LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS, SWITZERLAND (June 19, 2024) – A new dial material has joined Arnold & Son’s creative repertoire. In a watchmaking first, the Swiss watchmaker unveils a new Baltic amber or ‘tiger’ amber timepiece dial – a one-of-a-kind entry to the Swiss watchmaker’s Double Tourbillon collection, and just the latest of the brand’s explorations of rare mineral dials. The rich, moiré yellow of this exceptionally rare material surrounds twin tourbillons, and presents a soft and textural visual balance to the timepiece’s polished white gold case, skeletonized bridges, and white opal hour dials.
Double Tourbillon White Gold draws on the rich appearance of the stones that Arnold & Son explores with intention and originality. After imperial jade, malachite and aventurine, the brand has now adopted amber. In the watchmaking language of Arnold & Son, the tourbillon is a rare construction, treated with the respect that its 260 years of history have taught the brand. Its wonder and magnificence are doubled in the brand’s exceptional double tourbillon, and in the case of this amber model, a fitting stage for creative and material exploration and one-of-a-kind unique pieces.
FOSSILIZATION
Contrary to common belief, not all amber is translucent orange. Baltic amber has a creamy appearance and a surprising variety of colors. For this unique piece, Arnold & Son chose warm, moiré yellow.
This amber is the fossilized resin of a wide variety of plants, particularly conifers, which grew on the Baltic Sea coast some 44 million years ago. Carried away by rising water levels, the plant matter began the geologically slow process of transformation. It gave rise to this precious, highly sought, symbolically rich material of astonishing aesthetic refinement.
While natural materials – such as Arnold & Son’s signature stones – make each dial unique, amber adds an extra dimension of individuality. Exposure to sunlight will alter the shade of the stone over time. This will cause a perceptible change in the color and opacity of the material, which will age very differently depending on how its wearer uses the timepiece.
DUALITY
In historical terms, Double Tourbillon White Gold draws on the two most fundamental vocations of John Arnold’s work: chronometry and world time. His production of marine chronometers sought to simplify and augment the perfect reliability of time measurement by tracking time at the moment of departure. By comparing it with that of the place where the measurement was taken, based on observing true solar noon, ocean navigators were able to measure their position on an east-west axis – giving their longitude.
Double Tourbillon White Gold perpetuates this duality by displaying local time on the small dial at 12 o’clock, calibrated by Roman numerals. It is complemented by a display of the time in another location at 6 o’clock, using Arabic numerals. These two dials display hours and minutes that are completely independent, and accurate to the minute.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Double Tourbillon White Gold draws on the Manufacture’s design, production, and adjustment capabilities. The sapphire crystal is convex to accommodate the depth of the two tourbillons, which are in turn each secured to a three-dimensional, skeletonized, cantilevered bridge in white gold. They are also located at the end of a double gear train. The A&S8513 caliber is thus equipped with two barrels, two crowns, and two time zones.
They can display the same time, two different times, or one can tell the time while the other is timing a long event. Unlike the vast majority of so-called travel watches, Double Tourbillon White Gold can thus adapt to time zones that are offset by 15, 30, or 45 minutes.
FINISHES
The structure of this movement is underscored by extremely sophisticated finishes. This is a speciality of the Arnold & Son manufacture, and it is taken to the very highest level in this model. From the radiating Côtes de Genève stripes to the circular-grained mainplate, the double-snailed barrels, the sunray-brushed crown wheels, and the polished gold chatons, everything about the A&S8513 caliber exudes elevation, craftsmanship and excellence.
The bevelling, satin-finishing and mirror-polishing of the tourbillon bridges in solid white gold is the highlight of an exceptionally elegant display in relief. Double Tourbillon White Gold offers a mechanical and ornamental counterpart to the symbolic aesthetic that reigns on its dial.
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.
