Arnold & Son's Perpetual Moon Makes Its 'Stellar' Debut
The latest version of Arnold & Son’s Perpetual Moon, presented in rose gold and platinum, introduces the new Stellar Rays dial, a motif that befits this astronomical complication.
Arnold & Son explores the theme of moon phases with its constant eye for detail and decoration. Two new editions of Perpetual Moon take advantage of the watchmaker’s recent developments in the fields of cases, dials and finishes. These references further enhance the collection of giant moons by this most British of Swiss brands.
Perpetual Moon 41.5mm rose gold joins the permanent collection, while the platinum version is produced in a limited edition of 28 timepieces.
Frame of Light
The Perpetual Moon’s case has been redesigned. The new lugs have been simplified so that instead of their original cross shape, they now present a tauter form of plunging bars with beveled ends. The case, previously measuring 42mm, is reduced to 41.5mm without affecting the size of the dial. This has reduced the width of the bezel, drawing attention to the dial, its finishes, and its vast moon.
Furrows of Light
The dials on these new creations present a unique finish known as Stellar Rays, its aesthetic obtained through skillfully irregular engraving. Several depths and widths of rays coexist and follow on from one another, creating their own rhythm, each generating a fluctuating interplay of light and a depth obtained by applying several layers of transparent lacquer.
This unique effect is employed in two forms. Perpetual Moon in rose gold is combined with a dense, deep blue adorned with gold edging on the moon aperture, together with golden hands and hour markers. Perpetual Moon in platinum is coupled with a salmon pink whose soft metallic radiance complements the rhodium-plated details on the dial.
Circles of Light
Realistically depicted with hand-painted shadows, the large moon is enhanced with a luminescent material that is particularly intense in darkness yet invisible in daylight, giving way to the white mother-of-pearl disc. It is set against a blue PVD-treated grained sky and is surrounded by the constellations of the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, also hand-painted and coated with Super-LumiNova.
The constellations have been chosen as a direct reference to John Arnold’s history as a maker of naval chronometers. The Big Dipper and Cassiopeia have been used by navigators in the northern hemisphere since time immemorial to find their bearings and locate the North Star (Polaris). The position of the latter defines the North and its angular altitude, or position in the North-South plane, and allows the distance to the equator, i.e., latitude, to be estimated.
Accuracy of Light
On the caseback, a secondary indicator allows the moon phase to be adjusted quickly and precisely. The hand-wound caliber that powers it, reference A&S1512, can track the development of its segments with exceptional precision. The duration of a complete lunar cycle is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds. Arnold & Son has succeeded in representing it in such a way that it would take 122 years for this movement, if regularly wound, to accumulate a day’s difference between its display and celestial reality.
Like all Arnold & Son movements, the A&S1512 caliber has been entirely developed, manufactured, decorated, assembled, adjusted and cased at the manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The caliber features two barrels and an oscillation frequency of 3 Hz, providing a power reserve of 90 hours.
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