Arthur Oskar Stampfli (AOS) Watches – The Wheels of Time

Arthur Oskar Stampfli, established by Roland Stampfli in 2010, is a young and emerging luxury watch brand that is going ahead successfully with its firm footsteps in already crowded traditional Swiss watch manufacturing industry. The current ranges of the brand include the 1916 and 1900 which are all exclusively reserved and produced in strict limited quantities, from 1 to 99 copies per model depending on its reference.

In 2013, Arthur Oskar Stampfli created a unique and innovative timepiece, both in terms of design and movement. After an extreme research for a new way to convey time, AOS Watches, the Independent Haute Horlogerie brand has finally succeeded with its “Time Diffuser” called “The Wheels of Time.” The new and innovative time reading method employed in this model is inspired from the Tibetan prayer wheels.

The traditional Tibetan prayer wheels (Mani Korlo in Tibetan), consists of a cylinder filled with mantras and freely rotatable about an axis. According to the associated beliefs with this item, operating a mill has the same spiritual value, that to recite the prayer mantra, the prayer is supposed to be spread in the air, as if it were pronounced. The mills, are often willing in long series, are set in motion, one after the other by the faithful. The faithful moves the mills, with his right hand. And the mill must be turned in the direction of clockwise, so that the mantra, be read in the sense that it was written.

Related with the theory of the mills, where mantras are enclosed in them, and distributed during the rotation, the mechanical movement developed by AOS encloses the time and diffuses it on its display outside, providing the notion of hours and minutes.

The RT01 In house movement designed and developed by Roland Stampfli consists of a Prayer wheel style case with a fully encased flat motor mechanical movement. The time is displayed by independent moving hour and minute cylinders with single marker/hand.

The first version had a crown at 3 o’clock, but this was soon replaced by a crown at 6:00 to respect the typology of the prayer wheel. The back of this achievement shows by a bottom sapphire, the wheels, without revealing the mechanism.

The wheels are deposited on a case carrier, and a bezel closes the system. The crown is screwed, and guaranteed the waterproofing, at 50 m of the timepiece.

The clasp is a realization of the Glista patent, sliding buckle, another world first  in horology industry along with the movement. The strap does not undergo deformation when opening the clasp, because it does not deploy like a butterfly, but slides on each side of the pushers.

Technical details

Model: The Wheels of Time

Case
Two piece Aluminium Eloxage case ergonomically designed to hug the wrist, available in Black, Grey, Red or Blue, also Precious metal options including Gold.
Case Width – 26.8mm
Case Length – 68mm
Watch Weight – 81 grams
Super Luminova indicies and markers
Sapphire Crystal Mineral used in front and side facing viewing panels
Sapphire Crystal exhibition case back
Screw in Crown at 6 o’clock. (On a normal wrist watch dial)
Water Resistant – 50 meters

Movement
RT01 In house movement designed and developed by Roland Stampfli consisting of a Prayer wheel style case with a fully encased Flat Motor Mechanical Movement
Independent moving hour and minute cylinders with single marker/hand for reading of time
Power Reserve – 40 hours

Strap
Glista Sliding Buckle patented by AOS so as to ensure no deformation of the Croc leather strap.

Recommended Retail Price – The Wheels of Time

• • RT01-/1962A: Black (aluminium Eloxage GL black): £29,750
  • RT01-/1962B: Grey (aluminium Eloxage GL): £29,750
  • RT01-/1962C: Red (aluminium Eloxage): £29,750
  • RT01-/1962D: Blue (aluminium Eloxage): £29,750
  • RT01-/1962Gold: Gold (case 2N18): £64,150

Customization
All pieces can by fully customise with precious metals, diamonds, case colouring and also adjustment of the decoration on the two independent scrolls for hours and minutes creating a unique and individual piece.