2018 basel review
ARNOLD & SON
NEBULA LADY
With its polished steel or gold bridges arranged symmetrically around its wide open in-house Caliber A & S5101, the Arnold & Son Nebula earned accolades as soon as it debuted two years ago at Baselworld. This year, Arnold & Son adds diamonds and red gold bridges to the red gold-cased version of the watch, places it on a white leather strap, and renames the result the Nebula Lady.
Dubbed the“ the skeleton watch just for her,” the Nebula Lady simply amplifies what was already an attractive timepiece for anyone, male or female, who enjoys skeletonized and somewhat avant-garde design. Sized exactly like the original at 41.5mm in diameter, this new Nebula also fits a bit smaller on any wrist given its 8.7mm thickness and curved lugs.
Arnold & Son named the watch Nebula because of its bridges. They radiate from the perimeter of the dial toward the center to mimic an inverted, exploded star. Arnold & Son adds that this design also echoes its own brand history, much of it steeped in English movement architecture. These gold bridges, however, serve beyond their role as eye-candy because they support many of the in-house movement’ s gears. Note that among those gears sit two mainspring barrels that together support a superior 90-hour power reserve.
Arnold & Son’ s feminine enhancements focus on contrasting the silvery palladium-tone base plate with the gold bridges and case. Of course the latter also glitters now that it is set with ninety brilliant-cut white diamonds. In the Nebula Lady, the central hours and minutes hands as well as the small seconds hand are given a black treatment. Polished and faceted hour markers also nicely contrast against the palladium chapter ring. All of this color and contrast is then placed onto a white calf leather strap. The Arnold & Son Nebula Lady is a limited edition of fifty timepieces. Price: $ 35,000
96 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2018