C O M P L I C AT I O N S
ARNOLD & SON
GLOBETROTTER
This new 45mm steel watch is perfect for world time fans who prefer
dial maps to less graphic displays of multiple time zones. The map here
is a three-dimensional world time disk that appears to float over most of
the dial. (Arnold and Son says this disk is one of the largest rotating
world time displays on a wristwatch.) The disk is held into place by a
large arched bridge that spans almost the entire diameter of the dial.
Did you flash to the arched bridges on MB&F Legacy models? I did.
The disk supported by that bridge offers the wearer a view of the
northern hemisphere that rotates once every 24-hours and serves as the
generalized world-time display as well as the night-day indicator. For
the latter purpose, the surrounding bezel-like sapphire disc is
transparent between 6.00 and 18.00, and translucent from 1800 to
6.00, making daytime and nighttime easily evident. Still, determining
world times with this globe will always be approximate, given the lack of
city indications and marks to align them with.
With world time precision not a strong point on the Globetrotter, one
should instead enjoy the artistry here. Arnold has excelled in that
regard. To create the highly detailed globe display, Arnold and Son
starts with a rounded piece of brass, chemically etches the oceans and
continents, sandblasts it to create the mountains, and then hand-
lacquers in the blue oceans.
The Globetrotter is set using a three-position crown system. You’ll wind
the watch while in the first position, set the red-lacquered local time
(hour hand) in the second, and in the final position set both the hour
and minute hands and the world-time. Red-lacquered filled local time
hands contrast nicely with all the blue, black and silver on the dial,
making local time easy to see while retaining the eye’s focus on the
globe. Both the main time display as well as the world-time function can
be adjusted forwards and backwards.
This is a fairly large watch, measuring 45 mm in diameter and 17.2mm
thick, or 10.4mm without the crystal. At $16,995, the Arnold & Son
Globetrotter won’t be the least expensive globe-focused world timer out
there by any means, but at this level of in-house craftsmanship, and with
its apparently one-of-a-kind artistic display, it’s one of the most unusual.
SUMMER 2018 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 89