The Arnold & Son manufacture was set up in 1764, and from its inception till date, has managed to astonish haute horlogerie afficionados with their stunning creations. We speak to Bertrand Savary – President, Arnold & Son about the brand, its identity, and its differentiating factors…
Can you tell us about Arnold & Son?
Arnold & Son was founded in the United Kingdom by John Arnold, a famous watchmaker of his time who was commissioned to make marine chronometers for the British Navy. He was also famous as the watchmaker who worked with Abraham-Louis Breguet. Later, John Arnold’s son worked with Abraham-Louis Breguet, while Abraham-Louis Breguet’s son worked with John Arnold. Both of them are very important figures in the watch industry. John Arnold was consumed by the question of how to produce in bigger series as he needed to equip a lot of ships for the British Navy.
Now, we are based in La Chaux-de-Fonds; we produce less than 1,000 pieces annually, and we are working very well. Arnold & Son is owned by the Citizen Group and we work closely with Manufacture La Joux-Perret to develop and create our movements. We have always made our movements 100% in-house. In terms of sales, we are very strong in the Middle East, the US, and also in Asia. Just last week, we opened to the market in China; we are also developing our other markets. We do have a good balance in the various world markets, which I think is very important in light of the various problems the world is facing today. We are very satisfied with the growth of the brand.
What other countries are you planning to expand in?
Last year, we also opened in Mexico; we were not present in South America and Mexico is a very strong and mature market with a lot of collectors. That is a country we are planning to develop further this year, and it is working out very well. It is the same kind of clientele we have in the Middle East – they are connoisseurs, they know the product, and they are looking out for something different.
How long have you been with the brand?
I joined Arnold & Son on March 1, 2021; one week later, the lockdown happened. But in one way, it was very positive because we had time to think about our strategy, the markets, our products. We had time during those six months to think about what the brand is and where we should go; it was quite beneficial for us.
Did you have any problems, such as production issues, when Covid hit as there was a lot of uncertainty about how the future would be?
Yes, it was very challenging for us; due to Covid, a lot of markets were closing. Europe didn’t have any more tourists. We had to worry about distribution and as to where we could sell. Luckily, the Middle East opened very soon, when Europe was still closed. So, we could focus and improve our distribution in the Middle East. In terms of production, we could make some good forecasts in terms of movement production. The development of a new movement takes anywhere between 12 to 24 months, so we need to anticipate everything.
The most problematic was the suppliers’ issue – suppliers of steel, gold, and diamonds – because all kinds of delays happened. Even today, the world-wide supply chain is broken. It is due to this that many of the watch boutiques have no stock. All the brands are producing more, but a lot of clients were frustrated because they could not travel for nearly two years, nor could they buy anything. Now, in some countries, there is revenge buying and a lot of brands are also benefiting from that. We are an independent brand and for us it is a fantastic situation because a number of people who used to buy only from the Big 5 brands have now started to look at the older, independent brands like us and we are very happy about that.
Arnold & Son has historically been a men’s watch brand, but has slowly built up its ladies’ collection over the past few years; how important is ladies’ watches to the brand?
This year, ladies’ watches have contributed to around 10% of our sales. We now have a lady working with our product management team and it is really good for us to have a lady designing and working on ladies’ products. She brings in a feminine touch that men cannot have. When a man designs a ladies’ watch, he just puts some diamonds on the bezel. Our latest collection, which has a ladies’ touch in the design, has dials in aventurine and many other feminine touches.
How would you characterise a client of Arnold & Son?
In our products, we try to be different from the other brands. We do have such iconic elements such as the Big Moon, we have a 3-dimensional moon in the Luna Magna, and we have the Nebula with its 7 bridges. Our clients are people who are looking for something different; I know this is what a lot of brands say but we are actually very different. For instance, it is not possible to make the moon on a watch dial any bigger than our Big Moon. A person may love our products or hate them, but whatever we create are definitely very different, and we never copy other brands’ designs.
