Arnold & Son UTTE – Ultra Thin Tourbillon Escapement – Two new editions

Yet another novelty from Arnold & Son! But it is without any boredom or weariness that we are presenting you these new editions from the Arnold & Son UTTE, a.k.a. Ultra Thin Tourbillon Escapement. Manufactured by La Joux-Perret, the highly productive and qualitative manufacture that was in the center of the buzz created by the Bremont Wright Flyer, this desirable watch combine a in-house, ultra-thin tourbillon calibre, a Haute-Horlogerie finish and a pure design. Let’s discover the two new editions.

When we say ‘yet another Arnold & Son‘ it is because in a few months, since Baselworld’s last edition, the brand has presented not less than 6 watches, all based on exclusive movements, with high complicated features creating a very coherent collection that includes the old-fashioned but innovative Tourbillon TES, the unique Instrument CTB, the world’s first True Beat Second and Chronograph or the very cool and skeletonized Time Pyramid. And here is another novelty, based on the Arnold & Son UTTE (Ultra Thin Tourbillon Escapement) that we already presented to you here and that comes now with new dial’s designs.

You might think that ultra-thin watches were Piaget‘s appanage. Well, in a sense, they are a (if not THE) leading brand in this speciality, with for instance the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, the Piaget Altiplano 900p (only 3.65mm in height). But don’t forget that the thinnest Tourbillon is owned by a surprising brand, Bulgari, with its Octo Finissimo Tourbillon with only 5.00mm in total height and an impressive 1.95mm for the movement only.

Looking at the specifications of the Arnold & Son UTTE and you’ll discover that you’re in front of a serious contender, with a movement that measure only 2.97mm (the whole watch is 8.34mm, due to a bombé shape of the case). It is certainly not the thinnest in the world but it is already quite an achievement. Additionally, while the movement diameter is 32 mm, the tourbillon cage is a massive 14 mm in diameter – thus occupying almost half of the movement space. What exclude the UTTE from the thinnest tourbillon’s contest is its architecture, as the flying tourbillon’s cage raised from the movement to achieve the same height as the hour and minute hands.

As Arnold & Son already accustomed us, the finishing is set to high standards, with hand operations on most details, such as hand-chamfered bridges with polished edges, circular satin-finished wheels with hand-chamfered and polished edges or screws with bevelled and mirror-polished heads. Depending on the case material the movement comes in two tastes: rhodium plated with Côtes de Genève rayonnantes and blued screws on the 18K red gold edition or NAC grey treated with straight and fine Côtes de Genève on the palladium edition. The movement boasts a huge 90-hour power reserve, thanks to a twin barrel. Quite an achievement for a movement that measures less than 3mm.

The Arnold & Son UTTE comes in a 42mm case (available in 18K red gold or in solid Palladium) with a dial that uses the typical codes of the Instrument collection: off-centered dials, multilevel structure and several finishes / textures. A structure that is close to the Instrument CTB, with which it shares the same color codes, case design and hands shape. The dials of these two new editions present a common design (and the same grained finish) but with a different colour, depending on the case material: opaline white and silver on the red gold edition and light grey and silver for the palladium case.

Even if we don’t have the official prices yet, we know that the previous editions were quite well priced, considering the level of complication and the very nice finish offered by Arnold & Son’s manufacture, La Joux Perret. The previous versions were priced (inc. taxes) at a reasonable € 54.500 Euros in palladium and € 63.000 Euros in Red Gold.

More infos can be found on Arnold & Son website.