Why be just another routine guy whose watch has a white dial and steel strap?

The design is clean and powerful. At Arcanaut, they even forgo a regular crown, as they considered this to conflict with the rest of the design.

Get ready for a lively episode with Black Badger and Rob Nudds as we find out how both came to be part of Copenhagen-based Arcanaut Watches.

Thompson is now co-owner of Danish brand Arcanaut, which has made a specialisation out of the innovative use of colour, with dials made of Fordite (derived from the layers of paint in spray-paint bays), Super-LumiNova composites, and even mussel shells, as in the new Arc II Havender watch.

This is, in fact, a three-dimensional dial...

The level of knowledge amongst Intersect’s members is jaw-dropping.

Arcanaut has put their next two pieces in the “Experimental” category, and if the avant-garde nature of their previous work is appealing, these are likely to scratch a similar itch.

What Anders and James do better than I’ve seen almost any duo accomplish, is create from starting points that are so far off the edge of the known map, that they might as well be in Space.

The dial design of the recent D’Arc Matter models and these new Havender and Klint versions are minimalistic in their approach. The true magic is in the materials and the detailed execution. That’s where the clean design turns into something organic and distinct.

A watch that combines Scandinavian design and wild material innovation.

Discovery. The brand’s one-word motto says it all. Arcanaut is on a mission, a journey, a quest for true novelty. And not the kind of novelty we’re used to seeing in the watch industry. Far from it. Arcanaut is obsessed with creating watches that make you do a double take, stop you in your tracks, and raise an eyebrow so far from its resting place, that it might very well break your forehead.

The result, however, wasn’t what they expected. Instead, the brand says that “the exciting pigment present in the shells wasn’t blue at all. Rather, a lavender powder."

Danish design has an international reputation for excellence. Anders Brandt, co-founder and chief designer of Arcanaut watches out of Copenhagen aims to continue the rich tradition of his homeland by bringing true unconventionality to the watchmaking game.

Recently, we got members of our team in front of the camera to tell us what watch they wore most in 2023. The answers varied from simple, practical tool watches, to more unusual fare...

Since only a very thin layer of the mussel shell actually yields the desired color for the Havender dials, the shells must be individually ground down, with the powder from the desired layer carefully collected by a vacuum during the grinding process.

Arcanaut looms large for me as an independent brand that is accessible, contemporary in their aesthetic, and willing to experiment, all things I put a high value on when it comes to new watches.

Arcanaut’s contribution is in high concept design, using sculptural case shapes and unusual dial materials in combinations never seen before in the watch industry while never swerving too far from the benefits of traditional horology.

Even a regular crown was considered too pedestrian for Arcanaut, so this watch features what the brand calls a “Pentablock” crown. The resulting case looks interestingly alien.

The Arc II Fordite kind of broke my brain and changed my perception of what’s possible when it comes to accessible creativity mixed with real craft.

If the vivid lume colours that decorate each one of the D’Arc Matter Colours Collection dials look familiar, that’s because you might have seen them before. One thing is for sure, however: you’ve never seen them in the watch industry.

Independence. Creativity. Visionary re-imaginings not of what a watch should be, but rather what a watch could be. Enter Anders Brandt. Co-founder and Chief Designer of Danish outfit Arcanaut. The brand was born in 2019 and, slowly but surely, began to trouble the fringes of watchmaking’s consciousness.

An evolution of the brand’s 50-piece limited edition D’Arc Matter model from 2021, the Colours Collection takes the same in-house developed Swedish slate composite dial and enlivens it with bright colours and a brand-new handset for improved legibility.

It's very ergonomically design, the whole case is curved, the case back is arched so it sits on the wrist very comfortably, and falls down towards the "semi-lugs" for which the brand is known.

The new Arc II Havender is a limited edition of 33 pieces, whose main highlight is once again the dial.

The perceived quality of the machining and the solidity of the [crown] do inspire confidence.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with opting for a more traditional approach to watchmaking, but for certain companies like Danish independent watch brand Arcanaut, being unconventional is the name of the game.

We should also mention the dials, which are based on the original Arc II D'Arc Matter and made from Arcanaut’s special composite material. It’s produced by taking Scandinavian slate and feeding it through an industrial coffee grinder, the result of which is then bonded with an ultra-clear binding agent to create this unique slate powder texture. It makes for a cool, dark backdrop that really lets the new lume and coloured strips shine.

Black Badger is on a mission to redefine the concept of luxury, but not in the way you hear on a near-daily basis from start-ups and doe-eyed micros the world over. He doesn’t want to democratize luxury by making it easier for more consumers to access his products; he wants to democratize the materials that can be considered luxurious.

Arc II — D’Arc Matter, designed by James Thompson, co-owner of Arcanaut, is created using slate local to his region of Scandinavia, which he collected near his home before grinding to a fine powder and binding with ultra-clear resin to form composite plates of stone and resin.

every time I put the watch on, I think of something else I want to say about it. More than that, I just want this watch and this brand to be on people’s radar, because what they’re doing is special, and the emotional response I’ve had to this watch in the form of dopamine spikes is like little else I can think of for under $4,000.

Given all the amazing innovations in dials and movements across the industry, it’s great to see some novelty in case design. The integrated lugs slope downwards enhancing wearability as it hugs the wrist.

I often see watches that put all their effort into the case or the dial, not both. Arcanaut was able to achieve an extremely fun dial that is paired with an excellent case. The case is mostly bead blasted except for a polished surround on the sides of the case. Where the case design shines is in its shape.

The ARC II is a work of art, and sometimes, art demands compromise. In this case, one must sacrifice a bit of legibility for that magnificent, storied dial. Of course, you also get a novel case design, a lovely (if sometimes overshadowed) handset, and a real conversation starter at your next Cars and Coffee.

This is an ergonomic, impressively restrained design overall, with a unique inverted lug structure, curving case profile, and a significant case side undercut that work together to provide a compact, balanced stance on the wrist.

The indie is known in its native Copenhagen as a sort of skunk house for innovative design and engineering for its watches, particularly for dials, which combine Nordic aesthetics with innovative and daring materials.

Nordic watchmaker Arcanaut is set to release its latest timepieces, the Arc II — D’Arc Matter Colours Collection, with just 25 pieces of each of the four colour options being made available.

In my mind, Scandinavian design is all about creating your own rules, with a very functionalist approach in mind.

Yes, the Fordite dial is the big eye-catcher, but the case is also quite something. Arcanaut calls this shape, which is edgy yet also fluid, an “angular pebble.” The CNC-machined case is made in Denmark by a specialist according to Arcanaut’s exact specifications.