This article is the 5th or 6th time that I’ve written about the Arnold & Son Time Pyramid, so for everyday readers, my apologies for repeating myself. With these sexy images of the Arnold & Son Time Pyramid Steel Translucent I couldn’t help but dive into the watch again. Along with the benefit of the specially coloured sapphire crystal caseback on this version, I think that the same strategy can (and should) be used on other skeletonized dial and motion watches. It actually becomes a real issue to inhibit the attractiveness of a fully skeletonized design together with the fact that if folks wear these watches they don’t really need to stare in their very own skin throughout the dial.Inside the Arnold & Son Time Pyramid is the brand’s in-house-made caliber A&S1615 manually wound mechanical motion I continue to adore. It is not only that the motion is designed to appear cool – though it’s – but rather the motion has some intriguing mechanical characteristics to boot. For instance, the dual power reserve indicators are a part of a system which uses two mainspring barrels to get a quasi-constant force mechanism. The notion is that a main mainspring barrel is utilized till it largely melts. At the point, the power coming from it is too unreliable to power the equipment train for precise timekeeping. So, then the secondary mainspring barrel kicks in to make sure the most constant power in order the A&S1615 movement is more accurate across its 90 hours of power reserve.
The case is constructed from 4N rose gold and the sapphire crystal has anti-reflective coating on either side to help remove distracting reflections. My mind went to the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre versions, but where they provide twin barrels regulated by precisely the exact same balance wheel, the Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton goes complete monoblock mode for each dial, in the event the Hi-Fi analogy is at all apt for describing a wristwatch.Minor legibility and aesthetic caveats aside, the Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton is a handsome watch that manages to walk the fine line between attention-seeking and refinement with its bold, yet slim case and gold-on-silver colour. A whole lot of performance is available for travelers that can use the well-executed GMT complication, and fans of mechanical watches are rewarded with views of these dual balance wheels with each glance in the wrist. It’s great to see the historical name of Arnold & Son still generating timepieces that push the bounds of movement design, and do this in a nicely implemented, thoughtful way.
Some people are going to be really excited about the upcoming Arnold & Son Golden Wheel watch which marks a new “Star Wheel” style complication which many collectors have great enthusiasm for. This is a concept also known as “wandering hours” which has been around since at least the 18th century – though it is rare to find in watches today. The Arnold & Son Golden Wheel will mark a welcome return to the wandering hours concept with a little bit of Arnold & Son character and a lovely classic style.
“Star Wheel” is actually the name for a collection of watches from Audemars Piguet that was the last to emulate this style of watch. No longer produced, the Audemars Piguet Star Wheel came in a round case or in a Millenary form with the Audemars Piguet Millenary Star Wheel watch which Frank Geelen offered some hands-on with here. You can see the use of three transparent discs which revolve like a system of planetary gears which move an hour marker along a minute track. However, there is an even more modern interpretation of the wandering hours concept.
Though the contemporary Arnold & Son is currently owned by the Citizen Group and continues to be revived in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the heritage of precision timekeeping, advancements in escapement technology, and Breguet’s influence can nevertheless be felt with this timepiece. The Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton basically combines two movements, each with their own barrel, equipment train, escapement, and equilibrium, combined by one winding system and one centralized second hand. Both dials for house time and GMT are thus powered with their own dedicated movements, allowing each to be placed independently via a dual crown system in 3 and 9 o’clock. Coolness factor aside, this also includes a practical benefit in being able to set GMT time to the moment, which is particularly beneficial when dealing with time zones offset by 30 minutes such as portions of India, Australia, and Canada.In comparison to the non-skeletonized version of this Arnold & Son DBG we analyzed before, this incarnation supposes some legibility in order to better show that beautifully symmetrical motion. A ring of smoked sapphire crystal is employed for each dial to help attract the numerals more into focus against the hectic background without completely obscuring it, and it is a clever move. GMT time may also be differentiated via the dial’s usage of skeletonized hands and Roman numerals, compared to the Arabic numerals and solid palms featured on the house time dial. Unlike the previous version, the palms on the Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton are gilded instead of blued, which is visually a nice complement to the exposed balance wheels but also makes them hard to see at a glance.
Urwerk watches, for the most part, all use the Star Wheel concept in a system they call “satellite hours.” While Urwerk adds a modern interpretation that is more complicated and three-dimensional, the concept remains the same. With that said, while Urwerk’s timepieces are very cool and undoubtedly modern in their appearance , they do leave out those people interested in more traditional style designs. So thanks to Arnold & Son, there is something new in this department with the Golden Wheel. In the watch we have a return to the transparent sapphire crystals that each have four hour markers printed on them. The entire system moves and the current hour is read at the 12 o’clock point on the case along the minute track. Under the indicator for the current hour is a base of mother-of-pearl which adds decor as well as legibility to reading the current time.
Above the entire hour indication system is a running seconds hand. This has “ticks” – it advances once every second, as opposed to 6-8 times per second – due to the dead beat seconds complication in this mechanical movement. No one is doing more dead beat seconds hand complications today than Arnold & Son, and it is interesting to see it applied here. Of course, even though the seconds hand ticks, this is a purely mechanical watch – and the dial design really takes the wandering hours concept into modern times with the view of the finely finished movement parts on the dial. This is all part of the in-house made Arnold & Son caliber A&S6018 automatic movement that operates at 4Hz with about 50 hours of power reserve.
Arnold & Son reminds us that this is the first movement in the world to combine a “jumping digital hours” complication with a “true beat” (dead beat) seconds hand – we don’t challenge that claim. The overall dial and design is very attractive, though the scales on the periphery of the dial look a bit cluttered where the minute track is overlapped by the seconds track – a minor complaint. The central “time-carrousel” that holds the discs is in 18k red gold and contrasts well against the grey movement components underneath it.
What about the size of the Arnold & Son Golden Wheel case? It is 44mm wide available in 18k red gold for this debut limited edition version of the watch. Arnold & Son has been extending the lives of their new watches over a few years by releasing variations in different case materials and something with slightly different dial and movement finishing treatments. Regardless, I expect to see only limited amounts of the Arnold & Son Golden Wheel watch over time given their niche, yet profound, appeal to dedicated collectors. The ref. 1HVAR.M01A.C120A Arnold & Son Golden Wheel watch will be available as a limited edition of 125 pieces and will debut at Baselworld 2015. Price is $49,950. arnoldandson.com