A Charles Frodsham Double Impulse Chronometer Escapement wristwatch is already a very rare timepiece but one with a silvered dial with Eastern Arabic numerals pushes the watch into the rarefied stratosphere of the ultra rare as it is to the best of our research one of 3 made as of date of publication of this catalogue, the present watch being the first one delivered.

While Charles Frodsham is a venerable maker of British chronometers whose pieces date back to 1834, it wasn’t until 2018 that the brand introduced a wristwatch – 16 years in the making - whose technical prowess took the horological world by storm.

With the Double Impulse Chronometer, Charles Frodsham has firmly stated the return of British watchmaking at the forefront. The goal with this first wristwatch was to present a chronometer escapement, originally invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet and later perfected by George Daniels and Derek Pratt...in pocket watches.

The immense complexity of miniaturizing this escapement into a wristwatch took 16 painstaking years. Frodsham can boast being the first and only maker to have done it, with a bit of help from the great Derek Pratt himself.

This is the first wristwatch to use the Daniels Double Impulse Chronometer Escapement, which is completely symmetrical, highly detached, and oil free. The large free-sprung balance has a self-compensating balance spring with raised terminal curve, and a proprietary shock protection system with fixed jeweled bearings.

Absolutely every component of this watch is made by Frodsham including the case and dial. The only elements from the outside are the crystals, the main and balance springs, the jewels (that are from the brand’s existing stock dating from the 1950s) and the strap, giving the term “in-house” a brand new meaning.

The movement is not only a horological masterpiece but also a thing of beauty with beautifully finished components, train wheels in gold and all steel components mirror polished.

It is interesting to note that the serial number is quite long, this can be explained by the fact that the serial number is a continuation of the watch numbering sequence first started by John Arnold in 1761, and adopted by Charles Frodsham when he bought Arnold and Son in 1843.