Introducing The New Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Ultimate Sapphire Purple Edition

Armin Strom stands as a distinguished independent Swiss brand, celebrated for its intricate skeleton designs and unique horological creations. Born in 1938 in Lotzwil, nestled in the Canton of Bern, Armin Strom embarked on a historical journey in watchmaking, driven by a profound love for skeletonized movements. His unparalleled creativity in this domain garnered attention from major brands, leading them to commission him for the intricate task of skeletonizing complicated watches. Through these endeavors, Armin Strom cultivated a signature style, characterized by mesmerizing skeletonized movements.

In anticipation of his retirement, Armin Strom made a strategic move in 2006 by selling a 51 percent stake of the newly formed stock company, Armin Strom AG, to entrepreneurs Willy Michel and his son Serge, while retaining 49% ownership for himself.

Under the leadership of Serge Michel as CEO, one of the initial pivotal decisions was the appointment of Claude Greisler as the new technical director. Prior to his tenure at Armin Strom, Greisler honed his craft as a movement designer at Christophe Claret.

Aligned in their vision to propel Armin Strom into a prominent watchmaking entity capable of blending its founder's ethos with mass production capabilities and global recognition, Serge and Claude embarked on a strategic journey. Recognizing the importance of developing and manufacturing in-house movements, as well as establishing robust parts production capabilities, they laid the foundation for future growth. With a commitment to innovation and excellence, Armin Strom continues to unveil new releases, with its latest design marking a pinnacle of success for the company.

Launched by Armin Strom at the end of 2019 to celebrate the brand’s tenth anniversary, the Gravity Equal Force marked a milestone as the first automatic watch featuring a patented equal-force transmission integrated into the mainspring barrel. Now, the Gravity Equal Force returns in a new edition, marrying a striking purple guilloché mainplate with an off-centred dial crafted from transparent sapphire crystal, offering a mesmerizing view of the intricate mechanics.

Encased in stainless steel, the Gravity Equal Force Ultimate Sapphire Purple boasts a well-proportioned 41mm diameter case, its refined lines accentuated by alternating satin-brushed and polished surfaces. With a thickness of 12.65mm, the case ensures water resistance up to 30 meters, while its slim lugs and bezel maximize visibility of the architectural movement from every angle.

The dial of this new timepiece showcases a hue never before seen from Armin Strom. Its base plate features a guilloché-engraved motif with a barley grain pattern, meticulously crafted by the esteemed independent watchmaker Kari Voutilainen using a traditional rose engine lathe.

The striking purple tone is achieved through a 3D PVD process, reflecting a spectrum of tones as it interacts with light. Positioned at 9 o'clock, the small grey-toned off-centred dial is fashioned from transparent sapphire crystal, a hallmark reserved exclusively for the Gravity Equal Force’s Ultimate Sapphire Editions.

Completing the dial are stainless steel hour and minute hands, crafted in-house and filled with super-LumiNova for enhanced legibility in low-light conditions, along with a small seconds sub-dial positioned between 7 and 8 o'clock.

Occupying the right-hand portion of the open display are three dark grey ruthenium-plated bridges, supporting the barrel at 5 o'clock and the highly efficient unidirectionally winding micro rotor at 1 o'clock. These bridges, inspired by finger-style bridges found in pocket watches, undergo meticulous hand embellishment, taking up to a day to complete.

The transparent caseback reveals the Automatic ASB19 caliber, meticulously designed and manufactured in-house by Armin Strom. Equipped with 28 jewels, the balance wheel beats at a frequency of 3.5 Hz (25,200 vibrations per hour), providing a power reserve of 72 hours.

The barrel incorporates a solution that ensures equal force transmission to the balance, hence the model's name. This solution achieves similar goals as complications such as the fusée-chain transmission that we find in Ferdinand Berthoud watches, or the constant force escapement in Grand Seiko by way of example, not exhaustive enumeration. while Armin Strom succeeded in developing its own mechanism in a unique way.

Operating within the mainspring barrel, a stop-works declutch system limits the torque delivered to the balance, ensuring smooth power distribution. Specifically, a Geneva wheel, mounted to the barrel housing cover, restricts the rotation of the mainspring barrel to 9 full turns out of a possible 12.5, representing the central 72% of the mainspring’s torque curve, the most consistent portion. As the barrel housing unwinds around the arbor, a pin counts the rotations on the Geneva wheel until it reaches the locked position, preventing further unwinding.

Limited to just 25 pieces annually, the watch comes paired with a light grey nubuck leather strap adorned with purple stitching, priced at CHF 27,500, equivalent to 112,000 AED. 

For more information, visit the official Armin Strom website.