Introducing the Arcanaut ARC II — D'Arc Roast Limited Edition

I (Rob) am a co-owner of Arcanaut and work with the company as its head of brand development. The following is a presentation of our recently released Arcanaut D’Arc Roast model, the latest addition to our composites collection. WatchGecko kindly allowed me the platform to present this, our “tastiest” watch yet...

The Arcanaut Arc II — D’Arc Roast Limited Edition blends our love of watchmaking and fine coffee by utilizing a ground bean composite dial, brewed to perfection…

Although the hobby of collecting watches and the appreciation of a fine cup of coffee seem, by the presence of many online communities dedicated to those twin pursuits, to go hand-in-hand (with Adrian Barker of Bark & Jack being perhaps the most famous acolyte), using actual ground coffee in watch construction is generally a bad idea (because it gets everywhere).

Watchmakers typically hate two things: friction and dust. Considering ground coffee is a particularly irritating brown and moist version of the latter, placing it anywhere near the intricate mechanism of a mechanical watch seems like a bad idea.

Then again, bad ideas made good are our speciality.

The story of the Arcanaut ARC II — D’Arc Roast began almost five years ago when our very own head of materials development James Thompson (AKA Black Badger) teamed up with George Bamford to create a very special version of the TAG Heuer Carrera using coffee grounds for the first time. Over weeks, James developed a robust, stable, and aesthetically pleasing composite material by mixing coffee with an ultra-clear, UV-resistant binding agent to ensure that not a single morsel would migrate from the dial and cause a nuisance for the movement.

Limited to just 20 pieces, the watch became something of a unicorn. It appeared and then disappeared with very few out there to be found in the wild (just like unicorns, obviously). Feeling like the development of such a desperately beautiful material couldn’t possibly be used so fleetingly, we decided to bring it back, and really double down on the warmth of the piece, tapping into something we Danes like to call “Hygge”.

By now, you might have heard or seen this word in British culture. It was actually voted as the second-placed word of 2016, losing out to Brexit (as amusingly ironic as that is).

Hygge roughly translates to a "quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” We’re fans of those feelings and wanted to bring them to the wrist (and the head, thanks to the Limited Edition cap that will be included for free with all purchases within the first week of release).

For this model, we’ve deployed our Grand Paw handset, oxidised to a warm bronze colour (achieved by heating the steel to 250/260 degrees), and paired with X3 SLN Lumicast tips and solid hour markers on the dial.

On the reverse of the watch, you’ll find our latest Glowpatch character — a grinning coffee cup, whose name we haven’t asked but assume to be Joe (obviously). As industry-leading lume specialists, we’ve decided to make the Glowpatch case back a permanent and integral part of the Arcanaut brand concept, forsaking the notion of open case backs or decorated basic movements for something that we can do better than any other brand. Let us know what you think about that in the comments below.

The Arcanaut ARC II — D’Arc Roast is limited to 33 pieces. Deliveries are expected to commence in 8–10 weeks. The price is GBP 3,546 excluding taxes and including international shipping. The watch is available directly from the Arcanaut website, or via our official retailers, which comprise Collective Horology (US), Time & Tide Studios (UK and Australia), INDP, Sweden, Ace Jewelers, the Netherlands, The Limited Edition, UK, Chronolux, Ireland, and Chronoshop, Czechia.

Did you know: Four of the first seven Barista world champions were Danes, with Martin Hildebrandt, Fritz Storm, Trouls Overdahl Poulsen, and Klaus Thomsen taking home the title in the years 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2006 respectively. That means Denmark is, despite not having won the title in 19 years, still the most successful nation ever to compete on the world stage.

• Name: Arcanaut Arc II — D’Arc Roast
• Diameter: 40.52 mm
• Materials: Micro-blasted and hand-polished stainless steel case with brushed bezel, sapphire crystal treated with anti-reflective coating on the underside
• Water resistance: 100 m
• Dial: In-house real ground coffee composite with X3 SLN Lumicast indexes by RC Tritec
• Hands: Heat-bronzed laser-cut steel handset with solid X3 SLN Lumicast tips
• Movement: Soprod M100
• Case back: “Coffee time” Glowpatch
• Functions: Time only
• Power reserve: 42 hours
• Limitation and price: 33 pieces (individually numbered), GBP 3,546 excluding taxes but including international shipping