Arnold & Son UTTE “Ultra-Thin Tourbillon” Watch Review

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews

It is not often that we at aBlogtoWatch write three articles on the same timepiece, but the UTTE gets that treatment. At Baselworld 2013 Arnold & Son released this watch as the world’s (current) thinnest tourbillon. We debuted the UTTE watch for you here. “UTTE” stands for “ultra thin tourbillon escapement,” and it certainly is. Arnold & Son narrowly beat Piaget to production of the thinnest tourbillon ever. Being the most thin isn’t really that important to us. What is important is that the watch is very wearable, and very attractive.

At Baselworld 2013 we got a nice hands-on look at the Arnold & Son UTTE for the first time. It was plainly obvious that the lovely computer renders of the watch barely did it justice. This was by far one of the most elegant tourbillon-based timepieces that we’d seen in a while. Clearly it was going to be a sales success. To make sure though, I wanted to do a final review after checking the watch out for a while. I took the UTTE for a spin.

The motion structure and overall look, while technically new, is clearly dependent on the long-standing Arnold & Son TB88 view collection. Starting with that watch, Arnold & Son started down a very long road of bringing the pieces and pieces of this motion that are usually concealed on the caseback to the foreground on the dial. If anything, the higher skeletonization and visual symmetry of this A&S5101 and the Arnold & Son Nebula overall represent a development and refinement of this TB88 collection.The rear of the Arnold & Son Nebula is not bad-looking either. Arnold & Son makes good use of contrasting finishes and colors to bring out a variety of details in the motion – that is the type of stuff that watch aficionados consume. This is actually the visceral part of watchmaking which Arnold & Son knows pretty well. They can lack muscle in marketing and branding, but there is a lot to love at the brand at which it arguably counts.Arnold & Son’s grade A&S5101 manually wound movement operates at 3Hz (21,600bph) with 90 hours of power reserve between the two mainspring barrels. The most distinctive feature, naturally, is the seven classical-style bridges which are mounted radially around the movement that hold most of the components together. As usual, legibility is preserved through properly sized palms along with a minute/hour monitor combined the chapter ring. The gold and steel versions of the Arnold & Son Nebula have marginally different dial end colors too.

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews

Let’s put “ultra-thin” into perspective. Piaget still makes most of the thinnest watches around with their manually wound and automatic versions of the Altiplano. If you really just want a crazy thin mechanical watch this is not the best option. Sure it is thin, but you are also paying for the tourbillon part of the equation. The UTTE is 8.34mm thick in total. That is the case and movement together. On the wrist is feels quite slim for sure. Few people could complain otherwise.

The movement is another story. Inside the UTTE is the Arnold & Son in-house made A&S8200 manually wound caliber. It is just 2.97mm thick, and even has a very respectable power reserve. In total, the watch offers about 80 hours of power reserve, which is pretty darn good. That is more than three days without winding. All that is missing is a power reserve indicator.

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews

The tourbillon is clearly a major part of the movement. It is rather large as well, being 14mm wide. In fact the tourbillon diameter is the same as that of the dial that indicates the time. It also doubles as the seconds indicator. As a flying tourbillon there is no top-mounted bridge on the dial, so viewing it is very pleasing. A small arrow on the cage can be used as a seconds indicator. Bring your attention to the rear of the movement to the rear-mounted tourbillon bridge.

You’ll notice that the bridge is hand-decorated with engravings. This is different than the Baselworld prototype UTTE that we wrote about after the show. That movement has simple Cotes de Geneva stripes on the movement, while the final version here has a more sunburst design. Of course the tourbillon bridge is also now hand-decorated which is a very nice touch. The movement looks pretty good, and Arnold & Son continues to demonstrate that they can produce beautiful, original things.

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews

Arnold & Son UTTE "Ultra-Thin Tourbillon" Watch Review Wrist Time Reviews