Arnold & Son

John Arnold was the outstanding English watchmaker of the eighteenth century, and the one who made precision timekeeping practical. Harrison had proved a chronometer could work; Arnold made it manufacturable, and it was Arnold who coined the word chronometer in its modern sense.

His detent escapement and helical balance spring became the basis of marine chronometer design for the next hundred and fifty years. His chronometers went to sea with Captain Cook, and his workshop and his son John Roger Arnold supplied the Royal Navy through the age of sail.

Arnold also made a watch small enough to be set into a ring, presented to George III, which was the technical marvel of its day.

The name was revived in modern Swiss watchmaking and the company now operates from La Chaux-de-Fonds under the same ownership as the movement maker La Joux-Perret.

Modern Arnold & Son keeps to the founder's territory — visible mechanics, tourbillons, dead-beat seconds and true-beat complications, generally with the movement architecture displayed on the dial side rather than hidden behind it.

Arnold & Son holds 4 models, from £21,400 to £72,900. Half cost less than £29,225, and a quarter less than £21,400. 2 of 4 are automatic. 2 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 6 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1764

John Arnold establishes his workshop in London.

1772

Presents a ring-mounted watch to George III.

1779

Coins the term chronometer for his precision timekeepers.

1782

Patents the helical balance spring.

1995

The name is revived in Swiss watchmaking.