Arnold & Son Unveils the Golden Wheel: World’s First Wandering Hours and True Beat Seconds Watch Replica Buyers Guide

Rather than the power from the mainspring flowing directly into the escapement, it has to first pass through Arnold & Son’s constant force mechanism. The controlled power supply charges a little hairspring, which releases a constant quantity of power to the tourbillon once per second. With this mechanism, there’ll nevertheless come a stage once the power released by the double barrels and the continuous force mechanism drops below a point that’s enough to maintain a normal output. While this happens, the watch stops instead of allowing an isochronal error to creep into the timekeeping.In accession to this intriguing solution, the Arnold & Son Constant Force Tourbillon comes with a deadbeat moments complication, which causes the seconds hand to “tick” instead of sweep as you might expect in a mechanical timepiece. Outstanding consistency is achieved thanks to the symmetry of this movement’s construction, as well as the fact that the constant force escapement remains stationary throughout operation, while the tourbillon cage moves once per minute. That is in an attempt to reduce the effect of gravity to the escapement’s operation. Assuming, though, that this watch is unlikely to be worn out in the presence of strong magnetic fields (it’s barely acceptable for use on a building site or while flying a helicopter, by way of example), the complication perfectly matches the intended application.The Arnold & Son Constant Force Tourbillon watch is a limited variant of which only 28 will be made. The A&S5119 movement has 39 jewels, a thickness of 6mm, a 90-hour power book, and works in 21,600vph. The NAC grey mainplate and also the palladium-coated bridges are produced from nickel-silver and hand-finished with polished edges and brushed surfaces, gold screw-down chatons, and bevelled and polished screw heads. The movement is almost perfectly symmetrical, and all the specialized elements are observable on the dial-side. The three-dimensional movement architecture is intended to echo the English tradition of marine chronometer structure. Price is available on request.

By Osheen Arakelian

With a rich British watchmaking heritage that dates back to the 18th century, Arnold & Son masterfully reinterprets history with a visionary eye to the future. Underscoring its watchmaking prowess, Arnold & Son regularly unveils complicated watches with a unique twist. The patented Golden Wheel deftly reflects the brands ingenuity and commitment to Haute Horlogerie. 

The Golden Wheel presented by Arnold & Son at Baselworld 2015 is a beautiful interpretation of the ancient wandering hours complication in a three dimensional format. It has roots dating back to the mid 17th century with the first implementation being produced for pocket watches around the 18th century. Many have argued on its original birthplace with some believing it to have originated in England. So it was only right that Arnold & Son to take up the mantle and reinterpret this beautiful complication. The Golden Wheel is the first ever watch to feature both wandering hours and a true beat seconds function together in the one timepiece. It is part of the Instrument Collection, which pays tribute to the timepieces focused on chronometry, which were developed in the second half of John Arnold’s life (The founder of Arnold & Son). It has been three long gruelling years in the making, from concept to development and the challenge was met during multiple stages of both design and development.

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Centred around a 44mm 18-carat red gold case, the Arnold & Son Golden Wheel features a cambered sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides and also has a see-through sapphire case back for full view of the movement. The dial has a silver sheen with white mother of pearl. The wandering hours function takes up the upper portion of the dial between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock.

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Just underneath, beats the beautiful time-carrousel of the Golden Wheel, the standout feature of the piece. It is both a complicated and absolutely stunning motion that performs a ballet from the center axis. The true beat seconds, or as it is also referred to, the dead beat seconds, is a very precise function that enables the seconds to beat incrementally as opposed to the sweeping motion seen in most mechanical watches. This function allows for more accuracy when reading the time during the course of the day and is a speciality of Arnold & Son.

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Breakdown of the A&S6018 movement.

The Golden Wheel houses the A&S6018 mechanical self-winding movement with 29 jewels and has a total of 232 component parts all working together and beating at a steady 28,800 vibrations per hour. In true Arnold & Son fashion, the movement has been detailed in great detail and beauty. The movement has been treated in palladium and is decorated with hand-chamfered bridges with polished edges, fine circular graining, Côtes de Genève rayonnantes, circular satin-finished wheels and blued screws with bevelled and mirror-polished heads. The oscillating weight has also been skeletonised with brushed surfaces and also treated with palladium.

Finished off with a hand-stitched brown or black alligator strap, the Arnold & Son Golden Wheel is limited to just 125 pieces. For more info, please visit arnoldandson.com

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OSHEEN ARAKELIAN – CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Drawing on a lifelong love of horology and a more recent introduction to appreciation of fine whisky, Osheen brought the two together with watch & whisky. He is proprietor of the site, which covers everything related to watches and whisky. In between completing a degree in commercial law and supporting a rich social life, he is out and about attending all the latest watch and whisky events Sydney has to offer. His passion has also taken him around Australia attending a number of events and he hopes to continue his career in the watch industry on a more serious level after he graduates. Read his articles here.

WristReview’s Top 5 Watches of SIHH 2018 Replica Watches Young Professional


By Jovan Krstevski

The Arnold & Son UTTE Skeleton comes at a 42mm 5N red gold case, which can be as beautifully crafted as the movement. It is stepped, tapering from top to bottom. The dial area, that’s the broadest section, additionally offers an extra-large sapphire glass to showcase the caliber A&S8220 in all its glory. The bottom of the case is made narrower to fit snugly on the wrist.The Arnold & Son UTTE Skeleton watch will be restricted to only 50 pieces, and every watch will come with a hand-stitched brown or black alligator leather strap with a fitting 5N red gold buckle with the Arnold & Son emblem. Arnold & Son creates some beautiful moon phase watches, and there’s a new piece from the group with a fresh spin. Construction on the HM Hemisphere Perpetual Moon model, the Arnold & Son HM Double Hemisphere Perpetual Moon watch joins the brand’s Royal Collection. With a second three-dimensional moon, the Arnold & Son HM Double Hemisphere Perpetual Moon watch preserves the visual allure of previous versions but affords the wearer a view of the moon from both the southern and northern hemispheres. The tasteful gold constellations together with the stunning blue guilloché dial make certain this bit fits in just perfectly with the rest of the line along with the brand as a whole.Measuring in at 42mm, the Arnold & Son HM Dual Hemisphere Perpetual Moon instance is offered at 18 karat red gold, though perhaps in the long run a stainless steel variant will be provided. In any case, the gold with the deep blue guilloché dial is just simply beautiful. The three dimensional moons themselves are 11.2mm, and are linked with the gold stars resulting in a totally mesmerizing look. Regal is the word to describe this particular dial, and Arnold & Son have produced a bit that can make fans completely salivate.

The year 2017 has been a great year and we’ve enjoyed squeezing our top 5s in one list and we even included a bonus of 5 honorable mentions. So why not do it again with the best watches we’ve covered so far from SIHH 2018? Without further ado, here are our top 5 picks for the honorable mentions.

The Honourable Mentions

5. Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 1R-6.1

The 1R–6.1 is a COSC certified chronometer that’s truly unique and features Ferdinand Berthoud’s signature octagonal 44mm case. Its dial is very informative with the hours presented in rolling digits in a window at 2. It’s powered by a tourbillon that comes with a fusee and chain mechanism that delivers smooth power curve and increases accuracy over the course of the wind in the barrel. This watch is limited to only 20 examples worldwide. Read more here

4. Ressence E-crown Concept

The Ressence E-crown Concept marries electronics and pure mechanics in an elegant way. Like a modular design, a rotating disc display is connected on top of a mechanical display by the e-crown that smartly manages timekeeping. Basically you only need to set time once by a mechanical lever at the caseback, then electronics take full control. This is accuracy governed by chips which we all know works precisely. This is under development so we may yet to see the evolution of this product. Read more here

3. Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph 42MM

This is one of our favorite chronographs and as such, we won’t sugar coat it, the octagonal case is the deal breaker with this watch. Perhaps it’s GP’s Royal Oak equivalent or something but the rest is just fine. The dial is exquisite adorned with Clous de Paris guilloché and traditional presentation. This chronograph features a automatic winding with 4Hz escapement and about 46 hours of power reserve. Read more here

2. Cartier Santos De Cartier With New Bezel And “Quickswitch”

This updated collection features a variety of models: a full steel set, a two-tone steel and gold, a full gold, and a pink gold set. These are casual watches wearing on 39.8mm case with Santos de Cartier’s signature white dial with Roman indices and a date at 6. It also has a skeletonized dial for those looking for a bit of rigid fashion. What’s popular with the update is the new “SmartLink Self-Fitting” that allows adjustment of the bracelet without tools. Powering the traditional dial models is an in-house 1847 calibre while 9611-MC calibre powers the skeletonized version. Read more here

1. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’ Extra-thin 15202 IP

Our top pick for the honorable mention is the classic Royal Oak with a very thin profile which seems to be the trend these days. It features a fully titanium 39mm case with a solid 950 platinum bezel. It also maintains the same “Petite Tapisserie” guilloche dial with a smoked blue look. Powering this extra thin Royal Oak is calibre 2121 boasting 40 hours of power reserve. Read more here

Top 5 Watches from SIHH 2018

5. Vacheron Constantin Fiftysix Day-Date

The Vacheron Constantin FIFTYSIX day-date showcases a traditional VC day-date layout with additional power reserve at 6. It also features a casual 40mm case available in steel or gold. The dials are available in two-tone grey and silver dials. The 3 hands for the hours, minutes, and seconds are centered while the day-date are at 3 and 9. Power indicator sits nicely at 6:30. Powering the watch is an automatic calibre 2475. This movement bears the Hallmark of Geneva and cranks 40h of power reserve. Read more here

4. Jaeger-Lecoultre Polaris Polaris Memovox 50th Anniversary Edition

Polaris was released in 1968 in very limited numbers succeeding the Deep Sea Alarm. The watch featured an innovative caseback that amplified the alarm underwater while still watertight. It’s a no brainer that Polaris is popular among collectors but the real collector’s model is the new Polaris Memovox 50th Anniversary Edition. The new watch features the original’s designs such as the triple-crown and the in-house vaunted Calibre 956. It also gets useful updates such as its use of beige Super-LumiNova on the indices and hands. It tries to remain true to the original by using the same applied hourly elements and long sword-shaped hands. Its 42mm case is new though. This model is limited to only 1000 pieces. Read more here

3. Greubel Forsey GMT Earth

Greubel Forsey introduces an updated model of the GMT Earth with a cool 3D design of the globe at 7 o’clock. The globe is highly visible and can be seen from the front, back and the side thanks to sapphire glass. It’s cool and very innovative but honestly it creates a perplexing symmetry for the whole design. It keeps all the other familiar features of the original from the hours, minutes, and the small seconds. The 72 hour power reserve indicator remains the same. We can also see the GMT time indicator and the 24-time zone universal time indicator through the caseback. Moreover, the GMT Earth is still powered by a 24 second tourbillon reclined at 25°. Read more here

2. Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept

The Altiplano Ultimate Concept is Piaget’s answer to a ultra-thin watch. They did it before with Altiplano 900P at 3.65mm but this time, they achieved a ridiculous 2mm thickness. This is made possible by many innovative techniques. For one, the caseback now serves as the baseplate of the movement. Piaget also replaced the balance cock with ball bearing system which means the hairspring is now below the balance. A stud also regulates the balance instead of traditional swan’s neck. At this thin profile, how do Piaget ensure it won’t bend? Well, they said it’s made of a new alloy. The 0.1mm thick alligator leather strap is also reinforced with Kevlar so they really mean business. Read more here

1. A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Triple Split

Topping our list is no other than A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Triple Split. To understand the triple split function let’s take a look at a split-second watch. Basically, there are two running seconds hands wherein 1 can be stopped while the other keeps running. Then there’s the double split function where the minutes are also recorded. Now, for the triple split, it also records the hours. Now in reality, we may only use the running seconds but we’re not complaining at all, we simply like it. It’s a complicated watch that’s also a flyback, and more, there are only 100 pieces that goes for a whopping $147,000 each. Read more here