Armin Strom debuts at SIHH and they came prepared. When I talked to the brand not too long-ago, Claude Greisler promised me some great surprises and he was not exaggerating at all. For a while naysayers criticized Armin Strom for making nice but bulky watches. One of the comments I often heard was that the size of the case is too big and thick, leaving people with smaller wrists without an option. Armin Strom has been listening and adapting to these remarks and the outcome is quite a stunner. It seems that the beginning of a new ear for the company with this year’s SIHH novelties has started. Let’s not rush to them so fast as Armin Strom had other things to offer to us.

Pure Resonance

42mm Pure Resonance in steel…YES!

Armin Strom X Kari Voutilainen

Fans and followers of Armin Strom might remember that their flagship watch has been the Mirrored Force Resonance. We also talked about the timepiece in some of our previous articles (this and this). This year, the watch gets an update by a bunch of new dials in various colors (blue, black, anthracite, red or bi-color). However not only the colors are new; we’re talking about handmade guilloché dials made for Armin Strom by Kari Voutilainen. Yes, Voutilainen and Armin Strom teamed up for the first time to offer some exclusivity to the collectors, if the Mirrored Force Resonance wasn’t exclusive enough. As far as the patterns are concerned the future buyer could choose between sun-ray, concentric waves or barleycorn. All hand made in engine-turning machines in Voutilainen’s workshop in Motiers, Switzerland.

Pure Resonance

Old Watch, New Dial by Voutilainen

Pure Resonance

Now for the big surprise: After the success of the aforementioned Mirrored Force Resonance it was logical that Claude Greisler has to use this concept to come out with something new. The outcome of this development is the Armin Strom Pure Resonance which has a lot of firsts for Armin Strom. The case size of the watch is reduced for the first time to 42mm. It also became thinner at only 12mm. The Pure Resonance, as its name indicates, uses the same type of resonance movement as the Mirrored Force Resosance with a few updated; the twin seconds flyback mechanism is no more. Armin Strom replaced it with a clear seconds sub dial. The bridges are decorated with vertical Côtes de Genève straight line. All in all, it gives a much cleaner and simpler look to the watch.

Pure Resonance Pure Resonance

With the updated look, the resonance movement and the smaller case size it seems that the Armin Strom Pure Resonance is a great contestant for an everyday haute horlogerie watch. It is the same size as a Speedmaster Pro, not much thicker and is quite a stunner on the wrist. The Pure Resonance came out in steel for 49,000 CHF and in rose gold for 62,000 CHF. The steel version is part of the Armin Strom Water collection and the rose gold belongs to the Fire collection.

Pure Resonance

Same size as the Speedy Tuesday

If you are interested in the brand please visit the Armin Strom website, here.