Armin Strom’s Watches, the Beauty of Skeletons
Armin Strom's Watches, the Beauty of Skeletons
Don Corson, December 2008
Part 1
Armin Strom has been skeletonizing and engraving watches for the last 40 years. His pieces have found entry in collections around the world. His custom of personal delivery of all his pieces has made him many friends all around the world. Now having reached the age where others take their pensions, Mr. Strom has formed the Armin Strom AG to pass on his tradition to a next generation. Formed 3 years ago Armin Strom AG now has 9 employees and 3 model lines.
The line Skeleton continues the tradition of skeletonized and hand engraved watches from Armin Strom. The watches in the "Elegance" line are sober and elegant from the dial side, but a fireworks of hand engraving from the back. The "Blue Chip" line are bigger watches appealing to modern tastes in watches, again partially skeletonized and fully hand engraved.
Mr. Serge Michel is the CEO of the company Armin Strom AG. Mr. Michel showed me their watches and around their shop. Unfortunately Mr. Strom himself was not present as I was there. A meeting for the next time.
Mr. Michel with a tray of watches from the Skeleton series.
The cases are 39.2mm in dia. and 10.45 high. Here in white gold 18k.
Yellow gold 18k set with a diamond set bezel.
A stainless steel prototype case.
The Skeleton Lady, 18k yellow gold set with 33 diamonds. The movement is an old stock Alpina from the 1930's. It enjoyed, of course, Armin Strom's personal attention.
Note the typical case and crown form. Here on a 18k white gold model with brushed front and back bezels and lugs.
A gold skeleton wrist shot. The size is right! And the distinctive crown winds very comfortably.
The Blue Chop automatic, 46.5mm dia. & 15.9mm high. The caliber is a hand engraved, partially skeletonized ValGranges.
The Blue Chip chrono.
The Blue Chip power reserve.
Blue Chip manual wind based on the hard working 6498
The Blue Chip manual on a bracelet.
[To continue to part 2 click here ]
This message has been edited by DonCorson on 2008-12-12 09:26:56 This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2008-12-12 21:47:38 This message has been edited by MTF on 2008-12-15 20:03:57
Armin Strom’s Watches, the Beauty of Skeletons, part 2
Armin Strom's Watches, the Beauty of Skeletons
Don Corson, December 2008
Part 2
Continuing our look at the Armin Strom models we come to the Elegance line.
The Elegance models I saw were all prototypes. Here in steel.
That these are prototypes is our luck. Here we can see the difference between the original old stock Swiss caliber from the 1970s and the skeletonized and engraved resulting movement.
A men's Elegance in rose gold.
Now we have seen the watches, let's take a little stroll around the shop.
Here is Mr. Strom's working space. The front bench for skeletonizing, the back bench for watchmaking, assembly and regulation.
Here on the bench are all the skeletonized and engraved parts of a custom watch, nr.2 of 2.
I am guessing that this will be cased in a gold case seeing the partial gold plating of the movement.
The nr.1, Is that not spectacular ?
It seems that in skeletonizing one uses a file or two J
Here a completed men's skeleton, the original manual winding form movement from the 1930's.
Now we move to the engravers shop
An automatic rotor with the engraving partially finished. For engraving the parts are held in a kind of heat softening mastic, the vise is mounted on a sphere to allow complete flexibility.
Working under a microscope looks tiring, but it is the only way to be able to have the visibility needed.
Here the edges of a bridge are being cleaned up with an abrasive stick. The bridge is screwed on a handle to be able to hold it well. A piece of hardwood in the watchmakers vice serves as a support.
These bridges all need to have their edges finished. She still has a certain amount of work to do today.
In January Armin Strom will be introducing a new model, "Elements". Here Mr. Michel is modeling a prototype. No info for today, we will see more at the product launch next year.
I hope you have enjoyed this visit to the Armin Strom shop. They intend to continue Mr. Armin Strom's strong tradition of hand made highly skeletonized watches with best quality engraving.
They are at the beginning of a new generation and it will be interesting to follow their development (and their watches) in the coming years.
Don
Quite an eye opener...
Thanks for the photo essay. Skeleton watches are true art to me. Those are some pretty neat work.
Regards
Thanks a lot Don for this report.
The work on calibers is great even if, I must confess, I've never been really attracted by this style of finishings.
Again, thanks for this very comprehensive report.
Fr.Xavier
Armin's style is simailar to some Omega skeletons...
Don,
Great article - and some wonderful pictures.
The style of the engraving work reminds me of some of the Omega skeleton pieces. I knows these were sent out to be engraved by a specialist - but I wonder if that might have been Armin himself?
The Omega pieces, like Armin's work take more advantage of highly engraved and decorated components, rather than some other pieces which are more about how little metal is left.
Perhaps I could summarise the Armin style - as "look at the engraving" vs the "look no hands" style of some other skeletons.
I like both styles, although since I own an Omega Skeleton Coaxial I'm particular interested in who did the work.
- Greg
A nice picture from Thomas here to show what I mean
Any more pictures or details on the Omega skeleton?
Great post, thanks for the pictures.
Regards,
ED-209
This message has been edited by ED209 on 2008-12-15 18:49:49
Armin Strom and Omega
thanks for the info...
it's always exciting to learn more about a piece you already own!
- Greg
Thanks for the report Don
The skeletonization looks interesting but from your pictures, the overall look of Armin Strom's skeletonization seems to be a tad too "busy" for my eyes. I think the case finishing also distracts my eyes to the skeletonization so my eyes aren't focusing soley on the skeletonization. I haven't seen any of these watches in person so please only take my comments with a grain of salt.
Cheers,
Anthony
Great work Don!
Impressive. Thank you!