Editor’s Note: Need a quick watch fix? This preview of the new Arnold & Son Year Of The Tiger Perpetual Moon is a GET TO THE POINT (GTTP) review with all the info you want / need to know QUICK. For our actual hands-on reviews, please head to the dedicated section here. Now let’s get to the point.
What Is It
The new Arnold & Son Year Of The Tiger Perpetual Moon features a majestic golden water tiger on dial that’s a work of art on its own. The combination of rose gold, hematite, mother-of-pearl and aventurine brings to 8 lucky wrists a timepiece that not only celebrates the auspicious start of the traditional Chinese astrological calendar on Tuesday 1 February 2022, but also allows fans of horology to bask under the spell of an enchanted imagery so rarely depicted so evocatively on a watch dial.
Just looking at the night moon, the stars, the water feature and the majestic tiger is poetry meets watchmaking.
Basic Specifications of the new Arnold & Son Year Of The Tiger Perpetual Moon
- 42mm diameter 18-carat red gold (5N)
- 12.6mm case thickness
- 30m water-resistance
- First announced on January 2022
The Movement of The A&S Year Of The Tiger
The A&S1512 is impressively entirely developed, produced, assembled, adjusted and cased up in the brand’s manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
This 34 x 5.35mm movement beats at the low frequency of 3Hz, contains 27 jewels, and offers a very impressive 90-hour power reserve courtesy two barrels that should provide for a more evenly distributed torque. The moon phase display of this movement remains accurate for 122 years before deviating from the actual lunar cycle by one day (as long as it is kept wound).
The movement is nicely finished with polished and chamfered bridges, circular satin-finished wheels, blued screws with polished heads, and a rhodium-plated main plate featuring radiating Côtes de Genève stripes.
How Does It Do
In design, the base concept is similar to the Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon Obsidian from Watches & Wonders 2021. That ref. 1GLAR.Z01A.C154A was presented in a limited edition of 28-pieces and featured the same hand-wound mechanical A&S1512 manufacture caliber (and retailed for CHF 31’900 (excl. tax)).
The new Arnold & Son Year Of The Tiger Perpetual Moon ref. 1GLBR.Z03A.C161A is presented in a limited edition of 8-pieces only and retails for CHF 52’900 (excl. tax).
When it comes to the dial, where do we even begin? It is of course the dial that takes centre-stage here, but its charm truly comes alive with the lume shots.
For me, the imagery has the ‘soul’ of a Michael Jackson video; mysterious, beautifully crafted, and highly emotive.
At 12’o clock is the oversized aperture for the mother-of-pearl disc with added Super-LumiNova acting as the enchanting moon on a black aventurine glass with hand-painted stars.
The roaring three-dimensional 18-carat rose gold (4N) tiger at 3’ clock features hand-engraved and burnished details, while symmetrically complementing it is the riverbank.
And between 7 and 8 is the bamboo painted in gold powder on the hematite disc with glittering inclusions.
That’s All Folks!
On a dark night, a certain eeriness abounds. Silence is punctuated by a gentle stream of water that trickles. The bright moon comes from behind the clouds, bringing to life all that the sight can see. Stars glimmer, revealing the dance of the trickling waters from the riverbed. And in the corner, a shadowy figure beings to reveal itself.
The tiger roars, as if freezing everything in its place; except for the time, that keeps ticking courtesy the calibre A&S1512 on the ferociously poetic dial of the new Arnold & Son Year Of The Tiger Perpetual Moon.
To find out more about the new Arnold & Son Year Of The Tiger Perpetual Moon and other A&S watches, please head to their website here. All images unless otherwise specified are © 2022 – Arnold & Son.
