Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon 41.5 Red Gold Year of the Snake
Arnold & Son honours the Chinese Lunar New Year with a lifelike depiction of a snake basking in the light of a grandiose moon.
The Chinese lunisolar calendar determines that the New Year begins on the second new moon after the winter solstice. This year, the Chinese New Year will be welcomed on the 29th of January, marking the advent of the Year of the Snake. Given the moon’s role in fixing the date that China celebrates its most important holiday, Arnold & Son has selected a model from its Perpetual Moon collection to honour the sixth animal of the Chinese zodiac.
Arnold & Son’s Perpetual Moon appeared in 2013 and stood out from conventional moon phases with its generous 29mm aperture at noon and extra-large hand-engraved moon. The Year of the Snake takes advantage of the generous space on the dial to host a lifelike hand-engraved 18k rose gold snake set against a glistening blue aventurine glass night sky. The scales, forked tongue and broad flat head of the snake are depicted with great realism as its body coils around the branches of a Ginko Biloba tree with a pagoda in the background. Hand-painted with gold powder, the leaves of the tree and the pagoda are overlaid with Super-LumiNova, which produces a spectacular effect in the dark.
Floating in the sparkling aventurine night sky is the realistically rendered and enormous 11.2mm mother-of-pearl moon, complete with hand-painted shadows and a coating of Super-LumiNova, allowing it to emanate a mysterious glow in the dark. The hand-painted Ursa Major and Cassiopeia constellations are an allusion to John Arnold’s historical marine chronometers. His precision timekeepers were used on board to calculate a ship’s longitude in conjunction with the observation of celestial bodies. The hours and minutes are indicated by faceted hands and hour markers.
With a deviation of only one day every 122 years, the precision astronomical moon phase display has an adjustment system on the movement side. Traditional moon phases are usually adjusted by the crown, and it’s tricky to get the position of the moon just right. To counter this common problem, A&S has placed a second moon phase indicator with a precise scale and representations of the cycles on the caseback to adjust the phases with extra precision.
The Year of the Snake comes in a polished 41.5mm red gold case with a thickness of 11.67mm. The sapphire crystal on the caseback reveals the A&S1512 calibre, a manual-winding movement with double barrels for a robust 90-hour power reserve. The finishings are top-notch with chamfered bridges and Côtes de Genève, snailed wheels, perlage on the mainplate, and blued chamfered screws with polished heads.
Limited to eight pieces, the Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon 41.5 Year of the Snake comes on a handsome inky blue alligator strap lined with red alligator and an 18k red gold prong buckle. It retails for CHF 57,200 (incl. taxes).
More information at ArnoldandSon.com.
