With a calibre reduced to its essentia, the Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Earth watch infuses the company’s heritage of supreme craftsmanship with an entirely unique, avant-garde aesthetic.

From every angle, the Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Earth demonstrates the company’s historical association with the fine art of Skeletonisation.

When Armin Strom founded his eponymous watch business, his prowess for the skilful technique gained him world-wide acclaim.  As an individual, he is as widely regarded as being pivotal to the preservation and popularisation of this craft and, although under the direction of a new vibrant ownership, the enthusiasm for this traditional artisan skill is very much alive and well at the Armin Strom Atelier today.

With every Armin Strom watch, the wearer is offered glimpses at the micro-components of their superlative in-house Manufacture movements through open-worked dial sections.   With their Skeleton Pure Earth model, the company’s creative department take this concept to the limits, creating a timepiece which offers a completely unobstructed view of the Haute Horlogerie components which power this impressive watch.

The Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Earth watch carries a rounded 43.40 mm black PVD coated stainless steel case with a trim bezel and robust lugs.    At the 6 o’clock location, the instantly recognisable protruding lip, which is a synonymous feature of the company, offers the potential to add a personalised, engraved motif.

Resting securely beneath a domed sapphire crystal, the labyrinthine spectacle of the fully exposed main plate, gear-train bridges and barrel bridges is arranged.   A dark PVD coating on the components adds to the drama, while the inclusion of a sapphire dial ring ensures that nothing obscures the panorama.

Despite the compelling view of this complex, three-dimensional composition, the time is still highly legible.  The off-set sapphire ring features darkened appliqué hour markers and grey minute markers, while the hours and minutes hands in stainless steel have been given a generous coating of lume.

A smaller sapphire ring, for the small seconds, leans over towards the 9 o’clock position enlivened by bright markers.   From its centre, a discreet red-tipped hand serves to indicate the power reserve.

In contrast to the stealthy aesthetic of the case and calibre, the Armin Strom logo, which has been engraved in vibrant letters onto a sapphire plate at 3 o’clock, adds animation to this technical façade.

Turn the piece over, and the advantages of this manual-wound calibre can be immediately appreciated.  Bereft of a rotor, the wearer is offered an uninterrupted view of the impeccable craftsmanship of the skeletonised Armin Strom Manufacture ARM09-S movement.

While the rear-side view of the twin barrels dominates, a closer inspection reveals the compelling view of the old-school screwed balance and the deeply set escapement wheel which has been endowed with solid gold pallets. Beating at a leisurely 18,000vph, the movement has a power reserve of 120 hours.

The Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Earth wristwatch wears on a black horn-back alligator leather strap and comes supplied with an additional black rubber strap.  The model is an exclusive limited edition of just 100 pieces.