Hands-On – Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton Dual-Time – With (Almost) Two Movements in One Watch
Symmetry in the construction of the displays and movements have always been a huge part of Arnold & Son’s DNA. In their case, the design doesn’t drive the development of the movement, but the opposite. See for instance the Constant Force Tourbillon, the Nebula or the Time Pyramid and you’ll see how symmetry influenced the brand. Playing on this same concept, the brand pushed the idea even further, by having a watch with two entirely separate time displays, driven by an incredible twin-movement. And in order to enjoy this mechanical feast, a new version, the Arnold & Son DBG Skeleton, exposes all its entrails in a demonstrative but elegant way.
Happy Easter everyone. It’s Good Friday down here in Melbourne, so this edition of the Wind Down will be brief, as the office is closed and I’m penning this between nibbles of hot cross bun and wines in the sun. Not a bad way to spend the day at all. Hope your day off is similarly laid-back. What happened We still can’t stop talking about Basel. Aside from our big ‘Best of’ list, we did some wrap-ups of the best Bulgari (super slim) and Grand Seiko (super chunky) releases from the fair. What really mattered Well, the big news is that there’s a change coming to the Wind Down. Moving forward it will be the Fortnightly Friday Wind Down, running every other week. By way of an apology, here’s a gif of me and a cat. The week in numbers: 4: days off in a row. Peace out.
Last week we published a video of our top picks from Baselworld 2017. We filmed it in a pretty sleep-deprived state towards the end of the fair, with the thought of dropping a list while the watches were still hot. If you haven’t seen it, we’ve embedded it at the end of this story. (We hope you’ll enjoy a watch-related chuckle at our expense.) But we understand that not everyone has the time or headphones for video. So if you prefer your images still instead of moving, here are our 11 favourites in all their glorious, technicolour detail. Enjoy. Seiko Presage Cocktail Time Andrew says: This is the most unexpected thing in the list. Because I like the Cocktail Time! One of our team members told us in a post titled, unambiguously, No Submariners With Black Tie, that we have to have a different watch for black tie. For me, this is it. The dial is insane – it’s for a confident man (or woman), because it’s a dressy watch. Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller Andrew says: I fell hard, not only for its beauty, but also its brains. We have one of the most complicated Rolexes for what’s simply a very good price. Omega Railmaster…
The first Bell & Ross I ever laid my hands on, back in 2008, was the Marine, an uncommon and somewhat unusual beast that took the brand’s trademark dial and transplanted it into a large, 1000m water resistant, tonneau-shaped case that looked like it could handle anything short of being run over by a main battle tank (and even then it’d probably only scratch the case a little). And it turns out that this isn’t the brand’s first foray into the world of hardcore divers (check out the Hydromax). The only issue is that these older models don’t neatly fit into the Bell & Ross family. They’re round pegs trying to fit in a square hole. The newly minted BR 03-92 Diver has no such problems. Bell & Ross has taken the instantly recognisable BR 03 case shape and turned it into their first ever square dive watch. The first thing I thought on seeing it was – why haven’t they done this before? There is no doubt that the BR 03-92 Diver looks every inch the professional diver, as well it should, given that it has all the bells and whistles required by ISO 6425 – the international standard…