A Change of Direction

As a collector who has stayed close to well-known watch brands, straying into the world of an independent watch like the Armin Strom «Gravity Equal Force Ultimate Sapphire» was a definite change of direction.

Readers will understand that there are those moments when you see a picture of a watch that you just can’t take your eyes off. The more you look at it, the more details you see and the more you want it! What is it that attracts you?
For me it was the soul of the Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Ultimate Sapphire even though I didn’t fully understand what that long name actually meant. So it was time to do some reading and research.

The Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force was first made in 2019. It was the first automatic watch with constant force transmission using a patented stop-work declutch mechanism which operated from within the mainspring barrel ensuring consistent power delivery to the escapement by limiting the mainspring from unwinding past its point of optimal torque leading to constant precision.

Now I was obsessed with this technically and aesthetically brilliant timepiece. I had to have one.

It’s hard to recall what I amazed me most when I first held the Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force Ultimate Sapphire in my hand.
Was it the grey-black plate guilloche pattern that was produced using a traditional rose engine by the celebrated Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen, a close friend of Armin Strom’s Biel based co-founders Claude Greisler and Serge Michel?
Maybe it was the polished bevels on the bridges, black polished screws, polished counter sinks, perlage and graining (both straight and circular), Geneva stripes on the three-quarter bridge and hand-polished ruthenium-coated finger bridges on the dial-side? It might have been the off-centre hour and minutes display on the grey-toned sapphire crystal dial?

The ASB19 movement with a 72 hour power reserve is housed in a 41mm stainless steel case with a black fabric strap with light grey stitching continuing the monochrome colour scheme.

I later learned that 98% of all components were made in-house and that Armin Strom first assembles the movement and then re-assembles it to ensure everything fits and works perfectly.

This watch is handmade craftsmanship with every detail finished to the highest level.

 

Pros

– Unique craftsmanship

– Looks amazing with so much detail visible

– 20mm lug width for those strap changers

Cons

– A bit expensivei

– You can’t stop looking at it

– Maybe I could have waited for the purple dial

 

Quality
95

Style
95

Value
80

Wearability
90