Son Of Sound - Union Jack

Original sound, musical energy

The entire oeuvre of Yvan Arpa, a former mathematics teacher and convert to the world of luxury watchmaking with a difference, is suffused with rock’n roll attitude, displaying a distinct taste for the unusual. Whether he’s at the wheel of his vintage Mustang or at the controls of a sophisticated ArtyA motorbike specially customised to cater to his every decorative whim, music is never far away from the equation. Like energy, like inspiration, it is raw.

Rock star friends
The first coming together between the watchmaking brand ArtyA and its founder’s passion for music is in the form of a tribute to rock and a band whose iconic image developed from an unholy sound combined with garishly painted faces. Yvan Arpa takes a memorable trip to see the group’s official headquarters in the States, where, when they’re at home with their boots off, the most made-up people in the rock business rehearse and perform. In fun, the members of the band Kiss, between guitar riffs, throw him their likenesses. Yvan Arpa picks them up in a ceremonious gesture. He then transforms their guitar picks into dial faces for the first series in his Hard Rock Collection. Alice Cooper is next, others still are in the pipeline … And so the obsessive quest continues for the unique timepiece of legendary luxury, whose inaccessibility has nothing to do with the price.

A new shape
Suddenly, Yvan Arpa has pumped up the volume. The inventor moves away momentarily, during a jam between friends, from the usual round form towards the guitarshaped watch. The brand new phenomenon is totally in keeping with the ArtyA ethic; it’s bold and passionate, with a healthy dose of avant-garde. It is christened the ‘Son of Sound’, which instantly paves the way for a variety of syncopations and some fancy fretwork, against a flurry of catchy hooks and resonating strings.
A stringed instrument for the wrist

This particular piece of watchmaking art, the ‘Son of Sound’, sets itself apart by its impressive watch case shaped like the machine head on a guitar, or some other stringed instrument. With its strong identity value, the unusual form grabs the eye even in the darkest corners of a murky music venue. The vision first crystallised in Geneva in response to a personal challenge and was subsequently lent form by the tried and tested know-how of a case and prototype manufacturer. The name of that company is SC2 SA; it is located in Les Eaux-Vives, and it belongs to Yvan Arpa and one of his partners.

There is nothing figurative about the push-pieces. Inspired by the famous tuning pegs on a guitar or violin, they all have a very genuine function: one is the start or stop button for the chronograph, the other performs the reset (or reset to zero), the third controls the time-setting and the fourth the date-setting functions. The adjustments are neat, snappy, unequivocal and instantaneous. The mechanical calibre with automatic winding encased inside this legendary structural form carries the name “Woodstock”. Painstakingly tightened by hand, as if carefully tuned, golden strings are stretched taut across a marquetry dial embellished with f-plates and riveted metal inserts for the hour and date counters. The art of woodworking soars to new heights to give new textures and grains every time. The rock ethic strikes again in the unique and inimitable ArtyA timepiece! Guitar fiends and bass players, lovers of stringed instruments and musicians, may ye rejoice…!