Arnold and son sir john franklin set

Arnold & Son honours tragic 19th century navigator

Arnold & Son has created a collection of 18ct gold wristwatches that commemorate the exploits of 19th century maritime explorer Sir John Franklin.

Sir John perished in 1845 on an expedition to find a way of sailing around the top of North America.

The North-West Passage, as the route became known, had long been an obsession because it would have dramatically cut the journey to the Pacific by eliminating the need to sail around Cape Horn, going West, and avoid running into hostile fleets of other European nations going East.

The passage was never navigated in the 19th century, and even though it was finally traversed in 1903, it is only in the past few years that warmer summers have made it navigable for short periods.

Arnold & Son’s tribute to the explorer is presented in a family of three watches called the Sir John Franklin Set that have dials featuring ships from the expedition.

Each has an 18-carat 44mm rose gold case housing the A&S6103 automatic movement developed, designed and manufactured in-house at Arnold & Son, housed in diameter.

Only 28 sets of the watches are being produced.

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