True to English watchmaking and handcraft heritage, Arnold & Son unveils two new references of its TE8 Tourbillon, with the hand-finished A&S8000 calibre. This unique tourbillon timepiece will be produced in a limited edition of 25 pieces of each version, in a 44 mm 18-carat white gold and 18-carat red gold case with either a movement with NAC grey treated bridges and black ruthenium treated main plate or rhodium treated bridges and NAC grey treated main plate. Each watch case is individually numbered and engraved. The tourbillon is one of the most elegant and inspired complications in the history of watchmaking. As simple in principle as it is difficult to make, the mechanism was designed to eliminate the errors of rate caused by gravity on a pocket watch carried in a vertical position.
Weighing mere fractions of a gram, it consists of a mobile cage that contains all the parts of the escapement, with the balance at the centre. The cage completes one revolution around its own axis every minute, thus ensuring that the balance wheel oscillates at different positions in the course of its 360° journey and that the rate remains as constant as possible.
The TE8 Tourbillon heralds the Royal Collection that combines classical styling with innovative, state-of-the-art technology. The letters “TE” stand for tourbillon escapement. Some of its more distinctive features are obvious at first glance. Compared with other more conventional tourbillons found today, the TE8’s movement is said to be “inverted”: in other words, most of the technical elements and visually interesting features can be seen on the dial side, when they would normally be hidden away on the reverse.
The timepiece also boasts a number of typically English technical idiosyncrasies and its singularly English design that will interest even the most discerning watch connoisseur.
