In Depth · Armin Strom

Armin Strom Zeitgeist 1665 3N gives resonance a visible frame

Gold-coloured movement parts and black chapter rings organise an intricate twin-regulator watch. Does the contrast clarify the mechanics?

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 18 October 2026

• Armin Strom's hand-wound ARF21 uses two independent regulators connected by a resonance clutch, with both balance assemblies visible on the dial side.
• The 3N reference colours its mainplate and bridges in yellow gold beside black chapter rings around the off-centre time display, while its case remains stainless steel.
• The 43mm watch has an 80-hour reserve and is limited to 25 pieces; Armin Strom lists it at US$108,000.

A resonance watch has a visual problem as well as a mechanical one. Its two regulators need to be understood as a linked system, yet the view through an open dial can easily become a crowd of wheels, bridges and polished edges. The Mirrored Force Resonance Zeitgeist 1665 3N puts yellow-gold-coloured movement parts against a black dial. Does that traditional palette make the mechanism easier to read, or simply make an already complicated watch more theatrical?

Two regulators, one visible conversation

The watch uses Armin Strom's hand-wound calibre ARF21. It has two independent regulating systems connected by the brand's patented resonance clutch. Armin Strom says vibrations pass through that connection so the balance wheels can synchronise. The idea traces back to Christiaan Huygens's observation of synchronising pendulum clocks in 1665, a reference carried in the watch's name. On a wristwatch, the challenge is to keep that relationship operating while the case moves with its owner. The brand presents improved chronometric stability as the aim; the product page does not provide independent timing results for this reference.

Both balance assemblies are visible on the dial side. They sit to the left of an off-centre time display marked by black chapter rings, with separate seconds indications above and below. The apparent symmetry has a functional reason. Armin Strom specifies a twin-seconds flyback mechanism that can reset both seconds hands together. The indications therefore give the eye two moving points through which to follow the paired regulators, rather than leaving the technical claim entirely behind the case back.

The calibre runs at 3.5Hz, or 25,200 vibrations per hour, and has an 80-hour reserve from two independent barrels. Those figures matter because the resonance display is not an added dial motif. The paired regulators and barrels define the movement's layout. Whether the two balances are truly synchronised at a given moment cannot be judged from a still image, but the face makes the architecture of the proposed connection unusually direct.

What the 3N colour changes

Armin Strom says the mainplate and bridges are coloured in 3N yellow gold. That wording is important: the brand describes a colour and finish, while the case is specified separately as stainless steel. It would be misleading to call the movement components solid gold on the strength of this page. Their warm tone contrasts with the black chapter rings and puts the silver-toned regulator assemblies in a clearer visual frame.

Armin Strom describes the off-centre black chapter rings as vernis laqué poli, a polished lacquer treatment. In the brand's front photograph, black chapter rings surround an open, gold-coloured centre and heat-blued steel hands cross that exposed space. Gold-coloured bridges lead the eye around the two regulators, while the rings mark the time display's edge. This is an assessment of the published images, not a claim about legibility in changing light or from wearing the watch.

Finishing carries much of the watch's argument. Armin Strom specifies matt surfaces on the coloured mainplate and bridges, hand-bevelled and polished edges, black-polished screws, perlage and circular graining. The skeletonised mainplate leaves space around the clutch and balances. A bright metal edge can help explain where one component ends and another begins, although that benefit has a limit: the number of visible parts still demands attention. The palette gives the mechanism hierarchy; it does not make the underlying physics self-explanatory.

Turn the watch over and the official rear image shows another arrangement of wheels, bridges and the two barrels through a sapphire back. The front and rear views make a useful pair. The dial side concentrates on the oscillators and their connection; the back shows more of the gearwork that supports the 80-hour reserve. The exposed movement is therefore an account of how the watch is built from both directions, rather than an isolated flourish on its face.

A case that leaves little hidden

The steel case is 43mm across, 11.55mm high and 49.60mm from lug to lug. Armin Strom gives sapphire crystals front and back, both with anti-reflective treatment, and water resistance of 3ATM. A dark grey Alcantara strap with grey stitching and a steel pin buckle completes this exact reference, ST26-ZG.90. These dimensions suggest a watch with a substantial footprint, but they do not establish how it sits on a particular wrist. The 3ATM rating also argues against treating it as a watch for water use.

Only 25 examples are specified worldwide, with each back engraved “1 out of 25”. That is the brand's stated production limit for this configuration, not evidence of how many are currently available. The product page offers a buy option and a sales contact, while directing US customers to contact its team. The visible product copy does not state a launch date, so the case for considering it here rests on the present product and its design choices, rather than on a claim of a recent launch.

The strongest answer to the opening question is qualified. The 3N colouring gives the paired regulators a more legible frame in Armin Strom's images, and the black chapter rings give the hours and minutes a boundary within the exposed mechanics. The watch still asks its owner to enjoy watching a complex movement, and the maker's chronometric claim remains one for measurement rather than a photograph to settle. Its achievement on the page is to make the route between technical idea and visible form unusually clear.

Armin Strom Zeitgeist 1665 3N pricing and availability

Armin Strom lists the Mirrored Force Resonance Zeitgeist 1665 3N at US$108,000 on its own product page. The site presents a buy option and a sales enquiry path, with a separate instruction for US customers to contact the team. It specifies a 25-piece edition. The page does not publish an Australian price. Its visible product copy does not state a launch date for this exact configuration.