Caliber 233

The finishing can be described as haute-industrial—technical and deliberate. Berneron made no secret that his partner in developing the caliber 2.33 is Le Cercle des Horolgers, a well-known manufacturer that has also worked with Biver and Louis Vuitton. There are many finishes: Guillochage and anglage on the bridges, grené on the mainplate, laser engraving on the barrel, cerclage on the hour wheel. Impressive when you remember the bridges and mainplate are solid gold. The guilloché on the bridges gives it an iridescent effect as it dances with the light.

It is not, to be clear, high-end hand finishing that other indies have made their names with. But comparing a Berneron to a Rexhepi is like comparing a mathematician to a poet—both beautiful, just in different languages.

Berneron-designed font that matches the hands and sector dial.

The Mirage 38 has a two-tone sector dial with a brushed hour track interrupting the grained finish. Around the brushed section, there are engraved indentations. As is, these almost look like a cutout. Not unfinished, but like something more could’ve been done, perhaps a polish or metallic finish.³

Beyond these nits, the Mirage is magic. The Mirage 38, in particular, is the purest expression of Berneron’s vision to marry design and mechanics, and he does it in a way few other brands have. As I wrote in my brief review for the Mothership last year:

Often, we struggle with the question, ‘what’s the purpose of a mechanical watch today?’ We find the time with a glance at a screen, any screen. But if watches completely toss aside their original reason for being, they become mere jewelry. Decoration. Ornamentation. Which is fine, but celebrating the generations of craftsmanship that were dedicated to keeping mechanical time accurately is what can elevate watches into something more.

A modern watch isn’t for timekeeping, but the Mirage’s story starts from the inside and moves outward. Only after reconsidering function does the Mirage let itself consider form. This is what sets the Mirage apart because this is what sets watchmaking apart.

After a week of wearing it, the Mirage 38 felt more sporty than I expected, thanks to its larger size and playful dial. The entire case is also just 7mm, which means it disappears on the wrist. The Sienna felt at once warm and vintage and modern and sporty (for a dress watch). Despite the crooked case and hands, it’s easy to tell time, the sector dial always keeping you oriented. The hand-polished hour and minute hands have three dimensions, while the flat seconds hand is more two-dimensional (I assume it’s too small to polish in the same way).

Hands-On: Berneron Mirage Chrysoprase

The vibrant green Chrysoprase dial—only 48 were made—works well with the white gold case.

A year after the Mirage 38, Berneron introduced the Mirage 34. But it wasn’t just a shrunk-down Mirage. It also featured a new movement, caliber 215, named for its 2.15mm thickness.

This is where Berneron’s asymmetric idea really shines—despite the movement’s size, it maintains a 72-hour power reserve. Berneron says it uses the smallest balance wheel available—a practical trade-off that sacrifices a freesprung balance for longer power reserve. The most noticeable feature I felt missing from the 34 compared to the 38 was that satisfying winding click.

The caliber 215; the thin case and low profile of the Mirage 34.

But the Mirage 34 is more deliberately about aesthetics than the larger Mirage. No doubt, it’s harder to tell the time. It features a hand-carved stone dial with a sub-seconds carved to just 0.4mm at its thinnest. At angles or in certain light, you can see the toolmarks from this hand-carving process, a cool effect reminding you the dial is handmade.

Because of the gold movements and case thinness, the Mirage 34 and 38 have a low center of gravity and hug the wrist. As for the stones, tiger’s eye is my favorite, even though the chyrsophrase is special, limited to 48 pieces. With the yellow gold case, the tiger’s eye feels very ‘70s, all shag carpets, wood panels, and velvet everything. Lapis is simply more common in the market.

Wearing around the Mirage 34—perhaps especially the bright Chrysophrase dial—felt like having a design statement on my wrist. The stone has hardly anything else on it, and the natural shape of the Mirage’s case feels organic, emphasized by the scooped-out subdial. It’s hard to imagine a more attention-grabbing dress watch with its compact dimensions.

If the Mirage 38 wears like a modern dress watch, the Mirage 34 is more like a vintage Gilbert Albert (with a much better movement, to be sure). It’s smaller, and you just know that stone dial must be more delicate. I prefer the size of the Mirage 34, but the dial and movement of the 38.

At an angle or in certain light, the tool marks on the hand-carved stone dial are visible.

Collectibility Score

The Mirage is Berneron’s Illmatic—a debut so assured it might always define the artist, no matter what follows.

1. Design (10/10): It’s perfect.

2. History (8/10): It might not have its own history, but the Mirage is deferential to the horology that came before it, while also deconstructing it.

3. Horology (Sienna: 9/10; Chrysoprase: 8/10): The Mirage 34 makes a few (reasonable) trade-offs to achieve its astounding thinness. The Mirage 38 feels like the ultimate realization of Sylvain’s vision.