YvanArpa

Volna Volnatomic Tourbillon Watch

Horological artist extraordinaire Yvan Arpa is at it again. Due to the popularity of pieces like his Artya Tourbillon that I discussed here, he has been influenced to continue this trend of mini diorama works of art with high watch complications. This here is a prototype of the Volnatomic Tourbillon watch. What is Volnatomic? Well it is a special collection of watches that Arpa is making for Volna. The top of the line will be a limited edition set of tourbillon watches such as this. The tourbillon carriage will look like an atomic symbol, and the design of the dial will be loosely based on the inside of an atomic submarine. Look at the left of the dial to discover two liquid filled canisters. These are filled with liquid SuperLumiNova that is meant to glow in the dark - a concept Arpa wants to take further.

Fans of Volna watches will recognize the watch is in the Volna case - large and in PVD steel. On the side of the case is a sapphire window showing more of the movement and art contained in the watch. You have to love a piece like this for its humor, artistic bravery, and good use of high-end watch complications. The rest of the Volnatomic collection uses a lot of the same imagery, will be much less expensive, and should be released later this year. For lovers of this awesome Volnatomic Tourbillon, the final version will be a limited edition of a yet to be disclosed amount.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: Baselworld 2010, BaselworldWatchShow, tourbillon, volna, volnatomic, watch, yvan arpa, YvanArpa

Yvan Arpa & The Black Belt Luxury Watch (For Black Belts Only)

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Wacky, wild, and arguably a genius, Yvan Arpa is at it again with another interesting watch. He is last known for his role at the helm of Romain Jerome. He turned the small company that was loosing money, into a money attracting phenomenon with his Titanic DNA and Moon Dust DNA watches. Then recently he was abruptly fired by the Romain Jerome board. The board didn't like his unpredictable, energetic, and less than conservative personality, so they ousted him. The results of a recent court case in Switzerland brought by Arpa against Romain Jerome had Apra victorious. I am amazed that a case was resolved so quickly after he was terminated, and I wonder how much he will get in damages. Really Romain Jerome was foolish to fire the man that literally was the source of success for the company.

Thus, Arpa had the last laugh and "kicked the board in the behind." Which is quite coincidentally, another of Apra's passions - marital arts. He is a well known Bushido fighter, with a black belt. This fact may help relieve his strong personality (or add to it). Well, in conjunction with a few others, Yvan Arpa has combined his love of martial arts and watch making into a new product called the Black Belt watch.

The idea is interesting, and as crazy as Arpa is known to be. A special luxury watch that is only sold to people with documentable black belts from any style of martial arts. Basically, to purchase the watch you'll need to send them your black belt award certificate. Only then will you have the pleasure of spending 3,000 Swiss Francs to get one of the watches. Given Yvan's track record, the price isn't half bad.

The Black Belt watch itself is made completely in Switzerland and has an automatic mechanical movement, rose gold case back engraved with "For Black Belt Only" and is all dark with five shades of black all over the case. The black comes mostly from PVD coated steel done in a satin finish while the strap is a combination of specially textured rubber and waterproof calf leather. The look of the strap is meant to appear like the fabric of a kimono. Then you have the dial and hands. You can see the black belt image and text on the dial, with the hands that are meant to resemble the shinai wooden swords that are used for practice fighting. Lastly, you have the sandblasted steel bezel with Japanese Kanji characters on it.

Overall the look of the watch is silly and kind of cool at the same time. It communicates with our love of exclusivity and karate fighting at the same time. Hard to predict how many certified black belts out there will go for the watch, but what better way to communicate to people that they shouldn't mess with you. Plus, the price of 3,000 Swiss Francs makes it more or less accessible to a wider array of people than at least $25,000 Titanic DNA watches that Mr. Arpa was last working on. Oh, and a little bit of each watch sold will be donated to the "No Difference" foundation, whose goal it is to help handicap people participate in martial arts (voluntarily that is).The watch is currently available for pre-order.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: black belt, BlackBelt, karate, matrial arts, MatrialArts, swiss, watch, yvan arpa, YvanArpa

Avant-Garde Watch Maker Romain Jerome Loses Avant-Garde CEO Yvan Arpa

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

He has been everything from controversial to overly confident, but he made watch company Romain Jerome what it is today - successful. Abruptly, the board of directors at Romain Jerome ousted the now former CEO Yvan Arpa a few days ago. Officially it might have been that Yvan Arpa "resigned" but local voices agree on the fact that he was forced out. He, as well as four members of his management team are out - a total purging of previous control. A new CEO and management team has already been assigned. It is unclear why this occurred, expect for the fact that Mr. Arpa has a reputation for being "difficult to control" and highly "characterful" in his management style. Who else could come up with some of the ideas that Yvan had, such as the Romain Jerome Titanic DNA and Moon Dust DNA watch lines.

Prior to Arpa's time at Romain Jerome, the brand was extremely "niche" with a couple of golf themed watches with highly limited marketability. In my opinion. Yvan Arpa came in, shook things up, and eventually caused Romain Jerome to be backed-up with millions of dollars in orders from interested buyers willing to wait long periods of time for their watches to be made. As unwise as the Romain Jerome board's action seem, it is easy to get overly confident once things are good. It is possible for them to survive another decade at least on the ideas and image that Arpa created. They might feel as though he is no longer needed, but without him their ability to innovate may be limited. In the meantime they can imagine new ways to spin the brand. This has happened before with other brands, but once the creative juice is gone, so is the passion, and the character of the watches quickly begins to fade. Although I was not a fan of every Romain Jerome watch, I liked enough of their novel timepiece creations to now lament Mr. Arpa's passing - to hopefully greener pastures. If we are lucky he will be snatched up by another watch brand or start something fresh (the economic "crisis" permitting).

Via WorldTempus (in French).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: ceo, romain jerome, RomainJerome, yvan arpa, YvanArpa