MICROBRAND
Arcanaut Started With an Argument in a Copenhagen Bar
The Copenhagen independent treats the dial as a small wearable laboratory.
Arcanaut ARC II Green Fairy. Image: Arcanaut
Arcanaut began in a Copenhagen bar in 2015, when designer Anders Brandt picked apart Simon Goldeman’s new Swiss watch: cluttered dial, poor ergonomics, steep price. Three years later the pair released the ARC-I, a 50-piece proof of concept that sold out quickly.
The brand’s identity arrived in 2020 with James Thompson, the Canadian materials artist known as Black Badger. He became co-owner and now makes most of the dials at his workshop in Gothenburg, Sweden. Rob Nudds, a watchmaker based in Germany, joined in 2022 to lead brand development. Movements are Swiss, many other components are Scandinavian, and final assembly happens in Copenhagen.
Everything is built on one platform, the ARC II: a 40.5mm steel case, 12.8mm thick and 49mm lug to lug, with a domed sapphire crystal, a recessed rectangular crown, and 100 meters of water resistance. Inside is a Soprod M100 automatic with a 42-hour power reserve, showing hours and minutes only (aBlogtoWatch).
The dial is the point. Fordite is hardened automotive paint, built up in layers on factory floors and cut like stone, so no two are alike, and Arcanaut leaves it bare of markers and branding. Havender is a pale purple composite of powdered Swedish mussel shells, limited to 33 pieces. The Green Fairy, pictured, sets resin-filled aluminium foam over a disc of green Super-LumiNova, in a run of 66.
For collectors who want a point of view rather than a familiar silhouette, Arcanaut makes material experimentation the product, not the finish.
And at Spot.Watch — that’s always worth noticing.