The Discrete Muscles of the Arnold & Son HMS1

The Arnold & Son HMS1 isn’t exactly new, however after some turbulance within the brand it looks like they are now ready to good ahead at full speed. With the “re-launch” of the HMS1 and other impressive timepieces I’m very interested to learn more about this brand.

The HMS1 is a very elegant dress watch that combines its classic looks with a contemporary size of 40 mm. Equally impressive is what’s ‘under the hood’ as the power source is an extra-thin manual wind movement with no less then 80 hours of power reserve!

The new HMS1 additions come as limited editions in either stainless steel, rose gold or white gold and all feature the impressive movement, caliber A&S 1001. This exclusive Arnold & Son movement is a hand-wound, 21 jewels, movement that measure 30 mm in diameter and just 2.7 mm in height! Indeed… very thin and then to consider it’s a true powerhouse delivering 80 hours of power reserve!

In order to aquire enough power, caliber A&S 1001 has two main spring barrels. Having two barrels provides not only the impressive amount of power for 80 hours of autonomy, but more important it offers a more constant flow of power and thus a more constant force that result in improved accuracy.

The bridges are rhodium treated nickel-silver (which is another name for German silver that is only used by the top brands). Except for the movement used in the stainless steel models; these feature a black coated movement as shown on the photo above. The finish is impressive, especially considering the price level, as it features manually chamfered and polished edges, circular graining on the main plate and Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges and of course blued screws (except for the black coated movement, which doesn’t feature the blued screws).

The HMS1 was already available in rose gold and white gold and now several versions are added to the collection. First there is the new rose gold HMS1 addition that features a strikingly beautiful athracite dial with sunray finish. It’s limited to 250 pieces, like the rose gold versions with creme and black dial that were already in the collection.

For those looking to spent a less dollars/euros there are also two versions in stainless steel (two models in the middle). One with a white dial and one with the same impressive anthracite dial as on the rose gold version, except the hour markers now match the color of the stainless steel case. Both versions are limited to 250 pieces each and I wonder how fast these will be sold, especially if you consider the price is around $10,000 USD. For what you get, this is a very good price!

Last but not least there’s the white gold version featuring a stunning silver dial, that will come as a limited edition of 100 pieces.

The price of the different version:

• HMS1 in rose gold with anthracite dial: $15,165
• HMS1 in stainless steel with a white dial comes at a price of $9,885 and with an anthracite dial the price is $10,095
• HMS1 in white gold with silver dial: $16,640

Click here to visit the Arnold & Son website.

This article is written by Frank Geelen, executive editor for Monochrome Watches.