In an apparent effort to freshen up on of its signature lines, Armin Strom has introduced a new edition of its Tribute 1. Don’t be mislead by the superscript two in the new model’s name: the brand is couching this new edition within the Tribute collection (at least on its website). So maybe it’s more like the second edition of the first tribute. Or a sequel. The result of a collaboration with watch influencer Horomariobro, the new Armin Strom Tribute² Copper Edition expands the Tribute 1 collection with a bright, earthy dial that reveals more of the movement.
The new Armin Strom Tribute² Copper Edition features an almost identical case to the existing Tribute 1 models. It’s made of stainless steel and measures 38mm across, 44.35mm lug-to-lug, and has a decreased thickness of 9mm (compared to 9.38mm on the Tribute 1). I don’t think anyone was complaining at 38×9.38, and I don’t think the thinner case will make a meaningful difference; either way, you’ve got spot-on proportions that sit will on just about any wrist. The crown, as always, is located at 2 o’clock, and the case features a sapphire crystal with 50m of water resistance — the minimum I think is acceptable for any watch, but a bit more than you might expect from a piece like this. Completing the look is an 18mm grey Alcantar calf leather strap with a steel folding clasp.
The dial is new in almost every aspect. The layout remains the same: an offset time display with skeletonized hands, with the mainspring barrel revealed on the opposite side. The dial that fills the space between, though, is no longer the Voutilainen-made guilloche, but instead a copper grattage, which has a sort of messy checkerboard appearance — but artsy. Grattage is apparently “a surrealist painting technique that involves scraping a wet layer of paint with a sharp tool to reveal an unexpected surface.” Search me how that works here, but I think it’s a nice change from the modern commonness of guilloche.
Additionally, the time display no longer features a fume gradient, and the hands feature rose gold-plating. It seems a nice complement to the copper, and the contrast between the hands and dial appear improved from the Tribute 1 models, which had tone-on-tone hands and dial that were less than ideal. The more noticeable change, though, is the increased open-working of the dial. All of the gears involved in winding the barrel are now revealed and feature hand-finishing, including the new steel skeletonized barrel and the barrel bridge, the latter of which is black polished. To reveal the additional mechanics, it seems the dial has been lowered, which may be how the watch is .38mm thinner.
The only indication you’ll see of Horomariobro’s contribution is some engraving on the movement ring, and even then, it’s a sly logo instead of blatant labeling. Armin Strom suggests his involvement pushed the brand to elevate the finishing, but doesn’t explain how else the watch may have been guided by the collaboration. Horomariobro made a name for himself online by putting high-end manufacturer’s finishing under the microscope (or the macro lens, rather). The Tribute was already almost entirely hand-finished, so here the big difference seems to be the dial work and the additional revealing and hand-finishing on the dial-side components. The movement itself remains fully hand-finished, with a 3/4 plate with striping, polished 60° bevels, and a hand wound mechanism that delivers 100 hours of power reserve on a full wind.
It’s yet to be seen whether the Armin Strom Tribute² Copper Edition is a redesign that will trigger the retirement of past models or an actual expansion that will see this more open-worked dial sit alongside the existing offerings. The brand calls it an expansion, but marketing diction isn’t the best indicator of reality. The movement has been tweaked and the case has been retooled, and the overlap between the two is almost suffocating; it wouldn’t make much sense to have both sitting side-by-side. It’s unclear beyond some extra hand-finishing what makes this CHF 6,500 more than the standard models and CHF 900 more than the rose gold case model, but it certainly elevates the collection and would easily be my choice amongst the current lineup. The Armin Strom Tribute² Copper Edition is priced at CHF 25,070 and limited to 10 pieces. For more information, please visit the Armin Strom website.
