If you haven’t noticed, Arnold & Son is a brand that I’ve been talking about a lot here, and with good reason. For the past two years or so, the 18^th century English born, La Chaux de Fonds based watch brand has been coming out with one heck of an impressive watch after another. Both visually and mechanically, just about every watch Arnold & Son have come out with tick all the right boxes for this horophile. Today we look at the brand’s latest tourbillon, the exceptionally slim UTTE.

The concept was to use the manufacture’s movement conception and production know-how to create the thinnest tourbillon-equipped wristwatch on the market. The result is the UTTE (Ultra-Thin Tourbillon Escapement), a slender and elegant “classical” flying tourbillon that boasts some of the brand’s signature qualities such as entirely in-house manufactured and finished movements as well as clean and balanced dial designs.

There are two versions of the UTTE available, one in rose gold and one in palladium. Each has a distinct dial and movement decoration and finish, but both are equally stunning in their own right. I got to see the palladium edition during my visit to the Arnold & Son manufacture recently (which I’ll tell you all about very soon).

Like most Arnold & Son dials, there’s a lot of balance and symmetry to love here. On the palladium edition, the dial is done in hand-applied vertical Côte de Genève stripes (the rose gold edition has a sunburst Côte de Genève pattern) but what’s interesting is the surface and light grey tone of the stripes, which thankfully lacks that aggressive metallic look you’d find on most dials that happen to be decorated like movements.

At 12 o’clock is the off-centered hours and minutes dial, finished in a frosted silver tone that matches the dial’s vertical stripes. The classical black Roman Numerals and minutes’ track are definite cues from historic Arnold & Son pieces. What’s interesting is how they managed to add depth to the multi-leveled raised and recessed off-centered dial in such a slim watch (we’re talking 8.34mm total thickness for the final cased watch). Also worth noting are the flame-blued skeleton hands that are somewhere between lance and arrow shapes.

Unlike other tourbillon watches where the tourbillon cage is visible through an opening the dial, the tourbillon cage actually protrudes out of the dial opening and ultimately sits higher than anything else on the dial; adding significant depth to such a slim watch. The flying tourbillon is uniquely shaped with its satin-finished arched carriage. I witnessed first hand just how difficult this was to chamfer, polish and satin-brush and trust me, it’s a real pain in the you-know-what.

The UTTE is equipped with the in-house designed and manufactured manual-winding movement dubbed the A&S8200. It boasts an impressive power reserve of over 90 hours, thanks to the double barrel system employed in many of Arnold & Son’s movements. On the palladium version I handled, the movement is finished in traditional vertical Côte de Genève stripes (just like the dial) and features the kind of hand-finish you’d expect to find in haute horlogerie pieces, including chamfered bridges with polished edges, circular graining on the barrels, screws with beveled and mirror-polished heads, and perlage finish on the parts only a watchmaker sees. To contrast the traditional decoration, the movement is given a modern twist with its NAC grey plating finish on the nickel-silver base. The entire movement measures a mere 2.97mm thick.

The smooth, round case is crafted from polished palladium that adds a surprising heft to the unassuming slenderness of the piece. Measuring 42mm wide and 8.34mm thick, the Arnold & Son UTTE is one of the few tourbillons I’ve come across that fits perfectly under a shirt cuff. This was an absolute delight to try on.

The Arnold & Son UTTE in palladium will be limited to 50 examples and comes at a price of $59’500 USD which, all things considered, is quite reasonable considering its record-breaking technical feats as well as the high-level finish you’ll find throughout. Even if you’re not into tourbillons, you might want to give the UTTE a try.

For more information visit www.ArnoldandSon.com