Credits: Article and images by Ian Skellern @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/09/27/light-me-up-the-insanely-colorful-lume-of-black-badger-james-thompsons-watches-lume-fest-2/
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Arcanaut ARC 2
Thompson has recently become part owner of Danish independent watch brand Arcanaut, and for the forthcoming ARC 2 he has developed a new dial material called D’ARC Matter using slate scraps he kicked loose from a public fountain near his Swedish home. “We are keeping it as local as possible,” he quips.
Arcanaut ARC 1
Staying in line with the Scandinavian-style inspiration of these timepieces, he puts the stone through an espresso grinder to form a powder, which he then recasts into a stone composite to form an “honest” dial material in the neutral hue and matte structure he had envisioned.
Slate and lume dial of the forthcoming Arcanaut ARC 2
“When we describe Arcanaut we use food analogies. We are not the Michelin-star, white-tablecloth brand. We don’t want that. That’s not us. We want to be the taco food truck with cold beer where you stand around talking at 11 o’clock at night. And we have a much more contemporary way of working. Why put €500,000 into a brick-and-mortar boutique?” he asks rhetorically.
The forthcoming Arcanaut ARC 2
This rebellious approach seems to work for the new brand. Despite the difficult pandemic timing, Arcanaut has presold more than 20 watches costing just under $3,000. These watches are currently in progress and will likely come out around the second quarter of 2021.
MBF HMX Black Badger (photo courtesy James Thompson)
“Lume and other materials don’t necessarily add a massive amount of cost to a piece. What they do add is a lot to the experience. It is all about visual joy, putting a smile on things. That’s my job.”
For more information, please visit www.blackbadger.se.
Quick Facts De Bethune DB28GS Grand Bleu
Case: 44 x 12.8 mm, black zirconium case band, titanium case back and bezel, floating lugs
Movement: manual winding Caliber DB2080 with silicon escape wheel and titanium-and-white-gold balance wheel, triple pare-chute shock absorption, self-regulating twin spring barrels, 5-day power reserve, 28,800 vph/4 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; elapsed dive time, power reserve, manual dial illumination with dynamo
Limitation: 10 pieces
Price: $93,500 / 91,500 Swiss francs
Quick Facts Linde Werdelin Oktopus Blue Sea
Case: 44 x 46 x 15 mm, ALW (Alloy Linde Werdelin, a mix of aluminum, titanium and zirconium); titanium case back and crown with octopus engravings, water resistant to 300 m
Dial: three proprietary colors of Badgerite lume developed in cooperation with Super-LumiNova; upper dial laser-cut in stencil technique
Movement: automatic Dubois Dépraz Caliber 14580/ETA 2842-2, modified, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, power reserve 44 hours
Functions: hours, minutes; large date
Limitation: 88 pieces
Price: 14,194 Swiss francs/€15,725
Quick Facts Sarpaneva Korona K0 Seasons
Case: stainless steel (Autumn boasts a TiN-coated case band), 46 x 12 mm
Movement: modified automatic Soprod A10
Functions: hours, minutes, sweep seconds
Dial: Black Badger proprietary luminous advanced composite covered by a DLC or TiN-coated stainless steel grille
Limitation: 20 pieces each in four colors (luminous teal, green, violet, blue), only made to order
Price: €10,000 excluding tax for each model
Quick Facts Schofield Blacklamp
Case: 44 x 16.5 mm, Morta carbon fiber
Movement: manual winding Caliber Unitas 6498-1 with seconds modified to hack
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds
Limitation: 101 pieces customized with personal lighthouse details or custom text
Price: £9,900
Remark: comes with aluminum LED flashlight for charging the Black Badger ring of luminous material around the flange
Quick Facts MB&F HMX Black Badger
Case: 46.8 x 44.3 x 20.7 mm, titanium and stainless steel; dual reflective sapphire crystal prisms with integrated magnifying lens
Movement: automatic Sellita caliber with jump hour and training minutes module developed in-house
Functions: bi-directional jumping hours and “trailing” minutes
Limitation: 18 pieces in three colors each (54 total pieces)
Price: 48,000 Swiss francs + applicable tax
* This article was first published 03 February 2021 at Light Me Up: The Insanely Colorful Lume Of Black Badger James Thompson’s Watches (Lume Fest!)
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Credits: Article and images by Ian Skellern @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/09/27/light-me-up-the-insanely-colorful-lume-of-black-badger-james-thompsons-watches-lume-fest-2/
