Salon Sightings

Another true-blue British watchmaker present at the show was Arnold & Son, a company known for its marine chronometers and highly artistic complications. This year, the brand presented its Hornet History ‘James Cook’ collection, which commemorates the discoveries of the famous English explorer. The collection comes in a set of three timepieces, with hand-painted dials that represent a scene from Cook’s three most famous voyages: Landing at Botany Bay in Australia; The Discovery of Antarctica; and The Death in Hawaii. The watches are all beautifully rendered and feature different special functions, including a second time zone, mean solar time, a double disc date, and rotating GMT indicator.

The sea seems to be quite an inspiration for many of the brands this year, since aviation-centred watchmaker Bremont also revealed a unique- looking marine clock inspired by John Harrison’s original design of a ship chronometer. The brothers English have decided to pay tribute to the British inventor by creating a clock with three time zones, a 40-day power reserve, date display, 90-day chronograph, and water-resistant case. When asked about the reason for this ambitious project, Giles replied, “We wanted to display technically what we could do as a brand. We don’t do complicated watches, so I thought we could demonstrate what we could do with a ship’s clock.” And in support of the British clock and watchmaking industry, the brothers have opted to have all the components and parts of the B1 Marine Clock custom-made in the UK. And it’s not a one-off. The company plans to produce between 10 and 12 pieces per year, and each one can be made to the yacht- owner’s specifications.