New Arc Vault Wallet Released. When Jewelry and Wallets Collide.
A phone case brand steps into the wallet world with a mirror-polished aluminum wallet. Starting at $149.99.
The Arc Vault is a brand new wallet from a brand I have not come across before. As an everyday carry company, Arc are best known for their range of smartphone accessories, mainly phone cases for Apple and Samsung. So Arc's move into the wallet world is somewhat surprising, stepping away from what they are known for into the competitive world of wallets.
What if jewelers built your wallet?
A Unique Mirrored Design
The first thing to mention is the unique design of this wallet. I am a firm believer in the synchronicity of design and function, and the Arc Vault really is a perfect blend of the two. From a design perspective the thing looks very modern and sleek, made from aerospace-grade aluminum with a high mirror finish. It looks smart, elegant, and could be mistaken for anything but a wallet. Arc’s video title, “what if jewelers built your wallet”, is very apt here, and it echoes the sentiments of my article on where wallets are heading in the future: becoming objects of design more than their inherent function.
A Common but Unique Mechanism
But that does not mean Arc have abandoned the functionality or intent of a wallet. At the end of the day, a wallet still needs to carry your cards. In the case of the Vault, Arc have developed what they call a fan-out release mechanism. It is a sort of blend between a traditional pop-up wallet, something first developed by Secrid with the Cardprotector, and a wallet like the Shuffle that fans cards out in a similar way.
The wallet takes all of this and presents it in a neat little metal box. A finger or thumb slides the front panel away, revealing up to five cards while simultaneously fanning each one out for easy access. This fanning style is nothing new, as I said, but the mechanism developed for the Arc Vault is unique and different, and it deserves mentioning, especially in a world of copycats and mass-produced wallets that all use the same generic mechanism.
The Vault is also MagSafe compatible, so it will snap to the back of a compatible phone and travel there instead of in your pocket. That puts it among the growing number of MagSafe wallets on the market, though very few of them look anything like this.
My First Impressions
So what are my first impressions of the Arc Vault? Very positive. I always give credit where it is due when a brand tries to go against the norm, or at least develops a wallet that is vastly different in style and design from everything else on the market. The Vault achieves exactly that. Put this wallet against any other generic pop-up or bifold and I would have no trouble knowing exactly which one it is.
Quality with a Price to Match
So what is a wallet designed like a piece of jewelry going to cost you? As you would imagine, not cheap. Prices start at $149.99, placing this wallet firmly in the higher price bracket, above premium metal wallets like the Proof at $125. Do I think it is worth the money? I have not managed to get my hands on it yet as it is still pre-order only at the time of writing, but what I can tell you is that this wallet has all the trademark signs of a successful design. One that blurs the line between jewelry and wallet, and one I am very happy exists. The Arc Vault is available to pre-order now at arc.cc.