Armin Strom launches two watches for the price of one… sort of
Tom Austin- Armin Strom returns with their 18th in-house movement, this time featuring two movements in one, oscillating in resonance with each other thanks to a resonance clutch.
- Encapsulated in a stainless steel case with a huge domed crystal, the movement features dual time displays with day and night indicators.
- Limited to just 50 pieces, this complicated GMT novelty is priced at CHF 95,000.
I love GMT watches; to me, it is one of the most useful complications in watchmaking. Reading the time is the same for all of us, but one thing that is universally different around the world is the time itself, thanks to regional time offsets. With the world being a much smaller place these days, we traverse time zones much more frequently, and as such, I think most people can benefit from owning a GMT watch. However, they all arguably share the same flaw – a monotonous uniformity. GMT hand? Check. Rotating bezel with night and day colours, probably blue and red? Check. If your tastes lean more towards watches with a unique flair and visual impact, then most GMT watches are likely to leave you unimpressed. That is, until you find the new Armin Strom Dual Time GMT Resonance – Manufacture Edition Black.
With the insanely long name out of the way, this is the second release Dual Time GMT Resonance from Swiss artisanal watchmaker Armin Strom. The first edition was released last September and was limited to just 25 pieces. Showcasing an innovative approach to the GMT watch, it encases dual dials with night and day indicators, with a sumptuously complicated movement, that is really more like two movements combined into one.
As is typical with watches like this, the case isn’t where the watch wants your attention to be drawn to. Crafted in stainless steel, it’s modestly sized at 39mm wide. The thickness is just 9.05mm, which is mightily impressive for a watch like this, and it has a lug-to-lug measurement of 44.5mm, which makes it wear slightly on the larger side.
This isn’t too much of a problem, though, because with a watch with this much visual impact, you want to be able to see everything under the domed sapphire crystal. There’s hardly any bezel of which to speak of, simply a thin rim of steel framing the watch, with two pairs of short, unobtrusive lugs. The case is incredibly well-balanced, with crowns sitting on either side, both at slightly obtuse angles, giving it an unusual symmetry. The areas you can see on the case are finely finished, with linear brushing and highly polished facets, and the size and overall design are nice and simple, clearly not to deter from what’s going on inside the watch. Flipping over the watch reveals a huge exhibition caseback, filling the entire back of the watch, aside from some inconspicuous engravings.
Even the best GMTs in the business can sometimes take a moment or two to read, but the Armin Strom uses dual dials to display two time zones to make things much simpler, provided you can remember which side you set to home. The two times can be adjusted independently via the two crowns on either side of the watch. Both discs sit atop the movement, offset from the centerline, and are finished in black grenage with black azurage chapter rings. Each feature applied polished indices and baton hands. At the 6 o’clock position sits two rhodium-plated day and night indicators.
The majority of the front area of the watch is thankfully taken up by elements of the gorgeous movement, the Armin Strom manufacture Caliber ARF22. The symmetrical theme of the watch is carried on throughout, especially seeing as, technically, this watch features two completely separate movements, with hardly any elements being unbalanced between each side. The finishing is typically flawless, however, this is no classically decorated, beautiful movement: it’s still hand-finished of course, but its beauty lies within its functionality.
The manually wound ARF22 features a twin balance wheel system connected by a resonance clutch spring. What this means is while each time zone dial is regulated by its own movement, balance wheel and hairspring, they are connected by a resonance clutch spring, allowing them to synchronize in perfect harmony.
Each balance wheel in every watch movement is slightly different due to tiny differences in manufacturing. This would result in their natural frequencies drifting apart should they be put together in a system like this one. The ARF22’s resonance clutch spring solves this problem by allowing the wheels to influence each other’s motion, gradually synchronizing them at a 3.5Hz frequency. An easy way to imagine this would be if you have two children on swings sitting close together. Initially, they would swing completely out of sync, but if you connected them with a rope or similar, they would begin to influence each other’s motion until, eventually, they would fall into rhythm. It’s an ingenious, fascinating use of physics, applied at such a tiny scale by Armin Strom, that gives the ARF22 exceptional accuracy across two different time zone displays.
The ARF22 movement consists of 231 components, all finished to high standards, and features 42 hours of power reserve on each side. The rear of the movement, visible through the exhibition caseback, is equally captivating, again, all in perfect symmetry, with Côtes de Genève finishing and a baseplate featuring words describing the movement’s specifications relieved into the surface.
Each watch comes finished with a glossy taupe alligator strap, complete with a stainless steel pin buckle. A neat strap to finish off a watch like this, that again doesn’t distract from the main attraction inside the case.
The Armin Strom Dual Time GMT Resonance – Manufacture Edition Black is a stunning execution of the GMT complication, rather than improving on the standard play of adding a rotating bezel and a GMT hand, they went the whole hog and managed to stuff two exceptionally crafted watches into one conservatively sized case. But in doing so, they created a movement that takes a fascinating physics phenomenon and utilises it to ensure brilliant accuracy, too. It’s a fascinating watch and an excellent representation of contemporary watchmaking in a very sexy package.
Armin Strom Dual Time GMT Resonance – Manufacture Edition Black pricing and availability
The Armin Strom Dual Time GMT Resonance – Manufacture Edition Black is a limited edition of 50 pieces. Price: CHF 95,000
| Brand | Armin Strom |
| Model | Dual Time GMT Resonance – Manufacture Edition Black |
| Reference | ST25-DT.90 |
| Case Dimensions | 39mm (D) x 9.05mm (T) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 50 meters |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Black textured sub-dials, openworked |
| Strap | Glossy taupe alligator strap with stainless steel pin buckle |
| Movement | ARF22, in-house, manual winding, two regulators with resonance clutch spring |
| Power Reserve | 42 hours |
| Functions | Two displays of hours, minutes, day/night indicator |
| Availability | Limited edition of 50 pieces |
| Price | CHF 95,000 |