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According to the traditional Chinese calendar, 2025 is the Year of the Wooden Snake and will be ruled by the words perspicacity, intelligence and prudence. In its honour, Arnold & Son is creating Perpetual Moon 41.5 “Year of the Snake”: a series of eight timepieces in red gold. Combining a manufacture calibre with a large astronomical moon – one of its specialities – with an aventurine glass dial base – one of its signatures – and a wealth of delicately worked artistic crafts – one of its recurring themes – Arnold & Son presents a masterful interpretation of the Year of the Snake.
The Year of the Wooden Snake starts on 29 January 2025. Under this element, the reptile foretells transformation and a need for self-improvement, combined with energy and introspection. It is a year of negotiations, shrouded in mystery and secrecy. Arnold & Son is celebrating the Chinese zodiac calendar with Perpetual Moon 41.5 “Year of the Snake”.
Prudence
In the inimitable tradition of Arnold & Son’s decorative horology, this year is dedicated to a new “Chinese calendar” limited edition in the Perpetual Moon collection. The dial of the timepiece centres on an undulating snake. It faces the observer, wrapped around the branch of a tree that offers innumerable benefits: Ginkgo biloba. The animal looks on calmly, nestled peacefully in a nocturnal setting.
Finesse
The snake is delicately hand-engraved into a block of 18-carat rose gold and set against a blue aventurine glass dial. Its fine scales, forked tongue and broad, flat head are depicted with realism. The large, mother-of-pearl moon, also rendered realistically with its shadows, is overlaid with Super-LumiNova. It illuminates an aventurine glass sky and is surrounded by the constellations of Ursa Major and Cassiopeia, which are also painted with luminescent material.
The choice of these star patterns is a direct allusion to the history of marine chronometer-maker John Arnold. They have served as guiding lights since the dawn of time. Midway between them lies the Pole Star, which unerringly indicates the north. Here, the importance of the stars in determining periods, thresholds and symbols in the Chinese zodiac calendar forms a unique point of cultural and graphic convergence.
Excellence
On the case back, a secondary display of the phases of the moon allows fast and accurate adjustment of the complication. The manually-wound calibre that powers Perpetual Moon 41.5 Red Gold “Year of the Snake” is able to track the age of the moon with exceptional accuracy. The total duration of a lunar cycle is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds. Arnold & Son has approached this so closely that it would take 122 years for this movement, if constantly wound up, to accumulate a 24-hour discrepancy between the display and astronomical reality.
Like all Arnold & Son’s movements, the A&S1512 calibre was entirely developed, produced, decorated, assembled, adjusted and cased up at the manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. This calibre uses two barrels and has an oscillation frequency of 3 Hz, giving a 90-hour power reserve.
Perpetual Moon 41.5 Red Gold “Year of the Snake”
Technical specifications
| Functions | hours, minutes, astronomical moon phases, second moon-phase indicator on the back | |
| Movement | ||
| Calibre | A&S1512, mechanical with manual winding | |
| Jewels | 27 | |
| Diameter | 34 mm | |
| Thickness | 5.35 mm | |
| Power reserve | 90 hours | |
| Frequency | 3 Hz/21,600 vph | |
| Decoration | mainplate: rhodium-plated and circular-grained | |
| bridges: chamfered, radiating Côtes de Genève stripes | ||
| wheels: snailed | ||
| screws: blued and chamfered, polished heads | ||
| second moon-phase indicator: rhodium-plated and circular-grained | ||
| Dial | material: blue aventurine glass | |
| snake: 18-carat (4N) rose gold, hand-engraved | ||
| landscape: hand-painted with gold powder, overlaid with Super-LumiNova | ||
| sky: blue aventurine glass | ||
| constellations: hand-painted, overlaid with Super-LumiNova | ||
| moons: mother-of-pearl discs overlaid with Super-LumiNova, hand-painted details | ||
| Case | ||
| Material | 18-carat red gold (5N) | |
| Diameter | 41.5 mm | |
| Depth | 11.67 mm | |
| Crystal | domed sapphire with an anti-reflective coating on both sides | |
| Case back | sapphire crystal, anti-reflective coating | |
| Water-resistance | 3 bar (30 m/100 ft) | |
| Strap | ||
| Material | ink blue alligator leather, lined with red alligator leather | |
| Buckle | prong buckle, 18-carat red gold (5N) | |
| References | 1GBLR.Z09A.C264A | |
| Limited edition | 8 timepieces |
