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The love for the detail, passion and precision 10 Years Manufacture Minute Repeater Resonance How we decorate
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ÂŤ The
Armin Strom Mirrored Force Resonance is one of the most ingenious and interesting watches we've had in the office in quite a while. Âť Jack Forster / Editor in Chief HODINKEE Inc. www.hodinkee.com
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1 0 Y E A R S M A N U FAC T U R E
Join us in our celebration
*Swissgerman (Bernese dialect) for "We are celebrating" Serge Michel, Founder and Claude Greisler, Co-Founder
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M I R FYRE*
Dear reader, in 2009 when we founded the Manufacture it was important for us to continue what Mr. Armin Strom has created, as we share the same passion for watches as he does. We are driven by the fascination for transparent mechanics and we believe that horological craftmanship should never be hidden behind a dial. And so, we started to create our own exclusive watch movements with a lot of passion and diligence. We do not compromise when it comes to the development, production and decoration of our watches. We strive for technical and esthetical perfection, and are proud of the production depth in our manufactory as well as of the sensibility and craftsmanship of our collaborators. 2019 marks a special year for us as we can celebrate our 10th anniversary of being a manufacture. A manufacture which is passionate about improvement, development and ingenious watchmaking. We are driven by rethinking existing ideas because we believe that new technologies opens also new ways of how a timepiece can be produced. Today we can present you a long-lived dream from both of us. Since we have started the manufacture it was a wish to create our own Minute Repeater. It is a fantastic milestone that we achieved to create the world first Minute Repeater based on a Resonance movement. The Minute Repeater Resonance tells stories about the evolution of the art of watchmaking. And we will never stop providing such stories. Yours truly, Serge and Claude
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Find out more about the world first two-in-one
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M I N U T E R E P E AT E R RESONANCE
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M I N U T E R E P E AT E R R E S O N A N C E
I N S P I R E D BY T H E Z Y TG LO G G E* For the 10th anniversary of our fully integrated manufacture we wanted to develop a world-first masterpiece fully highlighting the brand’s savoir-faire. As the industry leaders in resonance, including the manufacture’s laboratory-certified resonance technology was an easy choice. But our two founders Serge Michel and Claude Greisler wanted something more: a grand complication and the first chiming wristwatch produced in the canton of Bern. Inspiration for a minute repeater came from an unusual source: a sixteenth-century tower clock. We are based in Bienne in Switzerland’s canton of Bern, and they wanted to pay homage to the region. While the French-speaking region of Switzerland is known for a multitude of famous historical timepieces, Bern has far fewer. But it does
have one landmark clock that everyone in the region knows: the thirteenth-century Zytglogge. The clock in this tower has not only served as the city’s main clock for more than 500 years, the tower also served as the reference point for travel times indicated on stone markers along the main cantonal roads. This clock tower supposedly helped Albert Einstein hone his special theory of relativity while working as a patent clerk in Bern. The impressive tower clock is animated with automatons: four minutes before the change of the hour, a cock crows, a bear (the symbol of Bern) makes his rounds, and a jester takes the liberty of announcing the hour in advance. And at the top of the hour (and on the quarters), the clock chimes the time for all to hear.
Development As masters of resonance movements we wanted to work in partnership with masters of chiming watches, and our co-Founder Claude Greisler knew the perfect person and team: his old friend Alain Schiesser, founder of Cercle des Horlogers, with whom he had worked with in the past at Christophe Claret. Working behind the scenes, Le Cercle des Horlogers has developed around half of the minute repeaters launched by prestigious Swiss brands over the last few years. Originally the minute repeater mechanism had been envisaged to be in the traditional position at the back of watch, but the team decided that it deserved equal billing with the resonant regulators dial side where it could be appreciated by all. This brought many technical challenges of its own. We did not only wanted the resonant regulators and minute repeater hammers and gongs to be fully visible on top of the movement dial side; Greisler and 12
*Don't bother to pronounce it the right way
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M I N U T E R E P E AT E R R E S O N A N C E
his team did not want appreciation of the animated mechanisms to be potentially diluted by the associated gearing necessary to drive the repeater and going train for the time display. So the movements are inverted with the pinions driving the repeater hammers and hour and minutes transversing the two vertically stacked calibers. They say necessity is the mother of invention and that’s certainly the case here. Space constraints meant that there was insufficient room for separate large mainspring barrels for each of the two movements, so our R&D team developed an innovative single barrel with two independent mainsprings inside, each driving its own movement. The high visibility of the complications dial side also dictates that the watchmakers have to pay very special attention when assembling and regulating the watch as the slightest scratch or mark on the beautifully hand-finished surfaces would be visible to all. Skeletonized bridges and plates allow visual access through the sapphire crystal dial deep into the movement.
ding multiple thermic treatments. While the exact process is a closely guarded secret, it is said to be very similar to Patek Philippe’s process for making gongs. All components are finished to the very highest level, but of special note is the tremblage hand-engraving on the large golden balance cocks supporting the two oscillating balances. While titanium is the perfect metal for both transmitting the resonating sound from the gongs to the ear and ensuring that the watch is relatively light and comfortable to wear, it is a ‘cold’ metal; this coolness is balanced by the warm gold.
Resonance In the pursuit of horological accuracy, precision, and rate stability, resonance has usually involved using two independent movements connected to allow fine tuning of the
M I N U T E R E P E AT E R R E S O N A N C E
distance between them. Until Armin Strom, precise adjustment of the distance between the two regulators has been necessary to incite resonance. However, the Armin Strom Resonance Clutch Spring eliminates the necessity for fine tuning the distance, ensuring a much more reliable and efficient resonant system only taking up to 10 minutes to synchronize. The idea of resonance has endured for three centuries for a reason, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve upon it. Armin Strom’s patented Resonance Clutch Spring is an innovative way of upgrading an old concept, one that is horology’s very reason for being: precision and accuracy.
While the vast majority of the components were produced in-house at our manufacture in Switzerland, the gongs were made by Le Cercle des Horlogers in a process involving more than 30 different stages inclu-
«Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure.» — Albert Einstein
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M I N U T E R E P E AT E R RESONANCE
Hear it ring:
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D UA L T I M E R E S O N A N C E SAPPH I RE
Discover the art of decoration
This is where all the magic happens – from the initial idea to prototyping, production and final assembly of the watch.
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D E C O R AT I O N
M E E T PAU L I N E* S H E W I L L S H OW YO U H OW W E D E CO R AT E
Creating a watch movement from scratch is a watchmaker’s dream! In the watchmaker’s hands, the workpiece becomes a unique work of art. At Armin Strom we cherish the love for the detail and therefore we are only satisfied when we have achieved the best
possible decoration on each part of the watch movement. On the next pages I will explain you a few steps and techniques we use in our manufacture to make each watch unique and to bring them alive by adding a human touch.
*French pronaunced: POH-leen
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D E C O R AT I O N
Hand engravings Steel burins in differing sizes and wax-coated holders are the tools of the engraver. In the engraver’s hands, the workpiece becomes a unique work of art. Our engraver draws her own motif design on the workpiece with a needle according to her original drawing. But her hand, working under the microscope, cannot guide the burin to a tenth of a millimeter every time; only a machine could copy the engraving exactly. The special decoration called “Tremblage” for example is visible on the two bridges of our Minute Repeater Resonance and is completely made by hand using a traditional engraving tool. Making the essential exceptional this is our motivation.
Polishing: Filing to perfection Embellishing every part of a movement makes each Armin Strom watch akin to a handcrafted piece of jewelry. Working bare brass or steel by hand is time consuming work: edges of plates, bridges and levers are perfectly chamfered or, as the watchmakers call it, beveled. Every part is then polished, even when the embellishing would not visible in the finished watch.
Beveling and polishing calls for a trained eye and fingertip sensitivity together with plenty of patience and perseverance. In a comparatively small part like a pallets bridge, a watchmaker can easily spend half an hour or more on the detailed work. We do not compromise when it comes to the decoration of our watches.
Finishing with the grinding wheel Armin Strom uses traditional machines for grinding patterns onto the movement. The classic finish used in fine watchmaking known as Geneva Stripes (Côtes de Genève), is created thanks to an abrasive disc that is guided over the workpiece in perfectly straight lines. Circular graining (Perlage) is a decorative motif reminiscent of clouds, typically used on main plates. To achieve this pattern, the watchmaker uses a rotating abrasive pencil and gently makes contact with the workpiece, gradually working across the whole surface. This creates the characteristic overlapping circular grained motif. All rotating parts of the movement are embellished with a circular grinding. We are passionate about improvement, development and innovation. We are driven by rethinking watchmaking ideas in order to create new ways of how you can decorate a timepiece. Nowhere is the delicacy and complexity of this finishing and embellishment more in evidence than in a "Skeleton" watch whose transparency reveals the beauty and intricate structure of its movement. The watchmaker's decorative art finds its fullest expression. #ASwatchmaking
«We cultivate the care for the details and we believe in the evolution of watchmaking.»
— Claude Greisler
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C O N F I G U R ATO R
C O N F I G U R ATO R
PAU LI N E ’S CHOICE: Mirrored Force Resonance, configured
C R E AT E YO U R OW N WATC H arminstrom.com 26
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COLLECTION
Our watches show more than just the time
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T H E A R M I N S T RO M CO LLE C T I O N
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COLLECTION
COLLECTION
MASTERPIECE
RESONANCE
M I N U T E R E P E AT E R R E S O N A N C E
D UA L T I M E R E S O N A N C E
PURE RESONANCE
M I RRO RE D FO RCE RESO NAN CE
T I TA N I U M
SAPPHIRE
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S TA I N L E S S S T E E L
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COLLECTION
COLLECTION
S K E LE TO N
SYS T E M 78
S KE LETO N PU RE
TOU RB I LLO N S KE LETO N
G R AV I T Y E Q UA L F O R C E
S TA I N L E S S S T E E L
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S TA I N L E S S S T E E L
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M O RE TO CO M E
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COLLECTION
COLLECTION
OV E RV I E W
MINUTE REPEATER RESONANCE
DUAL TIME RESONANCE
SKELETON PURE
TOURBILLON SKELETON
C a l i b re A R R 1 8 Manual Winding Mechanism Re s o n a n c e Sy s te m Two B a r re l s 4 - d ay s p owe r re s e r ve 47. 7m m d i a m e te r 1 6 .1 0 m m h e i g ht 2 5' 2 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 51 J ewe l s 4 0 8 c o m p o n e nt s Wa te r p ro of u p to 3 0 m Price 380'000 CHF L i m i te d to 1 0 p i e c e s
C a l i b re A R F1 7 Manual Winding Mechanism Re s o n a n c e Sy s te m Fo u r B a r re l s 1 1 0 h p owe r re s e r ve 59 m m x 4 3 . 4 m m d i a m e te r 1 5 .9 0 m m h e i g ht 2 5' 2 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 70 J ewe l s 41 9 c o m p o n e nt s O pt i o n a l g u i l l o c h é d i a l Wa te r p ro of u p to 5 0 m P r i c e s t a r t i n g f ro m 1 8 0 ' 0 0 0 C H F L i m i te d to 8 p i e c e s
C a l i b re A R M 0 9 - S Manual Winding Mechanism Two B a r re l s 8 - d ay s p owe r re s e r ve 4 3 . 4 0 m m d i a m e te r 1 3 . 0 0 m m h e i g ht 1 8 ' 0 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 3 4 J ewe l s 1 4 6 c o m p o n e nt s Wa te r p ro of u p to 5 0 m P r i c e s t a r t i n g f ro m 3 2 '4 0 0 C H F
C a l i b re ATC M - S Manual Winding Mechanism To u r b i l l o n m ove m e nt Two B a r re l s 1 0 - d ay s p owe r re s e r ve 4 3 . 4 0 m m d i a m e te r 1 3 . 0 0 m m h e i g ht 1 8 ' 0 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 24 J ewe l s 1 8 4 c o m p o n e nt s Wa te r p ro of u p to 5 0 m P r i c e s t a r t i n g f ro m 8 8 ' 0 0 0 C H F
MIRRORED FORCE RESONANCE
PURE RESONANCE
GRAVITY EQUAL FORCE
C a l i b re A R F1 5 Manual Winding Mechanism Re s o n a n c e Sy s te m Two B a r re l s 4 8 h p owe r re s e r ve 4 3 . 4 0 m m d i a m e te r 1 3 . 0 0 m m h e i g ht 2 5' 2 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 4 3 J ewe l s 2 2 6 c o m p o n e nt s O pt i o n a l g u i l l o c h é d i a l Wa te r p ro of u p to 5 0 m P r i c e s t a r t i n g f ro m 5 4' 0 0 0 C H F
C a l i b re A R F1 6 Manual Winding Mechanism Re s o n a n c e Sy s te m Two B a r re l s 4 8 h p owe r re s e r ve 42 . 0 0 m m d i a m e te r 1 2 . 0 0 m m h e i g ht 2 5' 2 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 3 8 J ewe l s 2 0 6 c o m p o n e nt s Wa te r p ro of u p to 5 0 m P r i c e s t a r t i n g f ro m 49 ' 0 0 0 C H F
C a l i b re A S B 1 9 A u to m a t i c W i n d i n g M e c h a n i s m O n e Eq u a l Fo rc e B a r re l 7 2 h p owe r re s e r ve 41 . 0 0 m m d i a m e te r 1 2 . 6 5 m m h e i g ht 2 5' 2 0 0 A / h Fre q u e n c y 2 8 J ewe l s 2 0 2 c o m p o n e nt s Wa te r p ro of u p to 3 0 m P r i c e s t a r t i n g f ro m 1 6' 9 0 0 C H F
Configurable
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C O N F I G U R ATO R
Discover the next level of luxury‌
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C R E AT E YO U R OW N WATC H Individualized to your taste and personality
True luxury is the privilege of owning something special and rare. Something that no one else has and that fits your personality. Our configurator allows you to personalize your Armin Strom timepiece, right down to single parts, such as bridges and plates, in a wide variety of colors. Use your imagination! Choose from a wide variety of options to create your own exclusive wristwatch. One that reflects your personality and your own, personal style.
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COM MUN ITY
COM MUN ITY
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Armin Strom AG Bรถzingenstrasse 46 CH-2502 Biel/Bienne Switzerland Phone +41 (0) 32 343 33 44 info@arminstrom.com www.arminstrom.com Follow us on: