A few years ago (almost two years to the day, in fact) I picked up my James Lamb Origin Series. It’s a watch I had become kind of obsessed with in the months leading up to my purchase, and I’m happy to say that two years into ownership, long after the supposed honeymoon period would have been due to end, I’m still every bit as excited about it as I was on the day it arrived. There are a number of reasons for which we might connect to any particular watch: the aesthetics, the way it wears physically, the way it makes you feel when you wear it, and certainly the philosophy of the maker or brand behind it. I found the Origin Series watches to not only be incredibly beautiful, but the idea that these were handmade objects, pieced together in the traditional way by true artisans was something that always excited me.
Because of the handmade nature of Lamb’s work, that work is sometimes a little slow. He doesn’t participate in the traditional new watch release cycle that so much of the industry is beholden to. So I, along with many other admirers of his work, have been patiently waiting for whatever it is that would come next. Recently, we got our answer in the new Linea Edition. The Linea represents a fairly dramatic uptick in ambition for Lamb – this is not an iteration what we’ve already seen in the Origin Series, but something a little bit bolder. Still, it’s very recognizable as a “James Lamb” and adheres to the same underlying ideas that made those first watches so successful.
The case is still crafted from Argentium silver, but the design in the Linea series is far more complex, with more pronounced lugs. It’s also a bigger watch than the Origin Series editions, measuring at 40.5mm in diameter, 47.5mm from lug to lug, and 12.8mm tall. Notably, it has much broader lugs than the Origin Series, with a lug width of 22mm, up from 18mm. The case houses the same manually wound Sellita movement as its predecessor.
The case is a significant design shift to be sure, but the real advancement comes with the dial work of these new pieces. Whereas earlier watches made beautiful use of enamelled silver dial surfaces, the Linea features elaborately hand-engraved titanium dials with gold inlays. The time-telling subdial is still white ceramic (but with a new typeface) and is accented with a handmade 14-carat gold ring (an option on customized Origin Series pieces later in that project’s run).
The Linea launches with three distinct engraved dials: the Mitsuba, the Altair, and the Regent. All use complex geometric patterns that serve to highlight the work of Joanne Ryall, the talented engraver that Lamb has partnered with for these pieces. Each dial execution is culturally relevant in some way – the Altair borrows from Moorish geometry and is inspired by the constellation Aquila, the Mitsuba is a reinterpretation of the traditional Japanese Asanoha (hemp leaf) motif, and Regent is inspired by traditional British scroll engraving designs. Of course, all of the engraving is done by hand, under a microscope. This is a methodical, difficult craft, that takes a lot of time to execute properly and years to perfect. Good engraving is something that can’t really be “faked” or replicated with a machine; when you look at engraved metal under magnification, the handwork and skill of the engraver becomes obvious.
One of the real pleasures of my own Origin Series watch is the beautifully engraved caseback, and for the Linea watches James Lamb has upped the ante here as well. Each watch in the collection has an engraved Argentium silver caseback that is now filled with vitreous enamel by Andy Roberts, the enameller Lamb partnered with on the Origin Series dials. The geometric motif on the Linea caseback is meant to evoke the complexity of the dials, and each features a gold-enamelled “JL” monogram at its center.
James Lamb is now taking orders for watches in the Linea Series, which will be limited to 15-20 watches per year. The retail price is set at 23,000 euros. James Lamb
Zach Kazan
2025-12-17 15:00:00