A fitting tribute to England's most famous warship: the
TB Victory from Arnold & Son
The designers of Arnold & Son's Instrument Collection took
their inspiration from the distinctive instrument-like chronometers
produced by John Arnold and his son, John Roger Arnold. These
delivered the robustness, reliability and down-to-the-second
precision needed by marine navigators to determine longitude. The
TB Victory is a scintillating combination of maritime precision
with aesthetic perfection and celebrates a battleship that owed its
long active life, at least in part, to the accuracy of those
chronometers.
The HMS Victory is one of the best known in English maritime
history. After a glorious career spanning forty years, she had her
finest hour as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in
1805. Now, with the exquisite TB Victory, Arnold & Son unveils
the latest of its true beat timepieces. Gracing the right-hand side
of the dial is a 22-carat solid gold appliqué of the famous
warship, traditionally hand-chased with breathtaking richness of
detail by Arnold & Son's master engraver and then duplicated
for the series. In traditional hand-engraving, hardened steel
burins and other tools are used to create the cuts, lines and
texturing that build up entire images - in this case a perfectly
sculpted likeness of the HMS Victory - and underline Arnold &
Son's mastery of the decorative arts.
The TB Victory timepiece has a distinctive off-centre subdial
for the time of day, one of the unmistakable design cues of the
Instrument Collection. Central to the cream-coloured dial is the
timepiece's main complication: a central true beat (TB) seconds. A
rarely found complication these days, the true beat seconds was an
invaluable instrument for marine navigators, and its automatic
winding system calls for enormous technical expertise. In this
timepiece, it is made possible by an internationally patented
system and calls for parts accurate to a micron, or one-thousandth
of a millimetre. The key components are produced using
state-of-the-art LIGA (lithography, electroplating and moulding)
manufacturing technology.
The TB Victory is powered by the A&S6103 calibre, the first
automatic movement with an integrated true beat system to be
developed, designed and manufactured entirely at Arnold & Son's
workshops in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The exquisitehaute
horlogeriefinishing includes manually chamfered bridges and
polished edges, fine circular graining andCôtes de Genève
rayonnantes, a brushed and skeletonized rotor, and blued
screws.
The TB Victory will be available in an exclusive limited edition
of just 28 timepieces.
