Introducing Illuminating the Skies: Arnold & Son Unveils the Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum "Celestial Blue"

As the summer stars begin to twinkle, a new timepiece is lighting up the horology universe: Arnold & Son’s Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum "Celestial Blue". This luxurious wristwatch enchants with a shimmering allure reminiscent of a moonlit night. An intricate meld of elegance, precision, and celestial motifs, this timepiece is a testament to Arnold & Son's commitment to astronomical themes and the detail-oriented art of watchmaking.

The Night Sky on Your Wrist
The Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum "Celestial Blue" takes inspiration from the ethereal beauty of the night sky, marrying a radiant moonlit aesthetic with the platinum's cold gleam. The large, realistic mother-of-pearl moon sits resplendent against a midnight-blue PVD-treated, grained sky1. The dial, showcasing the house’s signature "Stellar Rays" pattern, captures the fluctuating play of light on the night sky, thanks to a skilfully irregular engraving adorned with transparent lacquer layers.

Redefined Elegance
The Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum "Celestial Blue" brings a refined edge to the collection with redesigned lugs and a slightly reduced case size. The taut plunging bars with bevelled ends replace the original cross-shaped lugs, achieving an elegant integration with the case middle4. The case's reduction to 41.5 mm results in a slimmer bezel, further drawing the observer's gaze towards the exquisite dial, its celestial details, and its dominant pale-blue shade.

Navigating with the Stars
Paying homage to John Arnold's history as a maker of naval chronometers, the watch dial is embellished with the hand-painted constellations of the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, both coated with luminescent material3. These constellations, along with the North Star, have been traditional navigation reference points, symbolising the brand's ties to maritime history.

Precision in the Details
The timepiece features a secondary moon-phase indicator on the case back, allowing for quick and precise adjustments. Powered by the in-house A&S1512 calibre, the watch boasts of exceptional lunar phase tracking. This watch’s movement is so accurate that it would take 122 years for a day's difference to accumulate between its display and the actual lunar cycle. The calibre offers a significant power reserve of 90 hours, thanks to its dual barrel system.

The Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum "Celestial Blue" is a limited edition of 38 pieces, each retailing at a suggested price of $52,150. This timepiece not only symbolises the house's dedication to exploring the moon-phase complication but also serves as a testament to its reputation for marrying precision with aesthetic appeal.

Celestial or terrestrial, day or night, the Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum "Celestial Blue" promises to be a reliable and elegant companion, echoing the timeless allure of the starry night sky on your wrist.

Delicacy
This edition showcases the latest characteristics of the Perpetual Moon collection, substantially redesigned to achieve greater refinement and subtlety. The lugs have been simplified and refined. Instead of their original cross shape, they now present a tauter form of plunging bars with bevelled ends. They form a single piece with the case middle, in terms of both their construction and appearance. After remaining at 42 mm for a long time, the case has been slightly reduced to 41.5 mm without altering the dial opening, giving a slimmer bezel instead. As a result, the eye is drawn in towards the dial, its finishes, its immense moon and its dominant pale-blue shade.

Light
The dial is adorned with the “Stellar Rays” finish. Its aesthetic is obtained through skilfully irregular engraving. Various depths and widths of rays are successively combined to create a specific rhythm. Their sequence produces a fluctuating play of light, which is accentuated by the depth created by several layers of transparent lacquer.

The large white mother-of-pearl moon is realistically rendered with hand-painted shadows and coated with Super-LumiNova. It is placed on a grained sky featuring a midnight-blue PVD treatment. Following the tradition of the Perpetual Moon collection, it is surrounded by the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia constellations, which are also hand-painted and coated with luminescent material.
The constellations have been chosen as a reference to John Arnold’s history as a maker of naval chronometers. The Big Dipper and Cassiopeia have been used as points of reference since time immemorial. Midway between these easily identifiable constellations is the North Star. Its position inevitably defines the North and its angular altitude, or position in the North-South plane, and allows the distance to the equator, i.e. the latitude, to be estimated. Before instruments for measuring longitude were invented, it was the most reliable way to determine the position of a boat in the middle of the ocean.

Accuracy
On the case back, a secondary indicator allows the moon phase to be adjusted quickly and precisely. The hand-wound calibre that powers it, reference A&S1512, is capable of tracking 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 calibre has been entirely developed, manufactured, decorated, assembled, adjusted and cased at the Manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The calibre features two barrels and an oscillating frequency of 3 Hz, providing a power reserve of 90 hours.

A limited edition of 28 pieces, the Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum “celestial blue” is priced at 52,150 USD.

Arnold & Son is a Swiss watchmaker known for its craftsmanship, in particular, its dedication to precision and aesthetic sense. The Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum “celestial blue” watch is just the latest in its line of beautifully designed and finely crafted timepieces, a stunning addition to any collection.