Arnold & Son BaselWorld 2014 Novelties

DonCorson · 2014-05-30T14:38:35Z

Explore Arnold & Son's BaselWorld 2014 novelties: Time Pyramid, HM Perpetual Moon, TB88, and DBS Sidereal Time. Technical insights and collector opinions.

DonCorson

WPS member · Independents forum

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DonCorson provides an insightful overview of Arnold & Son's novelties from BaselWorld 2014, connecting the contemporary brand to its historical roots. He highlights the brand's commitment to in-house movements and chronometric complications, a nod to John Arnold's legacy as a pioneer in precision timekeeping.

BaselWorld 2014 - Arnold & Son

John Arnold (*1736 in Cornwall) was one of the famous watchmakers of the generation of Abraham-Louis Breguet. His timepieces where instrumental in solving the longitude problem for the British Navy and his "Nr. 36" was the first timepiece to be called a chronometer.

Today Arnold and Son is a Swiss brand in La Chaux-de-Fonds owned by the independent movement manufacturer La Jout-Perret. As such they have all the design and manufacturing competences needed in house and one of their trade marks is that each watch that they make has its own orginal movement. And, of course, they tie in to the history of Arnold & Son making watches with chronometric complications.

Let's take a look as some of the watches they are showing.

This is the Time Pyramid. This is a double barrel watch with a unique movement architecture, it being a pyramid shaped regulator like many historical British clocks. The balance wheel is alone at the top of the pyramid and the two barrels stable at the bottom. The two barrels enable an autonomy of 90 hours. Interestingly the watch has 2 power reserve indicatiors, one for each barrel. The barrels are in series, the first one winding the second when needed, so they do not necessarily have the same "state of charge". But when added they give the total autonomy.

HM Perpetual Moon has a 29mm moon disk which allows a 11.2mm diameter moon display. The display is accurate to a day every 122 years. A second moon display on the back with graduations allows accurately setting the moon display.

The TB88 is a double barrel jumping seconds watch with 100 hours of autonomy. The movement is inverted so that all the interesting features such as the many individual bridges in English style and the Breguet overcoil hairspring can be seen from the dial side.

The DBS Siderial time watch is a complication that we non-astronomers don't often need. The watch is perfectly symetrical on right showing mean solar time, the time system that we use daily, and on the left showing siderial time, time based on the position of the stars and no on the position of the sun. The difference is something less than 4 miniutes a day. It is impossible to derive that from the gear train of the mean solar time so an entire new oscillator and gear train is used timed correctly for siderial time. The two barrels are wound together, the the time setting is through separate stems to avoid changing the time by accident.

The DTE is a double tourbillon dual time zone watch introduced this year for the 250th anniversery of Arnold & Son. It includes two completely independent tourbillons, gear trains and time indications. Thus the time can be set at will for either and time zones that are not at full hours from GMT pose no problem.

The DSTB is a jumping seconds (dead beat) watch with the entire dead beat mechanism on the dial side where it can be admired at work at all times.

Here we see the TEC1, an automatic wind, tourbillon, column wheel chronograph.

A TE8 toubillon with a sapphire bridge allowing viewing of the entire mechanism.

The UTTE has a tourbillon movement that is only 2.97mm thick making ot one of the thinnest tourbillons around in its 8.34mm thick case.

The TBR includes a dead beat seconds with a retrograde date function.

This beautifully dialed TBR is a column wheel chronograph with dead beat seconds. This is one of the few times where I am not certain that I prefer the rose gold version. Even all in white stainless steel the watch is simply gorgeous.

Key Points from the Discussion

Arnold & Son's watches, while technically fascinating, exhibit varying stylistic approaches across their line, which some perceive as lacking a cohesive brand personality.
The finishing and material quality of Arnold & Son watches are noted to be around 80% of top-tier independent brands like Roger Smith or Grönefeld, which is understandable given their price point.
The DBS Sidereal Time watch, while innovative, displays sidereal time in 12-hour periods, which deviates from the 24-hour standard used by astronomers.
Despite the 12-hour display, historical Arnold & Son pocket watches and other antique captain's watches also used a 12-hour sidereal time indication, suggesting a historical precedent.
The HM Perpetual Moon features an exceptionally large and detailed moon phase display, prompting questions about its dial material and finishing.
The TB88, with its inverted movement showcasing English-style bridges and Breguet overcoil, and the stainless steel TBR were particularly well-received for their impressive designs and complications.

The Discussion

rnaden

May 30, 2014

My favorite among these is the TBR, but all the designs and complications featured are very impressive. Richard

jrwong23 (aka watchthebin)

May 30, 2014

I have never seen another bigger or more detailed moon phase on a watch. Is it a lacquered cream dial with blue lacquer on the moonphase? Thanks Don for the post. I enjoyed reading more about this brand Cheers Robin

Spellbound

May 31, 2014

I feel Arnold & Son were one of a handful of brands that really made a great showing this year. I love the stainless steel TBR. Dean

moc

Jun 2, 2014

I don t know,it seems to me we are in the presence of a fruit salad of messages,watches,most of all stylistic approaches...I see little coherence and personality even if some watches are interesting....a lot of nods to this that and the other almost trying to hard to please everybody..... Most of all I can t stop thinking at the Gronefeld 1HZ when looking at the (dead beat!)subdial of the TB88 and at the Duometre when I see the case dial and backview of the DBS Sideral time....maybe its just me.

David Walter

Jun 4, 2014

Thanks Don for posting these great photos, the varying models show great inovativeness in design. The DBS sidereal dial is indicating 12 hour periods, sidereal time is always represented with 24 hour periods as that is what astronomers use in observations. This makes littile diference to the interest in the watch but how many really use sidereal time at all ? David

Goldenlutin

Jun 7, 2014

Hello David, You are right, sidereal time is usually displayed on a 24 base. The sidereal watch from Arnold&Son (DBS) also does that. The 24h indication is indicated by a small counter at 12 o'clock. By the way, I own two antic sidereal pocket watches (so-called captain's watches) and both only display the sidereal time on a 12h base. I actually never asked myself why and should now investigate why. I have already checked the historical Arnold & Son pocket watch the brand is referring to

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