Armin Strom - Orbit Manufacture Edition

Armin Strom is presenting the new Orbit Manufacture Edition with black dial, the world's only watch displaying the date on a bezel. Price: CHF 29,500.

Armin Strom is presenting today a new interpretation of its Orbit, the world's only watch displaying the date on a bezel.

Following the 25-piece limited edition unveiled last March, the new Orbit Manufacture Edition ref. ST22-OR.90 is not a limited edition and, although produced in limited quantities, joins Armin Strom’s core collection.

The new version emphasizes the sporty aesthetic of the timepiece with a black offset dial and silvery rhodium-coated bridges.

With the Orbit, Armin Strom reinvented the display of one of the most popular watch functions by combining several complications into one.    

In particular, a column-wheel mechanism drives the date indicator improving the date indicator’s stability and performance while also providing a pleasing tactile experience when engaging and disengaging the date function. Conceived, developed and built in-house, the mechanics of this original “Column-Wheel Date” solution is entirely visible from the dial side.

The days of the month – 1 through 31 – are engraved in white around the circumference of the polished black ceramic bezel. The date is indicated by a large central hand with a red “A” tip for Armin.

When the date hand is in the stationary mode, it is “off” and remains in its fixed position pointing at 12 o’clock, leaving the off-centred dial unobstructed. Using the pusher on the left side of the case, the date hand is engaged and instantaneously jumps to point at the correct date, then advances once a day at midnight. 

With another push of the button, the hand returns to its stationary position, with a mechanical memory allowing it to jump back to the correct date when required by the wearer. 

The retrograde mechanism allows the date hand to jump back from 31 to 1, avoiding any confusion with the hand’s disengaged stationary mode. The date can be rapidly set using a corrector button on the 8 o’clock position of the case or can be advanced manually via the crown by advancing the time.

The black offset dial has numbers, indexes and hands filled with Super-LumiNova for improved readability in poor light conditions. Like the rest of the watch, the typical stainless steel hands are in-house manufactured and hand-finished, rare feat for most watch manufactures. A small snailed sub-dial shows the running seconds. 

Visible from both sides of the watch, the 3.5 Hz (25,200 vph) Caliber ASS20 is based on the development of the Gravity Equal Force that was unveiled in 2019 as the world’s first automatic watch with equal force transmission (you can read our review here). Thanks to this solution, the Orbit delivers consistent power to the balance, with a power reserve of 72 hours. Its “stop-work” mechanism within the barrel prevents the mainspring from fully unwinding, thus leveraging only the part of the mainspring’s unwinding process that can deliver power most consistently.

Executed by hand, finishes are in line with the highest Haute Horlogerie standards with features such as chamfered and polished edges, polished chatons and perlage graining.

Waterproof up to a pressure of 5 ATM (approximately 50 metres / 165 feet), the 43.4 mm x 12.6 mm round case is crafted from stainless steel and paired with an integrated steel bracelet, both alternating satin brushed and polished surfaces.

The new Armin Strom Orbit Manufacture Edition ref. ST22-OR.90 has a price of of CHF 29,500 / Euro 31,300 / US$ 29,500. arminstrom.com