ARC II – Fordite Futures
History for Your Wrist
The Arc II — Fordite series features dials handmade from "Motor City Agate".
A byproduct of the automotive industry, Fordite is layers and layers of over-sprayed car paint that have cured together to form a rock hard substance that is popular for its aesthetic properties.
All of our Fordite watches are powered by Swiss-made automatic movements by Soprod, which are regulated in-house by our watchmakers in Copenhagen.
Sign up below to get notified for futures releases of the Fordite series.
A few times a year, Black Badger ventures hunkers down in his den and crafts new Fordite watch dials by hand (or claw). Be sure to sign up for direct alerts when this extraordinary event takes place!
Description
Fordite
Known also as Detroit or Motor City Agate, Fordite is a fascinating material created as a byproduct of the automobile industry. When it came time for bodywork panels to be sprayed, they were mounted to specially made jigs in painting chambers.
Over time, the overspray would build up on the jigs and need to be chipped off so they could continue to be used. Initially considered nothing but a waste product, these lumps of layered paint, resprayed and baked repeatedly for years, were discarded until someone realized the incredible beauty that resided within.
Nowadays, genuine Fordite (which is far more compact and durable than synthetic or homemade Motor City Agate) is used in jewelry production. Arcanaut’s materials maestro, James Thompson, was the first to refine the process for using it in high-end watch design, and now the Arcanaut ARC II - Fordite pieces form an important cornerstone of our collection.
There are two types of Fordite dials crafted by Arcanaut: “Groovy” variety cuts straight through the layers, revealing inimitable patterns of paints fused together.
The “Linear” variety is particularly challenging to make as the grain of each lump of Fordite has to be identified and then cross-sectioned with unflinching precision to ensure a perfectly linear result.
Each piece is entirely unique, with hundreds of stories revealed by every slice. Sadly, modern car production techniques mean Fordite is no longer produced in such enduring quality, so these pieces are the first and last of their kind.
Case
316L stainless steel case, CNC milled north of Copenhagen with tolerances down to a micron (a thousandth of a millimeter or about the same size as a bacteria). The case has a matte micro bead blasted finish, with hand-polished highlights applied by our watchmakers in Copenhagen. As with all our watches, the case features our signature "Pentablock" crown, which is shaped to follow the form of the case perfectly.
Hands
Our laser-cut micro-welded steel hands are made and hand-finished in Denmark.
Straps
There are eight strap colours available for the Arc II case. Our strap types are Axe Red, Void Blue, Fett Green, Rex Brown, Kakarot Orange, Bondi Blue, Replicant White, and Black (just black).
Fordite collection
