Armin Strom has expertly mixed the visually stunning “movement porn” that aficionados seek, with legibility. We appreciate the properly sized hands and easy to read numeric scales. The tourbillon is large and viewable in the left area of the dial. It doubles as a seconds indicator. While it is not a flying tourbillon, Armin Strom designed it with an arm style bridge that offers a more expansive view of the mechanism and free spring balance wheel. Luminant is applied to the hands for better darkness viewing, and we appreciate that Armin Strom uses a unique style of hand, but one that feels fitting within the world of horology.
Turn the watch around and you have another view of the movement. While there are no complications to see here, we appreciate how the plate does not appear too flat. Even on the rear of the manually wound movement is an impressive level of visual depth and yet more unique decoration. When turning the crown to wind the movement you can visually see the two barrels moving from both the front and rear of the watch. Further, the movement is remarkably efficient being made from only 184 parts. Say what you will about the ATC11, but it is anything but a boring caliber.
The range of Tourbillon models is more than just trying to segment the collection into various colors, but also a way for Armin Strom to offer various prices. No, none of these are “inexpensive,” but there is a range of pricing to meet various tastes. As a highly limited production, independently made in-house tourbillon, the prices aren’t too off from what you’d expect. Tourbillon collection pieces are available in steel, PVD black coated steel, titanium, and 18k rose gold.
We like that Armin Strom offers the Tourbillon in steel. Both the Tourbillon Racing and Tourbillon Earth are in PVD black coated steel. The cases are 43mm wide, but wear large due to the widely spaced lugs. The hornback alligator straps are very nice. Armin Strom also includes a rubber strap to go with each of the watches. At 13mm high, the Tourbillon watches aren’t that thick either.
We love watches that mix a unique design with beautiful finishing. The independent high-end watch market serves as an alternative to the excellent watches from the big houses. There is something to be said about owning a watch from a boutique house that offers something you can’t find everywhere and that isn’t from a name that is plastered on every lifestyle magazine or in huge lights on a building in Geneva. In our opinion, any well-rounded watch collection has a mixture of both big brand and cool independent names in it.
The Armin Strom Tourbillon collection watches are all limited edition pieces. Aside from the red and black Tourbillon Racing, the Tourbillon Elements watches are each limited to 50 pieces. As I mentioned before, the Tourbillon Racing is much more limited, and was designed to be a flagship piece to the larger Armin Strom Racing collection that includes the Racing Regulator, Racing Carbon, and Racing One Week (you’ll recognize the colors for sure). Prices for the Armin Strom Tourbillon collection watches range from $79,440 in steel and PVD black steel, $84,530 in titanium, and $121,200 in 18k rose gold. arminstrom.com
