[Press Release] The TBR is the first timepiece in the new Instrument Collection from Arnold & Son and features the first automatic movement with an integrated true beat system to be developed, designed and manufactured entirely at the workshops in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Its pure, timeless design takes its inspiration from the later instrument-style chronometers produced by John Roger Arnold. These answered the call for timepieces rugged and reliable enough to withstand the hardships of life on the high seas combined with the down-to-the-second precision needed by marine navigators to determine longitude.

With the unmistakable design cues that define the family, the TBR is a masterpiece of reduced simplicity. The initials stand for the watch’s two complications, true beat and retrograde. While the time is displayed in an off-centre subdial at 9 o’clock – a hallmark of the entire Instrument Collection – the two complications occupy the middle of the dial and command the front of the stage.

Dominating the face of the watch is the central true beat – or independent – seconds. The true beat seconds – a hark-back to the precision required by navigators on the high seas – is a rarely found complication these days, and its combination with an automatic winding system calls for enormous technical expertise. In the TBR it was made possible by a worldwide patented system comprising a sophisticated double wheel, an oscillating pinion and a pallet mechanism. This complex solution calls for virtually microscopic precision (to tolerances of a micron, or one thousandth of a millimetre) and the key parts are made using state-of-the-art LIGA fabrication technology. LIGA is a German acronym that stands for Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung – lithography, electroplating and moulding – and describes the sequence of processes used to produce metal parts made of nickel and nickel phosphorus.

Technical Specifications

Calibre:
A&S6008
Exclusive Arnold & Son mechanical movement, self-winding, ceramic ball bearing, 34 jewels, diameter 30.4 mm, thickness 7.79 mm, power reserve 45 h, 28’800 vibrations/h, stop seconds
Functions: hours, minutes, true beat seconds, retrograde date

Movement decoration:
18-carat rose gold case model: rhodium treated with Haute Horlogerie finishing: manually chamfered bridges with polished edges, fine circular graining and ‘Côtes de Genève rayonnantes’, brushed and skeletonised rotor, blued screws.
Stainless steel case model: NAC grey treated, with Haute Horlogerie finishing: manually chamfered bridges with polished edges, fine circular graining and ‘Côtes de Genève rayonnantes’, brushed and skeletonised rotor, mirror-polished screws.

Dial colour: grey and white / light-grey and white

Case: 18-carat rose gold or stainless steel, diameter 44 mm, cambered sapphire with anti-reflective coating on both sides, case back see-through sapphire, water-resistant to 30 meters.

Strap: Hand-stitched brown or black alligator leather

References: 1ARAP.W01A.C120P 18-carat rose gold case and 1ARAS.S01A.C121S stainless steel case.