Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum “Horse of the Dunes”

A nocturnal desert scene brings together hand engraving, miniature painting and an astronomical moon-phase display in a limited edition of just eight pieces.

Arnold & Son turns the Perpetual Moon 41.5 into a nocturnal tableau with the new Platinum “Horse of the Dunes”. Limited to just eight pieces, the Arnold & Son Horse of the Dunes combines a 950 platinum case with a hand-engraved white-gold horse, a hand-painted desert landscape and a black aventurine sky filled with stars.

Rather than representing a specific geographical location, the scene leaves the landscape deliberately open to interpretation. A horse appears to roam freely across the dunes beneath an oversized mother-of-pearl Moon, creating a composition that brings together Arnold & Son’s interest in astronomical complications with a distinctly artistic approach to decorative watchmaking.

A Nocturnal Tableau

The centrepiece of the dial is an appliqué horse sculpted in 18-carat white gold and finished entirely by hand. The engraving brings out the animal’s physical character, from its hooves and flowing mane to the tension of its muscles and the changing shadows across its coat. Under the moonlight, the horse becomes the dominant element of the composition.

Behind it, the desert is built on a black aventurine glass dial. The dunes are hand-painted and enriched with Super-LumiNova, giving the landscape a luminous quality in darkness and creating the impression of shifting sand sculpted by the wind.

Above the landscape, the black aventurine sky introduces a field of metallic flecks that evoke stars. Hand-painted constellations, also enhanced with Super-LumiNova, complete the night-time setting, while two mother-of-pearl discs form the moon-phase display.

The moons are iridescent under daylight and become luminous in darkness, allowing the astronomical indication to remain part of the artistic composition rather than appearing as a separate complication.

An Astronomical Moon-Phase

The Perpetual Moon 41.5 is built around an unusually precise representation of the lunar cycle. The A&S1512 manually wound calibre tracks a complete cycle of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.9 seconds.

According to Arnold & Son, the mechanism reproduces this cycle with sufficient precision that, if the watch remains fully wound, it would take 122 years for the moon-phase indication to accumulate a one-day deviation from the actual astronomical cycle.

A second moon-phase display is positioned on the caseback, providing a practical way to adjust the indication quickly and precisely. It also adds another layer to a watch whose principal theme is already centred around the Moon.

A Manufacture Calibre

The A&S1512 is developed, manufactured, decorated, assembled, adjusted and cased at Arnold & Son’s manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The manually wound movement uses two barrels and operates at 3Hz, providing a 90-hour power reserve.

At 34mm in diameter and only 5.35mm thick, the calibre is finished with a rhodium-plated and circular-grained main plate, while the bridges feature chamfering and radiating Côtes de Genève. The wheels are snail-finished, and the screws are blued with chamfered and polished heads.

The second moon-phase display on the back receives its own rhodium-plated and circular decoration, keeping the level of finishing consistent on both sides of the watch.

Platinum And Hand-Finished Detail

The 41.5mm case is made from 950 platinum and measures 11.67mm thick. A domed sapphire crystal with double-sided anti-reflective treatment protects the dial, while a sapphire caseback offers a view of the movement and its secondary moon-phase display.

The watch is fitted with a black alligator leather strap with a sand-beige alligator lining and secured by a 950 platinum pin buckle. Water resistance is rated at 3 bar, or 30 metres.

With its combination of astronomical precision and hand-crafted decoration, the “Horse of the Dunes” sits somewhere between traditional fine watchmaking and miniature sculpture. The horse, dunes, stars and Moon create a scene that changes character between daylight and darkness, while the movement underneath keeps track of a much larger celestial cycle.

Limited to eight pieces, the Perpetual Moon 41.5 Platinum “Horse of the Dunes” is priced at CHF 74,500 including VAT, subject to change.

Technical Specifications

For more information, please visit the official Arnold & Son website.

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