Sir John Arnold, son of an English watchmaker, was born in Cornwall.  It was 1736, and everything in England revolved around the long voyages to discover new land.  This was also the era of the pocket watch.

28 years later, John Arnold founded his first watch shop in London, looking to attract the royalty and the wealthy.  In there, he produced fine gold pocket watches as well as automatic pocket watches.  He became popular with the well to do in England, and later he created a method to stop the travel expenses and to help the British Empire grow.

By 1770, John Arnold was a chronograph and chronometer specialist, and he used them for marine applications and in overseas explorations.  He even invented the first pocket chronograph. John Roger, his son, started working with his father and together they created the Arnold and Son Watches company.  It supplied luxury watches, chronometers and chronographs to the Royal Navy.

Some of their watch creations were the “James Cook limited edition” collection, the “The landing at Botany Bay” was a gold watch with a painting on the dial of James Cook during his first visit to Australia.  The marvelous “Discovery of Antarctica” watch, in gold and black leather, tells about Cook’s second trip and his discovery of Antarctica and New Zealand.  The “Death in Hawaii” watch tells of James Cook’s last voyage and his discovery of the island.

The design of the Arnold & Son watches is rather conservative, but the technology of the quartz and automatic movements keeps then accurate. Arnold & Son is said to be the oldest luxury watch company in England.

Their recent collections feature Mid Grand Complications and Grand Complications. These watches include perpetual calendar, Tourbillon movement, well structured designs, and advanced technology among other features.