The Hampstead 38 Salmon
- Case
- 38mm Grade 5 titanium, polished — an unusual finish for the material, 9.2mm thick
- Dial
- Galvanic salmon — closer to a rose-copper than a pink — with a warm sheen that changes with light angle. Applied 5N yellow gold dauphine indices and matching hands. Small "50 pieces" script printed at the 6 o'clock position in a whisper-thin serif.
- Movement
- A&F calibre HF-201 (Sellita SW200-1 (Top grade))
- Power reserve
- 38 hours
- Water resistance
- 50m
- Crystal
- Domed sapphire, double anti-reflective coating
- Strap
- Hand-stitched cognac alligator, 18mm, polished titanium pin buckle
Heritage
The Salmon came out of a dinner in Shoreditch in early 2023. A long-standing client — an auction-house specialist — told Harold that salmon dials were "the next thing proper collectors would chase." Harold, who normally resists trends, took the comment seriously and spent the next six months developing a salmon tone warm enough to sit well against rose gold, but cool enough not to read as pink under warm light. The eleven failed dial batches are still in a drawer in the atelier.
Design
Limiting the run to 50 pieces was deliberate. Harold wanted the Salmon to feel like a proper edition — a collectable within a collectable — without the piece feeling manufactured for scarcity. Fifty is roughly one in ten of the annual A&F production, which he felt was the upper bound of what could still be called "rare."
Dial technique
Galvanic deposition in a warm salmon tone not catalogued by the dial-maker — developed for Ashworth & Finch over the course of eleven trial batches in 2023. The formula is held under confidentiality with the supplier.