With the help of their new parent company, La Joux Perret, watchmaker Arnold & Son released a slew of awesome new timepieces equipped with manufacture movements this year at Baselworld.
We’ve already covered the Time Pyramid HERE, and will cover another one of their watches soon, but today we will discuss the UTTE. The Ultra-Thin Tourbillon Escapement has the world’s smallest tourbillon movement.
Well, to be precise, it is tied with the Breguet Classique Grandes Complications 5377BR Ultra Thin (which we will cover later this week) for the world’s smallest tourbillon movement. At 2.97 mm it is the same thickness as the Breguet, however, the Breguet timepiece is housed in a case that is only 7 mm thick compared to the 8.34 mm thickness of the Arnold & Son.
“This new caliber A&S8200 was developed, designed, and manufactured entirely in-house at the brand’s La Chaux-de-Fonds workshops. This superbly engineered wristwatch is part of the brand’s Instrument Collection that combines instrument precision with classical styling.”
The A&S8200 movement is hand-wound and features a one-minute flying tourbillon, 29 jewels, a 14 mm tourbillon cage, 80-hour power reserve and it runs at a frequency of 3Hz. The movement is in nickel-silver with a rhodium treatment. It has a hand-engraved tourbillon bridge and manually chamfered bridges with polished edges, a fine circular graining, and Côtes deGenève rayonnantes finish, blued screws with beveled and mirror-polished heads. The tourbillon cage has a satin finish with chamfered and polished edges.
The dial at 12 o’clock displays hours and minutes via blue skeleton hands and transferred Roman numerals on a silvery-white background. The main dial is in silver opaline with a Côtes de Genève rayonnates finish. The tourbillon at 6 o’clock makes one complete rotation every 60-seconds.
The case measures 42 mm in diameter and features a cambered sapphire with an anti-reflective coating on both sides. The case back has a see-through sapphire which allows a view of the finely finished Haute horology movement. The strap is hand-stitched in black or brown alligator leather. Available in 18K white or rose gold. The water resistance rating is 30 meters.
