The History of Arnold & Son
Arnold & Son TBTE (True Beat Tourbilion Escapement) Tourbillon / Credit: MonochromeWatches
As we’ve mentioned before, the history of English watchmaking often gets obscured behind the stories of more prominent Swiss brands, but the English also have a rich history of horology, and there’s one brand in particular that’s been around for almost 300 years that we think it necessary to highlight: Arnold & Son.
Born in Cornwall to a watchmaking father in 1736, John Arnold got an early start to horology when he left to the Hague, Netherlands at age 19 to apprentice as a watchmaker and learn German. He returned to England shortly after to continue working as a watchmaker. The story goes that in 1762 he met a man by the name of William McGuire and repaired his repeating watch, McGuire was so impressed that he encouraged Arnold to open a shop in London – even offering him a loan to do so. So, later that year Arnold opened his first shop in London at Devereux Court and in 1764 he officially launched Arnold & Son. By this time Arnold had already started to develop a reputation as a watchmaker and this allowed him take on increasingly prominent clients. This culminated that same year when he was summoned by King George III to present him with a watch for his birthday. King George III, being Duke and Prince Elector of Hanover and the Holy Roman Empire, spoke only German. Luckily, so did Arnold. He presented the King with a ring containing the smallest repeating watch ever made, receiving the highest of praise. Arnold’s career took off after that successful encounter – akin to Patek Philippe when he presented Prince Albert and Queen Victoria with two watches, but almost 100 years earlier.
Arnold’s chronometers accompanied Captain Charles Phipps to the North Pole, Captain George Vancouver in the North Pacific, and even Captain James Cook on his second voyage. Given the quality of their products and the company’s rich history you’d think that Arnold & Son would be up there with the likes of Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin in terms of popularity. So why hasn’t it reached the same level?