A Falcon flies from Arnold & Son
Combining the worlds of Haute Horlogerie and beautiful arts and crafts is the latest offering from the house of Arnold & Son – the Métiers d’Art HM Falcon Unique Piece
The hand-painted miniature depicts a Falcon proudly perched atop a rock against the clear sky. The subtle, soft colours are set off to perfection by the shimmer of the dial in white mother-of-pearl.
Mankind’s fascination and relationship with the falcon goes back several millennia. In ancient Egypt, the falcon was deified as Horus, the god of the sky and kingship. In other civilisations and cultures, the falcon symbolises vision, agility, and victory.
An art in itself, the earliest known practices of falconry date back to ancient Mesopotamia, and possibly Mongolia, over four thousand years ago. It later spread to Europe, becoming a sport for nobility. Today, falconry is a tradition that is still upheld in various parts of the world, particularly the Arabian Peninsula.
The Métiers d’Art HM Falcon Unique Piece from Arnold & Son was created to celebrate this majestic bird of prey. Adorning the mother-of-pearl dial is a hand-painted miniature of a falcon. In this technique, the artist uses delicate nuances of colours and tones, using tiny brushstrokes and texturing gradually to build up the entire image with an astonishing richness of details and depth.
The art of painting miniatures by hand calls for infinite patience and consummate skill, takes many years of concentrated practice to perfect, and exhibits the skilled creative craftsmanship that has been characteristic of the brand throughout its history.
The sumptuousness of the falcon is a counterpoint to the simplicity of the white mother-of-pearl dial, which shimmers entrancingly with the play of light. This unique piece boasts the ultra-thin A&S1001 manufacture movement with over 90 hours of power reserve.
The movement manufactured in-house is hand-wound, has 21 jewels, and a diameter of 30 MM and a thickness of 2.70 MM. With a double barrel, the movement is powered at 21,600 vibrations per hour, and shows the hours and minutes.
The nickel-silver movement is rhodium treated with Haute Horlogerie finishing; has hand-chamfered bridges with polished edges, fine circular graining and Côtes de Genève rayonnantes, blued screws with bevelled and mirror-polished heads.
While the dial has a hand-painted miniature on white mother-of-pearl, the movement is housed in an 18-karat rose gold case, with a diameter of 40 MM, available with or without diamond-set bezel. The cambered sapphire has anti-reflective coating on both sides, while the case back is of see-through sapphire, and the case is water-resistant to 30 M.
The 18-karat rose gold case is complemented with a brown alligator strap.
The Métiers d’Art HM Falcon, which is limited to just one example, if desired, is available with a diamond-set bezel.
