Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Collection Replica Buyers Guide

The zany script emblem provides the background to the going minutes hand. I don’t love this dial, but I think it looks a lot better on the wrist compared to on macro photography. The bare metal which reveals through the skeletonized dial cries attractively in real life; in images it looks somewhat gray and dead against the PVD coated stainless steel case. This one, despite being really scaled back, is much more wearable. It might be argued that it is the most desirable of the three established solely on the fact that it really says the anniversary (17th) and start/finish of this route (Stockholm/Las Vegas). For that reason, it might appeal to Gumball memorabilia collectors more than its two enormous brothers.Talking of size, all three watches measure 43.4mm round and 13mm thick, and they are water resistant to 50 meters. They also sport somewhat angular, fluted crowns. Nowadays, 43.4mm isn’t the biggest thing you will see at the end of someone’s arm, but it is a large chunk of metal. I have always believed that angling the twisting button in this way is really a smart, mobility-increasing transfer. If you possess a watch in this way, you might well want it to be detected, but that doesn’t mean you want to always notice its existence yourself!If watch number one was overly subdued for you, the degree of ostentation is ramped up with the Armin Strom Double Barrel Gumball 3000. This is my personal favourite of this trio. The black case is PVD coated titanium this moment, and it houses the ARM12-GB self-winding calibre. The dual barrel attribute kicks out a 10-day power reserve, meaning this is surely a opinion you can rely on for long car journeys! The movement is again visible through the off-centre cutaway dialup, but in this scenario, we could observe a few more functional components peeping through. The big, circularly grained wheels catch the light excellently and breathe a whole lot of life into this watch face. What’s more, the gold edging of the carbon-inlay bridges adds a lustre and feel of completeness the Armin Strom Manual Gumball 3000 arguably lacked.

Armin Strom does not only master the art of skeletonizing watches, they also know how to keep them still fresh and wearable. With the the Skeleton Pure Collection, Armin Strom seems to be aiming at a young audience. A young audience that respects the craftsmanship of skeletonizing movements, but also who enjoys a modern sports-type watch with quite some presence on the wrist.

During our recent trip to the SalonQP event in London, we had the chance to see the new Armin Strom Skeleton Pure watches.

Armin Strom Skeleton Pure

The Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Collection consists of the Earth, Water, Fire and Air models, each limited to 100 pieces only. They all have different case materials, but based on the same beautiful in-house developed caliber ARM09-S movement and underwent the same process of skeletonizing. However, the main plate of the ARM09-S movement has received a different color of PVD-coating per model, to fit the case material in the best possible way.

The Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Air for example, has a beautiful titanium case and its movement is treated with grey PVD coating to create a perfect visual combination. All 4 models also have different straps that match with the case and movement color, like this Air model that comes with a nice genuine grey alligator horn-back strap.

As you can see on the photos, the watch has two big barrels that will make the movement go on for 8 days. When you wind this watch, you will see some action on the dial side as the two big crown wheels are visible through the skeletonized dial.

Armin Strom performed skeleton work on the main plate, gear-train bridges and barrel bridges. The PVD coating on the plate is done using 3D PVD colorization, to create extra depth. The barrel bridges and gear trains are being electroplated with rhodium or ruthenium by Armin Strom’s skilled artisans.

My personal favorite is the Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Fire. This 18 carat rose gold case has a movement that is treated with a nice dark brown PVD coating and – of course – a brown alligator strap. The watch has matching rose gold hands and a 18 carat rose gold buckle (double folding clasps are optional). On the photos of this Armin Strom Skeleton Fire (below), you can see how nice the contrast is between the rose gold and the brown PVD plate of the movement. Also the hands and parts of the movements are executed in a gold color.

The sapphire dial ring enables you to see everything of the movement and still keep the dial aperture as large as possible. The jewels give a nice contrast to the gold and brown colors as well in my opinion.

An in-depth review of the Armin Strom One Week Water can be found here.

You can find more pictures of the Armin Strom Skeleton Pure Earth and Water models in the gallery below. All photos can be clicked for higher resolutions.