Arnold & Son illustrates an epic tale
A tale of mystery and adventure has been illustrated on the dial of Arnold & Son’s latest timepieces in the Instrument Collection
The Sir John Franklin Set is the most recent range of timepieces to join the Instrument Collection by the luxury Swiss brand, Arnold & Son. The set consists of three fabulous mother-of-pearl dials boasting soft pastel colours that serve as the backdrop for a majestic sailing ship. The miniature illustrations depict three famous paintings from London’s National Maritime Museum, located in Greenwich, London, in which an episode of the journey of the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror vessels have been perfectly captured, before they eventually perished in the course of Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated expedition to discover the North-West Passage in the mid-19th century. Over forty expeditions set out to locate and rescue them but they only found remnants of the doomed expedition.
The first installation of the collection, shows the “Friendly Encounter,” where the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror are in New Zealand in about 1840, where the crew had a series of peaceful meetings with the local Maori population. The second installation is known as the “Antarctic Adventure,” where the two vessels navigate the stormy seas in the inhospitable environment at the southern tip of the world. The final timepiece demonstrates the “North-West Passage,” which depicts the HMS Erebus surrounded by icebergs in open water.
Each of the marine chronometers in the Sir John Franklin set feature a blue hued true-beat seconds hand and an off-centre, hand-finished, mother-of-pearl dial. Positioned at 9 o’clock the dial reveals the accurate time via blue hued hour and minute hands that circumference around black Roman numerals. Both the main dial and the sub-dial are encompassed in an 18 carat rose gold case that measures 44mm in diameter.
Driven by an Arnold & Son self-winding movement A&S6103, which is rhodium treated with classic Haute Horlogerie finishing that includes hand-chamfered bridges and polished edges, fine circular-graining and Côtes de Genève rayonnantes, a brushed and skeletonised rotor and blued screws, the watches are destined to become a much sought after collector’s item where each model is a limited edition of 28 pieces. The carefully structured movement consists of 30 jewels and measures a diameter 30.4mm, whilst the thickness measures 7.79mm. Arnold & Son has ensured the watch reserves plenty of energy by storing a power reserve of 50 hours before it has to be manually wound again.
Humming at a steady cadence of 28,800 vibrations per hour, the timepieces are protected by a sheaf of anti-reflective sapphire crystal with a see-through case back that allows the movement to be admired. The finished watch is beautifully presented on a hand-stitched brown alligator leather strap.
