New York (November 16, 2023) – Swiss watchmaker Arnold & Son has revisited one of its most iconic and classic collections: Time Pyramid. The timepiece’s 2023 re-edition retains and refines its unique pyramidal appearance and structure, presented in a fully redesigned case and new 42.5 mm diameter. The 42.5 Time Pyramid edition also features a blue aventurine glass case back and white opal minutes openworked dial for the first time. Fine materials also take the spotlight in the collection’s watch cases, crafted in red gold (5N) and platinum (PT950) – colors that are repeated on the rim of the hours and minutes dials. With its contrasts, its play on transparency, and sense of depth and symmetry, the Arnold & Son Time Pyramid 42.5 explores every creative field in watchmaking to assert its distinction.
VERTICAL TIME
The conception of time is often either linear or cyclical. A vertical alignment is not part of the mental landscape. And yet, it is this vision that Arnold & Son has chosen to portray on Time Pyramid. Inspired by the creations of John Arnold and his British peers, the striking timepiece revives a clock shape that was fashionable in the 1830s. By arranging the movement’s organs from top to bottom rather than in a circular formation, Arnold & Son goes beyond the chronometric horizon to achieve an unparalleled feat of design.
DESIGN
In creating Time Pyramid, Arnold & Son has revisited, adapted, and extended clockmaking codes. Devoid of a full-sized dial, this wristwatch reveals a skeletonized movement in the shape of a pyramid. Alternatively, this arrangement can be seen as assuming the abstracted form of an anchor, recalling the Arnold & Son logo and making direct reference to John Arnold’s title as watchmaker for the Royal Navy.
The distinct features of Time Pyramid’s movement stand out in its new cases, with a diameter of 42.5 mm, a thickness of 10.72 mm, and choice of either red gold (5N) or platinum (PT950). Its crown at 6 o’clock remains unique in the world of watchmaking, as does its baroque approach to symmetry.
CASE BACK
The expression ‘open-air’ applies literally to the Time Pyramid’s glass case-back, offering yet another new interpretation by Arnold & Son. Neither transparent nor opaque, it is composed of an extremely thin disc of aventurine glass: the first time this iconic material has ever been used in a timepiece case back.
The fine aventurine glass, constellated with copper inclusions, showcases the Venetian glassmakers’ dexterity and renown. The unique materials is said to have been discovered by accident when a workman dropped some copper filings into a vat of molten glass. One cooled and cut, the dazzling ‘all’avventura’ glass revealed myriad sparkles.
LIGHT
Arnold & Son has chosen to use this decorated glass as a backdrop for its Time Pyramid. This glittering backdrop allows the light to filter through when the watch is not being worn, revealing interplays of transparency and color.
The interaction of reflections is just as strong on the dial, where alternating gold-plated and NAC-treated (anthracite) finishes showcase the Côtes de Genève stripes. The subtle glimpse it offers of the two barrels’ bridges reinforces the powerful and omnipresent sense of symmetry that underpins Time Pyramid.
STRUCTURE
The force behind this inspired movement, the Time Pyramid, commands full attention. The case’s wide opening and slender bezel showcase the movement’s mechanical arrangement, while the screw balance sits majestically at 12 o’clock. Below, the gear train highlights an array of finishes that include hand chamfering, satin-finished and sunray-brushed wheels, snailed barrels, and blued screws. The caliber’s structure then splits in two beneath a ring in white opal – the signature stone of Arnold & Son’s off-centered dials.
On either side of the encircled dial, two power-reserve indicators mirror one other, indicating the same information and reflecting the two barrels that power the caliber A&S1615 just a few millimeters below the surface. Fully developed, machined, assembled, and adjusted at the Manufacture, it can operate for 90 hours without rewinding.
For more information, contact Ana Martins Communications.
ABOUT ARNOLD & SON
Arnold & Son is named after John Arnold, a renowned English watchmaker of the 18th century. The golden age of maritime explorations and discoveries ushered this precision into a new technical ideal – determining longitude at sea. Its immediate corollary was the identification of local time, which changed constantly as the observer moved along an east-west axis. Astronomy, chronometry, and what we now call world time are thus inextricably linked within one and the same question, to which John Arnold and his son devoted their lives, their art, and their genius.
This is how these three dimensions – Astronomy, Chronometry and World Time – have come to be embodied in the House’s contemporary timepieces. Echoes of John Arnold’s inventions and preoccupations, these principles represent the foundations on which the Arnold & Son collections are based. The twenty-plus calibers presented to date by Arnold & Son have all been designed and developed in-house and produced by its sister manufacturer, La Joux-Perret in La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland). This independence and creativity demonstrate the House’s ability to perpetuate John Arnold’s exceptional inventions.
For more information, visit arnoldandson.com.
