This extraordinary piece from the independent Swiss manufacture Armin Strom celebrates the fifth anniversary of the brand’s resonance technology. Zeitgeist shines the spotlight on Armin Strom’s patented Resonance Clutch Spring and its ability to create the most consistent timekeeping. The extraordinary component is a testimony to the brand’s ideals and its focus on cutting-edge research and evolution in watchmaking. Armin Strom Zeitgeist marks the next chapter for resonance watches.
Armin Strom’s ingenious technology is dramatically showcased in the Zeitgeist by exposing the entire mechanism. The Zeitgeist elevates the patented, time tested a nd scientifically proven Resonance Clutch Spring in a new caliber, giving the technology a facelift and offering an understated aesthetic profile. The 43mm case has been crafted from platinum and the movement, created in house by Armin Strom’s specialists, has been produced in traditional watchmaking metals including German silver, steel, and brass. The movement is clearly at the center of this distinctive timepiece, which offers minimalist dial components and subtle decoration. Staying true to the concept, the Resonance Clutch Spring and dual balance wheels cantilever off the edge of the movement, drawing the eye to Armin Strom’s technical innovation.
“We decided to create something unique for this fifth anniversary: a work of art that hon ors our resonance technology and pays tribute to our roots in skeletonization. Zeitgeist’s movement was painstakingly produced, piece by piece, clearly emphasizes the resonance mechanism. This has never been done before so we’re all very excited” says Claude Greisler, Armin Strom’s Co-Founder and Master Watchmaker.
Resonance Technology and the Value of Consistency
Armin Strom began working with resonance by learning from what Christiaan Huygens, Abraham Louis Breguet, and Antide Janvier ha d already discovered centuries ago: resonance is incredibly valuable for consistency, employing scientific principles to regulate rate precision over time. The old masters were engineers who sought to create the most precise and consistent timekeepers for use as scientific instruments, performing tests to discover new principles. The phenomenon of resonance on oscillating systems was successfully applied to horology but has remained very rare due to the difficulty of its implementation.
A brief introduction to resonance in watchmaking
While meeting the challenges of resonance has discouraged most watch brands from trying to apply it, Armin Strom chose to take it on and, true to the brand’s spirit, mastered the technology.
A brief primer on this phenomenon reveals why it is so difficult.
Resonance relies on the ability of two oscillating mechanisms to transmit vibrational energy between each other, each affecting the other’s rate. When two pendulums or balance wheels are mounted to a common structure, small vibrations – literal waves of energy – are shared through the structure supporting the oscillators. A small force is either added to or subtracted from the opposite oscillator by this energy, averaging their rate by speeding the slower one up and slowing the faster one down.
This continues until both rates perfectly synchronize and hold each other at a consistent rate. Based on Breguet’s early experiments, Armin Strom learned that the most effective way to create resonance was to link the two oscillators via the shared suspension. This allows the vibrations to be passed to the opposite balance wheel in the most direct possible way.
Armin Strom’s patented Resonance Clutch Spring
Armin Strom’s Resonance Clutch Spring makes this possible. Crafted from a single piece of steel, the Resonance Clutch Spring is designed to transfer energy between both hairsprings and quickly bring the balance wheels into resonance. Armin Strom’s newest generation of resonance is the quickest and most reliable on the market, synchronizing faster than any other watch using resonance.
Thanks to the Resonance Clutch Spring, a flexible suspension connecting the two hairsprings with its balance wheels, all of Armin Strom’s Resonance watches are more resistant to shocks or vibrations. Precision and consistency are, of course, the ultimate goals of mechanical watchmaking and resonance plays a crucial role in helping these amazing watches keep time consistently over days, weeks, and months. Armin Strom’s goal is a watch that the owner knows will tell the time consistently, day in and day out.
The Resonance Clutch Spring is made of steel and performs more consistently than high-tech materials like silicon, and it withstands temperature fluctuations well. It also makes the Resonance Clutch Spring future proof by using proven materials and modern methods to increase longevity and aid in serviceability. Simply put, Zeitgeist is built to last.
Celebrating Five Years of Resonance
Armin Strom’s resonance technology was launched just seven years after Serge Michel and Claude Greisler transformed the brand into a full manufacture. In that time span, the brand has produced four resonance models, beginning in 2016 with the Mirrored Force Resonance and followed by the Pure Resonance and Dual Time Resonance in 2018 and the world’s first resonance chiming watch in 2019, the Minute Repeater Resonance.
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Armin Strom’s ingenious invention, the one-of-a-kind Zeitgeist is the fifth resonance watch introduced by the Swiss manufacture.
As Armin Strom Founder Serge Michel points out, “Zeitgeist honours our resonance technology, which plays a very important part in the history and the future of our brand. It stands for our belief in the evolution of watchmaking and it clearly marks the next chapter in resonance for our manufacture.”
Watch aficionados around the world are looking forward to the next chapter in the Armin Strom story.
Armin Strom Zeitgeist Technical Specification
Reference no. PT21-ZG.50 – Limited Edition: 1 unique piece
Indications:
- Hours, minutes, twin display of seconds
Movement:
- Armin Strom manufacture Caliber ARF21_ZG
- Hand-wound movement, patented resonance clutch spring, 2 mainspring barrels Regulating system: two independent regulation systems connected by a resonance clutch spring, twin second fly-back
- Power reserve: 80 hours
- Dimensions: 36.60 mm x 7.00mm
- Frequency: 3.5 Hz (25,200 vph) Jewels: 39
- Number of components: 260
Case:
- Platinum
- Sapphire crystal and case back with anti-reflective treatment
- Diameter: 43 mm
- Height: 11.55 mm
- Width between lugs: 22mm
- Water resistance: 5 ATM
Dial:
- 18ct White Gold “vernis laqué poli”
Hands:
- Manufactured by Armin Strom – stainless steel with hand finishing
Strap:
- Black alligator leather strap and double folding clasp
Price: CHF 160.000 / EUR 150.000 / USD 170.000
About Armin Strom
Armin Strom is an independent watch company based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Armin Strom timepieces offers a unique fusion of the Swiss-German horological tradition, avantgarde “transparent mechanics” and an unwavering commitment to horological innovation. The hallmark of the brand’s low-volume, artisanal approach to watchmaking is its commitment to exposed dial-side movement mechanics, with every part hand-finished to the highest Haute horology standards.
Armin Strom was established in 1967 by Mr. Armin Strom, a legend in the art of hand skeletonization. In 2006, the stewardship of Mr. Strom’s legacy became the responsibility of Master Watchmaker Claude Greisler and Businessman Serge Michel; who together revitalized the brand with the opening of Armin’s Strom’s first fully-integrated Manufacture in 2009. Today the brand designs, develops, mills, embosses, galvanizes, hand-finishes and assembles all of its own watches in-house; enabling Armin Strom to bring even the most complicated ideas to life without any of the compromises that typically stem from reliance on a supply chain.