Arnold & Son’s new Globetrotter Night displays a world of times while showing the wearer the Northern Hemisphere at night. Beneath one of the largest sapphire crystal domes we’ve seen on a watch, this newly nocturnal version of the original Arnold & Son Globetrotter, which debuted in 2018, performs all the same functions as that initial daytime model, but with a more muted, contemporary flair.
The watch’s prominent, polished steel bridge supports a disk with a view of the northern hemisphere that rotates once every 24-hours and serves as the generalized world-time display while also acting as a night-day indicator. To indicate night, which is clearly a theme for the watch, the bezel-like sapphire disc around the globe is transparent between the daylight hours of 6.00 and 18.00, and translucent from 18.00 to 6.00, making daytime and nighttime easily evident.
The Arnold &Son Globetrotter Night world time watch displays the Northern Hemisphere at night, enclosed in a 45mm steel case.
Determining world times with this half-globe will always be approximate without the specific city indications often associated with traditional world time watches. But as this is not a traditional world time watch, its charms are primarily visual thanks to the Globetrotter Night’s realistic interpretation of a three-dimensional Northern Hemisphere map at night.
Arnold & Son first engraves the continents chemically, followed by a galvanic deep-grey treatment to color them. Then the landmasses are hand-lacquered in a black-grey hue, while the oceans are lacquered in grey-blue. Finally, the city lights are represented by hand-applied silver sparkles.
The raised parts of the Globetrotter Night dial have undergone a deep-grey galvanic treatment before being hand-lacquered in a black-grey hue, while the oceans are lacquered in grey-blue.
Beyond the half-globe, the watch’s chapter ring is circular satin-brushed while the hands are polished and tipped in red. That massive ‘double-foot’ bridge is circular satin-brushed and chamfered by hand and held in place by screws with polished heads and chamfered slots.
Darkened movement
Arnold & Son has also darkened its A&S6022 automatic movement to maintain the nighttime theme here. The caliber’s components have been blackened thanks to the use of NAC-type surface treatments. Arnold & Son polishes and chamfers the bridges, which are then finished with Côtes de Genève stripes and colored grey. The skeletonized rotor is engraved and treated chemically with ADLC black and NAC grey to obtain a two-tone appearance.
Arnold & Son Globetrotter Night is easy to set, thanks to a three-position crown.
To make setting the Globetrotter Night simpler than setting many traditional world time watches, Arnold & Son here provides a three-position crown. In the first position, the user winds the watch. The second position adjusts the local time hand by one-hour jumps either clockwise or counter-clockwise. And when the wearer travels to a different time zone, the second position enables the wearer to change the local time while keeping world time in sync. Finally, when in the third position, the crown allows the wearer to change hours and minutes—and to rotate the half-globe.
The new Arnold & Son Globetrotter Night.
Made as a limited edition of fifty pieces, the 45mm steel-cased Arnold & Son Globetrotter Night is priced at $19,000. Arnold & Son says it can provide a Southern Hemisphere version of its Globetrotter Night on request at the same price.
Specifications: Arnold & Son Globetrotter Night
Functions: Hours, minutes, world times (24 hours)
Movement: A&S6022 self-winding mechanical caliber, grey NAC-treated, circular-grained finishes bridges: Côtes de Genève stripes radiating from center, hand-polished and chamfered, NAC-treated wheels: circular satin-brushed and rhodium-plated screws: beveled and mirror-polished oscillating weight: laser-engraved pattern, black ADLC and grey NAC two-tone, skeletonized, matte straight-grained finish
Dial: Opaline silver, circular brushed terrestrial dome: Continents: chemical engraving, circular satin-brushed, anthracite-galvanized, contours in hand-applied black lacquer city lights: inclusion of 950 silver sparkles. Oceans: hand-applied grey-blue lacquer with 24-hour ring in sapphire
Case: 45mm steel topped with dome in curved sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on both sides.
Strap: Hand-stitched black alligator leather with hand-rolled edge pin buckle in steel