Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition Watch Review
The Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition has just been released by the Biel-based brand as it ‘celebrates 15 years of its integrated manufacture in 2024’. Dressed in a suit of anthracite clothes, this latest creation promises to seduce onlookers with its exposed twin barrels and elongated finger-like bridges.
Armin Strom watch
To paraphrase Gerard Kenny’s famous 70s hit, ‘Biel, Bienne, so good they named it twice’. The bilingual city, home to several watch brands, bears two names. The local companies tend to favour French or Swiss German as their first language, a factor that influences the character of the products or services provided. Armin Strom is proudly Swiss German, a characteristic that comes to the fore when you enter the firm’s reception area and are greeted ‘Grüessech’ (meaning ‘hello’ in the Bernese dialect).
Armin Strom opens Manufacture in 2009
The brand established its Manufacture in Biel in 2009. Opening just one year after the world witnessed the global financial crisis of 2008, it represented a courageous and bold move on the part of Serge Michel (Founder) and Claude Greisler (Co-Founder).
With a blank canvas and a clear vision, Serge and Claude equipped the Manufacture with modern plant, including CNC, EDM and bar turning machines. This allowed the firm to make virtually all of its movement components in-house, something that remains rare within the watch industry.
Claude Greisler, Master Watchmaker and Co-Founder, is an industry veteran, having worked for other prestigious watch marques. His ideas have often been ingenious and the company’s approach to design and execution has always proved highly original. Throughout its history, the firm has eschewed conventional dials, choosing to reveal many movement components front of house. This horological exhibitionism, where wheels and barrels seductively flirt with the onlooker, has also led the brand to enrich the appearance of components with refined finishes. Moreover, the Manufacture’s repertoire has embraced several horological complications, including tourbillons, resonance and even a grand complication that unites resonance with a minute repeater.
Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition – a year to celebrate
Back in 2010, the luxury watch brand released its inaugural movement, the Calibre ARM09, featuring a 7-day power-reserve. This hand-wound movement is equipped with two barrels and a screwed balance incorporating a Breguet overcoil; an impressive specification even today. It provided a clear signal of the Manufacture’s desire to compete with the finest names within the luxury watch segment.
Never a brand to stand still or rest on its Laurels, Armin Strom released a new hand-wound model in 2023, the One Week First Edition. Once again, it subscribed to the seven-day theme, but was ‘far more than a remake’ (the brand’s words at the time). Armin Strom equipped the One Week First Edition with a wholly new movement, the Calibre ARM21, a new case, a new integrated bracelet and a new design language. Quite simply, the Armin Strom One Week First Edition brimmed with newness!
Shortly after it was launched, my colleague Meehna Goldsmith wrote about the One Week First Edition in detail, a must-read for all Armin Strom devotees.
With many achievements under its belt, Armin Strom is now celebrating ’15 years of its integrated manufacture’ by releasing a new limited edition model, the One Week Manufacture Edition. Sharing much in common with the 2023 release, this latest watch embraces a palette of grey and anthracite hues.
Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition – product highlights
The anatomy of the One Week Manufacture Edition is almost identical to the First Edition of 2023. The similarities include the three-dimensional display, featuring two barrels pirouetting beneath two finger-like bridges. Likewise, the conical power reserve indicator, 41mm steel case and integrated steel bracelet also make a repeat performance.
Nevertheless, while the family likeness is clear to see, the use of anthracite PVD treatment on the mainplate, bridge, etc imbues the One Week Manufacture Edition with a deliciously sultry character.
Beyond the Armin Strom’s seductive looks, the anthracite tones serve to accentuate the hands, indexes, minute track and small seconds display. Indeed, while some skeleton dials on rival watches can prove challenging to read, no such issues afflict this Armin Strom; it’s a paragon of lucidity.
Consistent with more traditional examples of Haute Horlogerie, the neoteric One Week Manufacture Edition is beautifully hand-finished. Straight and circular grained surfaces, chamfered and polished bevels, Côtes de Genève, polished screws and sinks are all in evidence.
The frequency of the balance fitted to the Calibre ARM21 is 25,200 vph (3.5 Hz), a higher frequency than that of the Calibre ARM09 (18,000 vph or 2.5 Hz). By increasing the frequency, Armin Strom has reduced the movement’s susceptibility to shocks and by default the newer movement confers superior precision.
In addition, the Calibre ARM21 features a variable-inertia balance which, once again, aids precision. Furthermore, should the watch be subjected to a shock, it is less likely to need remedial regulation (when compared with an index-regulated balance). In this instance, the Biel-based firm has recessed the timing screws within the rim of the balance wheel, mitigating air perturbation, thereby augmenting precision.
Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition – closing remarks
I freely admit to being a longstanding admirer of Armin Strom as well as a proud owner of a Gravity Water (one of the firm’s early models). While content with my purchase, I never cease to be impressed at how, with each passing year, the Swiss German brand advances with new ideas, new designs and, of course, new Manufacture movements. Indeed, the luxury marque’s products are now better than ever.
I’ve yet to get ‘hands-on’ with the Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition, but on paper at least, it looks like a tantalising ownership proposition.
Further reading
Technical specification
- Model: Armin Strom One Week Manufacture Edition
- Reference: ST23-OW.ME
- Case: stainless steel, diameter 41.00 mm, height 10.60 mm, water resistance 10 ATM (100 metres), sapphire crystal to front, exhibition case back.
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds
- Movement: Caliber ARM21, hand-wound movement, frequency 25,200 Vph (3.5Hz), 35 jewels, power reserve 7 days, 194 components.
- Bracelet: stainless steel with a double folding clasp
- Price: £31,700 – (RRP as of 28.6.2024)
- Limited Edition: 100 pieces