Armin Strom continues to expand its dressy Tribute 1 timepiece collection today with the debut of its first 18K gold version.
The Tribute 1 Rose Gold Edition is delivered in the same 38 mm x 9.38 mm (44.35 mm lug-to-lug) case — with its crown located at 2 o’clock — as the previously launched versions here, here, here, and here. What’s new is the rich combination of a warm rose gold case and a dark gray dial which the company refers to as black gold.
As with the other versions, the watch is powered by Armin Strom’s in-house Swiss-made hand-wound caliber AMW 21 movement, which powers the hours, minutes, and seconds displays. The 21-jewel movement measures 33.5 mm x 4.2 mm, beats at 3.5Hz, and has 135 total components. Most notably, the caliber AWM 21, offers an impressive 100-hour power reserve by way of Armin Strom’s proprietary mainspring motor barrel (which is engraved with “100 HOURS OF POWER RESERVE”), which unlike other timepieces in the collection that offer significant views of the movement from the front side, is the only movement component revealed on the dial side. Supporting the exposed motor barrel is a pocketwatch style bridge, machined in 18K rose gold and that’s been beveled and polished by hand.
Like the barrel bridge, the skeletonized Sword shaped hour and minute hands, baton-shaped center seconds hand, and four applied hour markers are all rendered in 18K rose gold, perfectly contrasting the anthracite hue of the main and off-center dials. A grenage finish has been applied to the main dial, subtly differentiating it by way of the unique texture of the surface, from the off-center time dial that features an azurage finish made using a concentric circles guilloche pattern.
Flip the watch over and it’s equally impressive, with a sapphire crystal fully revealing the manually wound movement and its three-quarter bridge that is decorated with Geneva stripes that are applied at a 45-degree angle by a machine operated by hand. The edges of the bridge are machine beveled at 60-degree angle and polished by hand. The gray mainplate has been given a perlage finish by way of a hand-operated machine. The balance bridge is finished using multiple techniques including side graining, anglage, sandblasting, and straight graining. The escapement bridge also features hand-beveled edges (anglage).
Each movement is assembled twice to ensure optimal quality and performance. The watch is water resistant to 50 meters and “1 of 100” is engraved on the caseback. The Tribute 1 Rose Gold (Ref. RG21-TRI.70) retails for $23,900.
Learn more at Armin Strom.
Photos by Armin Strom.
