Arnold & Son produces a wide range of watches that vary in their level of romanticism, complication, and technical attributes. From their highly technical UTTE tourbillon, to the very romantic Time Pyramid, or even the complicated and impressive CTB Chronograph, Arnold & Son has an undeniable ability to turn heads with beautiful and detailed designs that instill a distinctively artistic feel to their watch making. This year at Baselworld Arnold & Son had quite a few pieces to show, including the new Arnold & Son DSTB. Like many of the watches in their Instrument collection, the Arnold & Son DSTB packs an interesting and seldom seen complication and is named as an acronym, shorthand for Dial Side True Beat.
True beat is a complication that allows the seconds hand to tick rather than sweep. The feature, which is also sometimes called “dead seconds,” is more of a technical and aesthetic accomplishment than a practical feature with tool applications. On the Arnold & Son DSTB, the entire true beat mechanism is executed in full view atop the dial, along with a focused separate display for the seconds hand. While the hours and the minutes are relegated to a subsidiary dial at four o’clock, the seconds display floats above the beautifully finished metallic dial with a three-dimensional raised sapphire scale and a blued steel hand.
Executed in a 43.5 mm 18k red gold case, the effect is wonderfully detailed, and not only is each individual element beautifully finished, but the beat seconds lever is adorned with an anchor, a nautical icon that connects throughout Arnold & Son’s designs and branding. The dial view offers a multi-layered scene that is rooted in a deep grey dial with radial finishing. The main time dial is a white lacquer with roman numerals and blued steel hands. The fine detailing continues on the flip side where a sapphire display case back allows for a view of the automatic Arnold & Son 6003 movement.
The 6003 is composed of 229 components, including 32 jewels and the dead beat mechanism visible on the dial. With a power reserve of 50 hours, this movement runs at 28,800 vph and is host to a high level of finishing.
This version was released for Baselworld 2017 and we discussed our first impressions here. Here, we will go hands-on together with the Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton and explore what makes this watch tick, besides, you know… the double balances.When it comes to assessing the importance of this watch, I consider it crucial to check at the brand’s history. Arnold & Son was founded in 1764 by John Arnold at London’s Strand. At precisely the same year, he presented a half-quarter repeater watch mounted inside a ring to King George III, which he followed up four years later with a gold and enamel minute repeater fitted with jeweled pivot holes, bimetallic temperature compensation, and a jeweled cylinder escapement. Arnold named that this watch the “No. 1,” beginning a naming convention he’d use for his significant timepieces going forward.By 1772, an Arnold “No. 3” chronometer was aboard Captain Cook’s boat when he set out for his next voyage across the Pacific, along with Arnold chronometers goes to accompany many other significant voyages over these decades. His son, John Roger Arnold, started studying watchmaking beneath Abraham-Louis Breguet at 1792 and joined his father’s business four decades later. Breguet became a great friend of John Arnold and the two collaborated on balance designs, the overcoil balance spring, and the tourbillon, although Arnold died in 1799 before this notion could be accomplished. To mourn his departure, Breguet presented his son with the very first tourbillon escapement mounted in an Arnold pocket chronometer, which also conveys a personal inscription and is today displayed in the British Museum in London.
The Arnold & Son DSTB wears a bit smaller than expected for watch with such a complex and open dial view. The red gold is matched with a lovely brown leather strap and the entire piece feels usable (thanks to the legibility of the hours and minutes display) and very special. The domed and anti-reflective sapphire crystal does an excellent job of managing reflections and ensures a clear and distortion free view of the dial and its three dimensional presentation.
Sporting a price tag of $46,500, the DSTB will be limited to just 50 units and I would wager that such a beautiful execution of a rather esoteric complication will make the DSTB quite popular with collectors and Arnold & Son fans alike. arnoldandson.com