Warm and Bold… Armin Strom introduces its Edge Double Barrel in Rose Gold

While the Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel should not be a stranger to you anymore – as you might have read our extensive review here – it must be admitted that, for the moment, this watch has been mostly playing on black and sporty design clues. The standard edition is indeed entirely black and metallic and the Max Chilton Limited Edition removes a bit of coating on the case and adds some blue accents here and there. But what if you like something more luxurious, warmer, less rugged (and we know that Armin Strom can combines sports and luxury…). The answer is here; the new Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel in rose gold.

With the Edge Double Barrel, the deal was pretty simple – and the result very cool. While previous creations from the brand can’t be called shy, the idea with the Edge was to renew the concept, without changing it too much, in order to keep the look and the features that made this brand already quite successful. Armin Strom is know for combining sporty cases, with large diameters and bold shapes, together with dedicate and highly decorated skeleton movements. Something that sounds very interesting in our books, here at Monochrome. While previous creations were mostly playing on rounded shapes (for the case, the dial or the movement bridges’ contours), the Edge, as you might imagine, adds some angular design clues, while staying faithful to the earlier creations.

The Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel, now available in this rose gold edition, opts for sharp lines and an even sportier case. First element are the lugs, more squared. Then, there’s this protective device around the crown. Finally, the bezel has 12 notches and becomes more present in the design. All of that also comes in a case that measures now 46.8mm. No worries, we know such a size can seem extremely large to some, but the largest surprise was that even if 3.4mm larger than the previous watches of the brand, this case feels smaller on the wrist, more balanced and more comfortable – and this is all due to the length and the curvature of the lugs. Well done!

The face of the watch has also evolved, mainly because of the shape of the wheels and bridges, all of them showing sharp angles. Numerals on the hour track are bolder too. The decoration is rather unique, with a cross-grinding pattern on the flat surfaces, however the execution is superb, with hand-made polishing, large chamfers on the edges, polished sinks, chamfered wheels… Haute horlogerie mixed with sportiness. On this new rose gold edition of the Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel, the hands, the numerals and the track of the small second are now matching with the case’s material, giving a warmer look to a highly technical watch. To complement this design, the watch is secured to the wrist by a brown alligator strap.

The movement of the Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel its exclusive to this watch and entirely done in-house (conception, manufacturing of the parts, finishing, assembly, testing…). As a proof of the name “in-house”, have a look at the documentary video we did a few month ago. You’ll understand. The movement has 8-day of power reserve obtained by 2 barrels, a power reserve indication, a small second and the time displayed on a slightly off-centered axis.

This Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel in Rose Gold will be a limited edition of 100 pieces. Retail price: 39,900 Swiss Francs. More details about it here, on the website of the brand – arminstrom.com.

Specifications of the Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel

• Case: 18k rose gold, diameter 46.80mm, height 13.20mm, sapphire crystal and case-back with antireflective treatment, water resistant to 50m
• Dial: black with gold indices and numerals, off-center time indication of hours and minutes, small seconds, power reserve indicator, rose gold hands
• Movement: ARM16, manual-winding, 8 days power reserve, double barrel, 194 parts, 34 jewels, plates and bridges with cross-grinding decoration, Escape wheel and pallets made of massive gold with hardened functional areas, screwed balance with Breguet overcoil, frequency 18,000 A/h; diameter 36.60mm, height 7.70mm
• Strap: Brown alligator leather strap with rose gold ardillon buckle