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Arnold & Son Celebrates Chinese New Year

Arnold & Son celebrates the traditional Chinese New Year with a limited edition moon phase watch that beautifully illustrates the Year of the Water Tiger, which begins on February 1.

The watchmaker’s Year of the Tiger Perpetual Moon sports a stunning dial depicting a golden tiger standing near a river and lit by a brilliant mother-of-pearl moon. Hematite and aventurine sparkle as the tiger and a luminous, hand-painted waterfall set the scene.

The new Arnold and Son Perpetual Moon Year of the Tiger.

Arnold & Son’s large moonphase display, already one of the most impressive such displays available from a Swiss watchmaker, here brilliantly reveals the waxing and waning of our satellite with hand-painted relief and a generous coating of SuperLuminova.

During the daytime, the moon takes on a grey tint, while in the dark it glows from the center, contrasting nicely with the adjacent deep black aventurine glass.

Arnold & Son artisans sculpted a rose gold tiger with hand-engraved and hand-burnished fur to highlight the remaining portion of the dial. The nearby bamboo is painted in gold powder on a hematite disc, which displays with glittering inclusions.

Inside Arnold & Son places its own A&S1512 manual-wind caliber, created with two barrels, a frequency of 3 Hz and a terrific ninety-hour power reserve.

Finally, Arnold & Son fits a black alligator strap backed with red alligator leather and stitched with platinum thread to the 42mm red-gold “Year of the Tiger” Perpetual Moon. A limited edition of eight, the watch is priced at CHF 52,900 (approximately $57,695).

 

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Franck Muller Creates a Wrist Rainbow

Now in the United States and Canada, this Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams collection will brighten any winter weary wrist with a rainbow of colors.

The imaginative Geneva watchmakers have deftly combined its top-selling 45mm Vanguard Skeleton tonneau case with a multi-hued manually wound movement. As noted on the watch’s dial, the movement offers an impressive seven-day power reserve.

The carbon-cased version of the new Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams.

Franck Muller’s watchmakers have built the movement from satin-finished, multi-color anodized v-shaped aluminum bridges that draw attention as framed by a metallic or darkened carbon case.

The movement consists of eight colors derived from the existing Franck Muller Color Dreams collection. While the current focus for this collection in the United States (and Canada) is on the model with a black carbon Vanguard case, Franck Muller also offers the watch in either a brushed titanium Vanguard case or a stainless steel Vanguard case.

Price: $59,700 (dark carbon case). Click here to locate a Franck Muller boutique in the United States. For a video description of the watch, click here.

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Omega Launches Speedmaster 321 Canopus Gold

Omega starts its new year by introducing a new Speedmaster 321 Canopus Gold.  The namesake white gold alloy, which Omega debuted in 2015, includes platinum, rhodium and palladium and is brighter and harder than traditional watch case white gold alloys.

The new Omega Speedmaster 321 in an 18-karat Canopus Gold case and bracelet.

The Omega Speedmaster 321 Canopus Gold release, meant to mark the Speedmaster’s 65th anniversary, is a particularly high-end version of the famed watch and not only is cased in 38.6mm gold, but also features a black onyx dial, white gold hands and a bezel filled with black Grand Feu enamel.

Omega designed the watch to closely echo the first Speedmaster (known as the CK2915-1). Thus collectors will note details such as the NAIAD symbol on the watch’s crown, which was specifically used to reference water-resistance in some of the first CK2915 models, as well as an applied vintage Omega logo and typography featuring an oval O as was found on the first CK2915 models. Collectors will also see the ‘dot over ninety’ (DON) and a dot diagonal to seventy.

The bezel is filled with black Grand Feu enamel.

Inside Omega places the revamped Caliber 321, a handcrafted remake of the original movement used inside the 1957 Speedmaster.

Omega’s manual-winding Caliber 321, now finished in Sedna gold PVD.

You might recall that Omega brought the manual-winding Caliber 321 back into production in 2019 with all the required technical specifications. However, today’s edition of the famed chronograph movement with column wheel is finished with a brilliant 18-karat Sedna gold PVD coating.

On the caseback, you’ll find the Omega Seahorse design engraved inside the sapphire crystal.

On the back Omega adds another tribute to the Speedmaster anniversary with an engraving of the Omega Seahorse icon. Omega added a new sparkle to the Seahorse’s eye, crafting it from a blue sapphire, a jewel that traditionally marks a 65-year celebration.

Omega offers the new Speedmaster 321 Canopus Gold watch on an 18-karat Canopus Gold bracelet. The watch arrives inside a special wooden box inspired by the original 1957 Speedmaster boxes.

Price: $81,000

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Armin Strom Adds Color and California to Tribute 1

Independent Swiss watchmaker Armin Strom adds retro-inspired markers to its contemporary Tribute 1 while also enhancing the color options for the manual-wind model’s already distinctive offset dial.

With the new Tribute 1 California, Armin Strom places so-called California markers onto the Tribute 1 dial, which can now also be ordered in a choice of five fumé colors that contrast nicely to the also-new black guilloché dial plate framing the dial.

The new Armin Strom Tribute 1 California, in one of five new dial color options.

While the new colors and markers highlight the new series, for many collectors it’s the dial plate itself that stands out here: Much-lauded Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen crafted each of the black guilloché dial plates by hand.

The California dial, distinguished by alternating Roman and Arabic numerals, differs fairly dramatically from the thin stick markers found on earlier Tribute 1 models. Their presence here, in combination with Voutilainen’s traditional guilloche plate, stylistically contrasts with the modernistic exposed and decorated mainspring barrel that dominates the lower section of the 38mm steel watch.

I suspect that this juxtaposition will jar very few contemporary minded Armin Strom collectors.

Armin Strom is offering five different fumé (sunburst-pattern) dials, including versions in blue, light blue, green, burgundy and black. The dials are each set with Armin Strom’s own distinctive hour, minute and seconds hands.

Inside Armin Strom places is own manual-wind manufacture Caliber AMW21 that boasts an incredible 100-hours of power reserve. Armin Strom notes that its watchmakers assemble, disassemble and reassemble each caliber to ensure that each individual part was cleaned, dried, reassembled and lubricated before being regulated, tested and placed back into its steel case.

Finally, Armin Strom adds that its presents each Tribute 1 California watch on a black alligator leather strap with stitching that matches the color of the dial. The Tribute 1 California is available in editions limited to five per color and Armin Strom will make only twenty-five of these new watches in total.

Price: $19.000

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Bell & Ross Cases its Cyber Skull in Clear Sapphire

Bell & Ross adds a new member to its family of ten BR 01 Skull watches with the new fully translucent BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire.

The new fully translucent Bell & Ross BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire.

The new watch might look a bit familiar as Bell & Ross earlier this year created a Cyber Skull Sapphire Only Watch 21 for the Only Watch charity auction.

That model also boasted an impressive sapphire crystal, but did so as it framed an orange-tinted skull. That watch sold at Only Watch for CHF 220,000 (about $240,000), all of which is donated to battle Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Bell & Ross calls the new BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire the “general public” version of that unique piece. Instead of the orange-tinted skull within its 43.5mm by 45mm full sapphire case, the faceted skull is almost as clear as the case.

The well-defined edges of the sapphire case create both reflections and refractions play with any nearby light, which will undoubtedly animate the watch on any wrist. The metallic skull and crossbones appear to float between the case’s two sapphire crystals.

Bell & Ross explains that its designers drew on several sources of inspiration when designing the new case. The include avant-garde design (note the somewhat pixelated skull), origami and, of course, the brand’s historic eye on military shapes. Bell & Ross says the “case is shaped like the fuselage of an American F117 stealth bomber.”

While that latter jet design inspiration is meant to make the Stealth bomber disappear from radar, the shape and makeup of the BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire create a watch that, even when worn with its clear rubber strap, is quite unlikely to avoid attention.

Inside Bell & Ross fits its BR-CAL.209 manual-wind automaton movement specifically developed for the watch. The plate and bridges are built to create skull shape, which are held by metallic and sapphire crossbones. And while many watchmakers refer to the spring balance as the ‘heart’ of their mechanical calibers, Bell & Ross calls the exposed balance on the BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire the ‘brains’ of its unusual caliber.

Bell & Ross will make ten examples of the BR 01 Cyber Skull Sapphire. Price: $117,000.

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