INTRODUCING: Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force SHH Limited Edition
The watchmaker is releasing an eight-piece limited edition model with a rose gold or 'salmon' dial by Kari Voutilainen.
Since Armin Strom released the Gravity Equal Force in 2019, it’s gone on to produce several special editions such as the Ultimate Sapphire with a sapphire crystal display for the time, and a pièce unique for Only Watch 2021 with orange-coated brass bridges and hands. The Ultimate Sapphire and Only Watch models both feature an anthracite, hand-guilloché mainplate that’s produced by Kari Voutilainen. (Voutilainen was a friend of Armin Strom himself.)
The brand now has another limited edition of the Gravity Equal Force, created especially for Sincere Haute Horlogerie, released yesterday. The timepiece features a rose gold-hued mainplate, or ‘salmon’ dial, with guilloché work done by Kari Voutilainen as well. The mainplate’s design and colour bring out the Calibre ASB19 beautifully. Retailing for S$46,610, it’s limited to just eight pieces.
The Gravity Equal Force features a stop-work device using a Maltese cross-style gear on the barrel, visible on the partially exposed barrel. The gear has concave ends except for one arm. It stops winding the mainspring before it’s fully coiled and also stops the watch from running before the barrel spring is fully unwound. This ensures that consistent energy throughout the watch’s operation – the power reserve delivers four days of consistent power.
According to Serge Michel, the brand’s founder, “the watch has a constant performance over the entire four days of power, ranging from +4/-2 seconds a day. That means you won’t get any changes in accuracy over the entire power reserve. If the movement gains a second a day, it’s the same throughout.”
While stop-work devices tend to be used with manually wound movements or pocket watches in the past, the Gravity Equal Force has a micro-rotor running on the dial side. “We wanted to really ensure that the performance of the watch would remain consistent, so we made it an automatic movement to keep the mainspring winding when worn,” he explains.
He further adds that the finishing on the watch movement is incredibly detailed, from the skeletonised bridges – “the inner surfaces of the bridges are also angled and polished” – to the skeleton micro-rotor and the power reserve display, shown on the barrel itself.
The entire gear train is visible on the dial side – watch the wheels turn as you adjust the time – while the escapement is visible on the back of the watch. The hours are displayed on a metal ring with circular graining, with a second ring for the minute track and a small counter for the seconds at 8 o’clock. The silver elements on the watch contrast and play up the warm rosy hues of the rose gold guilloché dial.
The Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force SHH Limited Edition is available for viewing and purchase at Sincere Haute Horlogerie’s store in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
