Well, today was another surprise, with the introduction of the Tribute 1, a watch that the brand bills as “A Contrarian Bet On A Modern Dress Watch Revival” as stated in their press release.

We all know the story, there’s really no getting around the fact that the appeal of dress watches has taken a beating given our modern era where casual attire is accepted most times, not to mention the effect of the current pandemic, with no formal events or work meetings to attend where a nice dress watch would be appropriate.

In this context, says Serge Michel, co-founder, the Tribute 1 can be seen as “an expression of hope (to normality) – and a meaningful connection to both the past and the future”.

I can get behind that. There’s nothing like a good dress watch to help straighten out the posture and behave respectfully in the presence of good company, at least for me. It certainly helps to take the edge off the hyper masculine induced aura of a 300m diver.

So the Tribute 1 comes, as you would expect all good dress watches to have, with great attention to finishing. The barrel bridge, which is one of the main dial side features and specially offered in white gold for this iteration, is hand polished, requiring a minimum of 12 hours to complete.

The same attention has been brought to the other parts of the watch – look at the bevelling on the gear train bridge, balance cock and stepped escaped wheel cock on the back side. Also note the hand polished barrel and the Côtes de Genève with polished jewel sinks.

All this brings me neatly to what would inevitably come to mind when you first look at the design of the Tribute 1. Aside from the emphasis on hand-finishing, the Tribute 1 also resembles, in spirit and aesthetics, the Lange 1 from A. Lange & Sohne.

There’s no denying it, there’s the similarity of the off-centered time sub-dial indicator, the open case back view with the lavish finish, the similar size (38mm vs 35.5mm) and the long power reserve (100 vs 72 hours).

Yet there are enough differences to make the Tribute 1 its own thing. Of course, it doesn’t have the big date display, power reserve indicator or a small seconds sub-dial of the Lange 1. Instead it has its crown at the 2 o’clock position, with its central seconds located within the time sub-dial. In this way, by paring back the features, the Tribute 1 adheres closely to its stated intention of being a modern dress watch.

And what do us snobs want in a proper dress watch? No complications, only the time.

So aside from the time sub-dial, the remaining space on the dial is reserved for the highly efficient motor barrel which is unusual in that the arbor turns around the mainspring within the barrel itself. This conserves space for the barrel within the movement, which is a nice technically distinctive feature. It’s great that while it is given pride of place on the dial side, it doesn’t call attention to itself.

The Tribute 1 as I have discovered as well, wears quite similarly to the Lange 1. How do I know this? Well, it’s the first time that I’ve received a 3D printed rendition of a watch. Nice idea Armin Strom – I’m keeping this one!

While it’s no replacement for the real thing, it is useful for assessing the wearability of the watch, which is definitely one of the factors that is important in determining if it is right for you. My conclusion is that it wears similarly to the Lange 1. There are some slight dimensional differences – the lugs of the Lange 1 are a touch longer, but the round of the case is slightly smaller, but all in all, they both feel similar, with the Tribute 1 I suspect, being a touch lighter due to its thinner case (9 vs 9.8mm) and being in stainless steel instead of gold or platinum.

The Tribute 1 is offered in this launch version at a limitation of 25 pieces for a surprisingly accessible price of CHF 13,400 which is a comparative bargain all things considered.

Aside from that, I think this offering from Armin Strom has the real possibility of disrupting the manual winding dress watch category by offering an alternative to those from established players. Afterall, it has all the important features that most buyers of a watch like this will be looking for, with a modern edge in its design.

Movement
Armin Strom manufacture Caliber AMW21; Manual Winding; 100 hours power reserve; 3.5 Hz (25,200 vph); 135 components.

Functions
Hours, minutes, seconds

Dial
Offset Black gold

Case
Stainless steel, 5ATM Water resistant

Case Dimensions
38mm wide; 9mm thick

Strap
Grey Alcantara calf leather strap and double folding clasp in stainless steel

Price
CHF 13,900, Limited to 25 pieces

With this being said, the one element that has been the talk of our industry, especially in the first half of 2020, was that of the tradeshow. Adi Soon, our editor has written extensively about his opinions on the demise of Baselworld (see his article: The Golden Goose (Baselworld) is Finally Dead), as well as the writer of this article (see Martin Goh’s article: Opinion – Baselworld’s Demise and the Meaning of Privilege).

The future of the watch industry tradeshow seemed very much in doubt last year, with cancellations and “postponements” being a result of the global health crisis – however, one tradeshow went ahead, and showed the possibility that brands bring the impetus needed to a digital version of a tradeshow, and this was Watches and Wonders, formerly the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH).

Four brands that arguably have the largest pull factor to the show – Chanel, Chopard, Patek Philippe and Rolex effectively heralded the death of Baselworld, with many of their executives expressing their dismay at the fair. In particular, Thierry Stern of Patek Philippe summed up their feeling as such: “Today Patek Philippe is not in line with Baselworld’s vision anymore, there have been too many discussions and unsolved problems, trust is no longer present”. As Wined Dined and Timed has written, much of the industry is based on gentlemen’s agreements, agreements that were very much violated during the “postponement” phase of Baselworld during the pandemic.

However, the 2020 edition of Watches and Wonders proved that a digital watch tradeshow can exist, and be successful. Furthermore, a press release dated in November 2020 from the organising committee of Watches and Wonders also shows the future of the watch tradeshow – with the continued pandemic raging in Europe, a digital version of the show was a no-brainer. Curiously, the 4 brands that were supposed to have a show concurrent to Watches and Wonders have now signed on to exhibit at Watches and Wonders – Chanel, Chopard, Patek Philippe and Rolex. This not only demonstrates the viability of the digital tradeshow, but also the level of trust between the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the 4 brands that left Baselworld. There is also no doubt that these brands will bring many more visitors to the digital tradeshow, given that their presence at Baselworld drew most of the crowds for watches.

There is no doubt that brands have changed their ways of communication during the pandemic, and rightfully so. However, I do not believe that a digital-only tradeshow or unveiling will be the way of the future. There will always be a place in the luxury industry for physical gatherings, and where possible, these will occur so that journalists and enthusiasts can touch, feel and experience the product. Watches are a part of the luxury industry that still needs physical presence for the watch to have an effect on the viewer, and so I believe that tradeshows will go back to being physical tradeshows when possible, but include much more digital interactivity than ever before. Unveilings may be made live, like with the recent Hublot x Murakami piece that was released at LVMH Watch Week in 2021, and keynote speakers may feature again, like at SIHH 2019 (recommended viewing: https://youtu.be/M9Pqi-QMoQw – Max Busser’s Keynote at SIHH 2019). 

The operation of a simultaneous digital and physical tradeshow will bring much more attendance through the following means – journalists and enthusiasts are brought together in one place to broadcast the new releases, and watch connoisseurs on far-flung sides of the Earth can enjoy the media and created content at their convenience. In this way, it is really a win-win situation for all parties involved – even the brands get more impressions on their pieces. Now, it just comes down to how much the brands are willing to invest into such an omni-channel experience. We can only hope that the brands see the value in this omni-channel method, from first viewing (online through watch media or through advertising) all the way to final purchase that can occur months or years down the line.

When Armin Strom announced the launch of a new watch at Dubai Watch Week recently, I assumed that it would be another Resonance based watch.

Armin Strom Resonance Minute Repeater

On seeing the picture of the new Gravity Equal Force however, I realised that I was wrong, since it most obviously does not have the brand’s proprietary Clutch Spring. Instead, the Gravity Equal Force is a watch of a brand new design, in a brand new collection called “System 78” and it comes in a surprisingly accessible price point of under 20,000 CHF, and does so by offering a unique complication that is elegantly done.

Physical appearance

The Gravity Equal Force comes with the design language derived from the very successful Resonance based watches that have occupied the brand for the last 5 years of so. In a round case, there is an off-centred to the left, sub-dial displaying hours and minutes, with the remainder of the dial space dedicated to showcasing the complications of the watch. Connected to the three horizontally mounted bridges – which going forward will be a design signature of the System 78 collection – from top to bottom, there is the micro rotor (for automatic winding), then the gear train and finally the mainspring barrel, which houses the complication that gives the watch its name.Where the design differences come in relation to the Resonance watches however is in the redesigned case, which features not just a thinner bezel, and an overall more sleek and modern appearance, but a redesigned lip at the 6 o’clock position of the bezel, which has traditionally been larger to allow a personalised engraving. It is much smaller now and in many ways, almost invisible, all to match the overall feel of the case and to recall a design signature that has always been there from the start with the brand. At a case width of 41 mm and a height of 12.65 mm, it is a comfortable size that sits well since it is not too big, but not too small either, so that the main visual highlights of the watch don’t feel crammed.

The dial of course contains the main highlights and is also suitably finished, with much of the decoration applied by hand including the anglage, frosted movement plate, hand ground bridges, and dials. Even the hour, minute and seconds hands, incidentally skeletonized now, are made in-house.Other interesting design features include the lugs that run in a little before meeting the strap, in the way that the Hermès Arceau watches do. This little touch, in combination with a sans serif Arabic numerals (instead of Romans for the Resonance watches), gives the watch overall, a refreshed and modern feel.Round the back, there is quite a large amount of visual interest as well, with the balance wheel visible as well as some parts of the gear train. The view is dominated however by the movement plate cover, which is decorated with wide Geneva stripes that have a beautiful organic like texture in between them. The texture looks like wood, or even snow drifts. Whatever it was inspired from, it does give a lush quality to the rear aesthetic of the watch.What is Equal Force?

The main thing that the Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force tries to achieve in its complication is to deliver constant torque to the balance spring. How it does this is by using a mainspring capable of four days of power reserve, but stopping the watch from unwinding totally by the third day. What this essentially does is to allow the watch to deliver power to the mainspring in the optimum part of its torque curve.

As the stop work de-clutch mechanism steps in to stop the watch after 72 hours, it behaves essentially like other types of constant force mechanisms like the remontoire and the chain and fusée. In combination with the four day capable mainspring stopped after three days by the stop work mechanism, the same result is achieved but in a simple, smarter and more elegant way. How cool is that?

When you can get the same theoretical benefit of better chronometric accuracy in a simpler way, that is genius level thinking at play here. Less complexity means better reliability and a better price.In practice of course, since this is an automatic watch, it will maintain power when you’re wearing it. However when unworn over the weekend, it will by Monday still maintain its constant torque which is great. A 3-day power reserve is nothing to sniff at no matter what.

Supporting the stop-work mechanism is a new mainspring barrel, inspired by a vintage pocket-watch that was brought into Armin Strom for repair. It had a motor barrel, whose barrel and winding mechanism is opposite to that of a standard going barrel. Instead of the arbour being fixed and the barrel housing moving to drive the gear train, with the motor barrel, it is the barrel housing that remains fixed while the arbour transmits the power. This method reduces the amount of friction that happens as the mainspring unwinds, since the arbour rotates around a precision jewel bearing and has less surfaces area for friction to occur.

System 78 and the new direction of Armin Strom

The Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force represents in my view, welcome news for watch enthusiasts. It is the first model that is part of the “System 78” collection, so named because 1978 is the birth year of Claude Greisler and Serge Michel, the founders of the “modern” Armin Strom after the namesake founder sold the brand. The aim of this new collection is to keep to a price point of below 20,000 CHF for the stainless steel variations, and that are interesting from a complication perspective, that are also good looking and have superb finishing.

The Gravity Equal Force achieves these aims well, and at 16,900 CHF, there is a tremendous amount of value on offer.

If this watch represents more of what will come from the new System 78 collection, then I think it will be worth looking forward to other releases in the future. I am told that in the pipeline, there will be a new watch with a date function – albeit done in a cool way (no apertures), and also a nice manual winder. While these tidbits of information probably only scratch the surface, they are certainly useful pointers to maybe, some fantastic watches in the new collection.

As for the Gravity Equal Force – there are very few watches that pique my interest, given how many I see in the watch industry as part of what I do, but this one is different. It is good looking and horologically interesting, and most of all, it comes with a price, that for me at least, is within the realm of possibility and reason. I find it hard, therefore, not to add it to my wish-list of potential watches to acquire. If anything, that’s as good an endorsement as any!

Find out more at the Armin Strom website.

The Lightness of Sapphire – Armin Strom Dual Time Resonance

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The Lightness of Sapphire – Armin Strom Dual Time Resonance

In fact, when one thinks about it, one realises in astonishment that the Resonance Minute Repeater is actually the fourth ‘resonance’ watch in a very nice family of watches already, effectively making the original Mirrored Force Resonance from 2016, less a one-off experiment and more a launching pad for a full blown collection.

Armin Strom has certainly been very productive these past few years, and the direction that they have been pursuing has been paying off. By carving out a unique niche for themselves as the specialist in ‘resonance’ based watches, they have been able to decisively and conclusively stamp their mark on this unique genre, leaving no doubt that when one thinks of the ‘resonance’ phenomenon in horology now, no other brand comes to mind as forcefully as Armin Strom.

The Minute Repeater Resonance, as the name tells us in a straightforward way, combines the signature ‘resonance’ inducing Clutch Spring of Armin Strom with a minute repeater. The first thing to realise about this fact is that many brands already have minute repeaters, but only one other aside from Armin Strom has ‘resonance’. The means that this Minute Repeater Resonance could very well be the first in a series of other firsts. I mean, just imagine it, who else could produce from now on, a Resonance Chronograph, a Resonance Double Tourbillon* or, maybe even as Serge Michel, CEO of Armin Strom suggested, a Resonance Diver.

But back to the watch under discussion here, the Minute Repeater Resonance is the world’s first and only resonance chiming wristwatch, offering two forms of resonance (oscillators and sound propagation); two independent mainsprings in one barrel; two vertically-stacked independent movements; and two complications, resonance and minute repeater. Lastly as well, two top development teams in Armin Strom (resonance) and Le Cercle des Horlogers (repeaters).

On that last point, it was Armin Strom’s Chief Watchmaker, Claude Greisler who sought the expertise of an old friend and former colleague at Christophe Claret, Alain Schiesser, founder of Cercle des Horlogers, with regards to the development of the minute repeater portion of the watch. Having worked behind the scenes for many prestigious brands over the years, his company, Le Cercle des Horlogers has helped to develop around half of the minute repeaters launched over the last few years.

Looking at the watch, you can see what has been done to these complications in order to achieve what I would consider a very sublime design that showcases what the watch can do well. For the first time, we have the time indication sub-dial, right smack in the centre of the watch (as opposed to off to the side with the Mirrored Force Resonance and Pure Resonance or with two time indicating dials on the Dual Time Resonance), with the Armin Strom Clutch Spring right below it, which is connected to the two balance wheels that are themselves each held on by a large tremblage hand-engraved decorated gold balance cock hand on either side.

The symmetry doesn’t stop there, for the space above the watch contains two hammers, that are placed to hit, when the watch chimes, the steel wire gongs that circle the time sub-dial. Also of note, visible right underneath the time sub-dual, the centrifugal governor, a device that regulates the “going train” of the repeater mechanism.

It is a very beautiful arrangement of elements on the front presentation of the watch, with the minute repeater slide on the left side of the case, balanced off by a correspondingly large and meaty crown on the right.

With the hammers on the dial side, you might wonder, if you’re familiar with minute repeaters where its mechanism is, and for that you’ve got to turn the watch over. Now, obviously, most minute repeater hammers are situated next to their mechanism, but here, because of the aesthetics that Armin Strom was going for, wanting to place all the animated parts up front, one of the challenges was to invert the traditional layout of the minute repeater works. Their solution: use pinions to drive the repeater hammers and the hour and minutes transversing the two vertically stacked calibres.

On that last point, yes, there are two calibres inside the watch, since each has to have its own gear train connected to each balance wheel. Each calibre of course has to be connected to its own mainspring barrel, and for that, unlike the previous resonance watches where there was space to have two separate barrels, in this case, Armin Strom have engineered a single barrel that contains two mainsprings inside. It’s like a city that builds upwards instead of sidewards because land is limited.

So it begs the question, since there is only one set of hour and minute hands, with not even a two seconds hands to check if the two balance wheels are in sync, where does the time display come from – one or both of the gear trains?

Turns out we don’t have to look far for the answer since the Pure Resonance does this part the same way as the Minute Repeater Resonance. Aside from the visual enjoyment that the dual balance wheels and the Clutch Spring provides, the resonance system has always been about precision. In the Pure Resonance, the time display receives energy from the lower regulator, while the upper regulator remains in place to create resonance. In the Minute Repeater Resonance, it is the right regulator that does the former and the left regulator that does the latter.

On the wrist, the 47.7mm wide case is large, and with the 16.1mm thick case, the watch will certainly make a big statement. Yet it is not too big to be unwearable – the dimensions are about the same as one of the bigger Breitlings after all – and the titanium case helps to keep things manageable as well as sound projection good.

Speaking of the sound, how does it sound?

The Minute Repeater Resonance is offered in a limited series of 10 pieces in Grade 5 titanium with the limitation number chosen in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Manufacture.

So what’s next Armin Strom? How far can you bring resonance further?

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*Since the resonance system involves two balance wheels

Why? When the first Dual Time Resonance was launched late last year in 2018, it was a remarkable tour-de force that extended the utility of the Resonance based watches from Armin Strom to its owner, appearing with two large sub-dials for the first time instead of one, with each being about the same size as the time sub-dial on the Resonance Pure.With two sub-dials came the possibility of using the watch in a few interesting ways. The first, to set each sub-dial to its own time, for tracking two different time-zones, and this was helped by a central smaller sub-dial that distinguishes the time-zones on a 24 hour scale with different coloured hands.

The second, as a countdown timer, used by setting the time of one sub-dial to 12 o’clock at the start of time measurement, one can then read off elapsed time as one does any watch.

The third, for those interested to track the performance of the proprietary Resonance oscillator, was to have both sub-dials set to the same time, and then over the course of the movement’s operation, monitor both the times to see if there are any deviations that occur.

On that last point, the Mirrored Force Resonance did allow one to do this as well, by noting the deviation that was visible via the two seconds sub-dials hands, each linked to its own balance wheel and gear train.

With the brand’s proprietary Clutch Spring taking pride of place in the top centre of the watch, and the two large visible time sub-dials with the aforementioned advantages available to this new type of Resonance watch, it had to be big, and sized for those who were unafraid of making a bit of a statement, coming at at 59mm wide by 43.4mm tall, and with a thickness of 15.9mm, making up an uncommonly seen oval shape on the wrist.

Functions wise, the watch came with two separate crowns are on either side of the case, with the left one for setting the time on the left sub-dial and winding up the 4 barrels at the same time via the interconnecting gear in the middle. The right crown of course, is for setting the time on the right dial, with each time sub-dial containing at 6 o’clock on each dial, it’s own power reserve indicator.

The version of the watch that I first saw when it was first launched was made of titanium, and even then it had a visual effect that was very solid and heavy. Massive and technical, it was a piece that was unafraid of throwing its weight around (so to speak). Well I didn’t handle the precious metal versions of the Dual Time Resonance at the time as they were unavailable, but certainly they would have an even higher level of presence that the owner would feel due to their weight.

Which is why when the sapphire version of the Dual Time Resonance appeared (with fetching dark and light blue guilloché sub-dials), it instantly felt that I had been transported to space. Why? Well it was a feeling of weightlessness that overwhelmed suddenly, coming from the obvious transparency of the new case. Visually the watch looks smaller than its predecessors, even though it is not, and on the wrist, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming.

Of course, sapphire does this to watches generally, as most sapphire cased watches compared to their metal counterparts do “feel” lighter. Yet, sometimes it can move too much in that direction, making it feel a little too insubstantial, and might I say, cheap. Not so with the Dual Time Resonance in Sapphire however, as the case now gives a perfect frame to the main complications on the face of the watch, and it all feels more balanced and just right. How do I know? Well, now that it has both a sporty and a horologically serious demeanour, I found myself not so eager to take it off to return it.

Armin Strom’s Clutch Spring has so far appeared on three watches – the aforementioned Mirrored Force Resonance, the first watch that the brand that was made to take advantage of this effect, followed by the Resonance Pure, a more simplified version of the former, and the third member, the Dual Time Resonance, without doubt the most complicated member of the series, coming with two time telling sub-dials instead of one.

As it stands, what this particular watch, the Dual Time Resonance in Sapphire represents for me, is a maturity of the Resonance collection by Armin Strom, since there is now a full family of watches that showcase the brand’s proprietary Clutch Spring, that strange, butterfly shaped piece of metal that vibrates as a true physical connection, transferring the rate information from one balance spring to another, allowing both to synchronise gradually, and achieving resonance.

With different variations of size, case styles, and now, sapphire as a case material, there are now quite a few ways for watch lovers to access and appreciate this rarely seen complication in horology.

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