Arnold & Son’s new Time Pyramid watch was debuted before Baselworld 2013 and I covered it here. Although I had seen images of the timepiece, it was on the short list of watches I was extremely eager to get my hands on at the Baselworld watch show. Inspired by the design of ornate clocks, the movement was a beautifully symmetrical mechanism with an open skeletonized design that emphasized aesthetic achievements as well as open views watch lovers and novices alike can enjoy with ease.
Relatively thin, the wide case sits impressively flat on the dial. At 44.6mm wide, the Time Pyramid isn’t a small watch, but it certainly isn’t too large to wear with formal attire. The expansive view through the double sapphire crystal displays further helps to reduce visual mass and space. This makes the overall wrist presence feel minimalized. Perhaps a small detail, it is actually important how the 6 o’clock placement of the crown gives the case a truly symmetrical feel as there is no crown jutting out of the side.
For the time being, the Arnold & Son Time Pyramid will only be available in 18k red gold. Moving forward we anticipate more versions of the Time Pyramid in other materials. Interestingly enough this watch is not a limited edition – meaning that at least for the near future, it will be part of Arnold & Son’s standard collection.
Love it or hate it, the Time Pyramid is one of those types of skeletonized watches that you can see right through to your wrist. There are plenty of people who don’t want to see their hairy wrist through the dial of their timepiece. Other people love the enhanced ability watches such as this offer when it comes to seeing their movements in action.
The Time Pyramid is an exclusive movement produced in-house by Arnold & Son for the watch called the caliber A&S1615. The movement offers an off-center time display, subsidiary seconds display, as well as a unique system for managing torque in the movement. The caliber A&s1615 includes two mainspring barrels. The idea is that one barrel will provide torque to the other barrel during the time when spring power is running out and torque goes down.
Reduced torque is something that can make a watch run slow, and thus affect accuracy. Having a system to ensure that a watch regulation system is “on time” is what Arnold & Son tried to do. It does this by having the right barrel use a system that waits for the power to decrease by a certain amount in the left barrel. When the mainspring torque reaches a certain point, the second mainspring barrel kicks in to offer additional power to increase torque.
The dial of the Time Pyramid has two squiggly style power reserve indicator hands for the power reserve of each of the two barrels. The movement itself is finished with polished edges, traditional polishing, and blue screws. The transparency of the dial, as well as the constant movement of the escapement up near 12 o’clock is very flattering to the overall look, and ensures that the Time Pyramid is a watch people actually want to spend a lot of time looking at. One of the top beauties of 2013, the Arnold & Son Time Pyramid isn’t terribly priced given what you are getting at around $40,000. arnoldandson.com
Tech specs from Arnold & Son
Calibre: A&S1615 Exclusive Arnold & Son skeletonized mechanical movement, hand-wound, 27 jewels, diameter 37 mm, thickness 4.40 mm, power reserve over 80 h, 21’600 vibrations/h
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, double power reserve indication
Movement decoration: skeletonized nickel-silver movement, rhodium treated with Haute Horlogerie finishing: manually chamfered bridges with polished edges, Côtes de Genève, circular satin-finished wheels, blued screws
Dial: sapphire, circular satin-finished dial frame with chamfered and polished edge
Case: 18-carat red gold, diameter 44.6 mm, cambered sapphire with anti-reflective coating on both sides, case back see-through sapphire, water-resistant to 30 m
Strap: hand-stitched brown or black alligator leather
Reference: 1TPAR.S01A.C124A 18-carat red gold case
