A touch of genius from Hermès. Many of the 35 brands presented new moon phase displays in this 50th anniversary year of the first moon landing, and one of the most original watches of this type was Arceau l’Heure de la Lune by Hermès. In this piece, probably based on an original concept by La…
To give it its complete name, L’Astronomo Luminor 1950 Tourbillon Moon Phases Equation of Time GMT by Panerai is a new version of L’Astronomo presented in 2010. That watch combined a tourbillon, calendar, equation of time, and sunrise and sunset times. The new version adds moon phases and a GMT hand. The most innovative feature…
In 2017, Jaquet Droz gave its principal watch design, the Grande Seconde, one of the most popular complications of the year, the moon phase display in the Grande Seconde Moon. It is a so-called astronomical moon phase, exact to one day’s discrepancy every 122 years. By way of comparison, the traditional mechanism based on a…
In-house movements are becoming an increasingly important marketing necessity. While there are still many watches at the lower end of the market with movements purchased from third-party suppliers such as ETA, Sellita, Seiko and so forth, more and more brands are investing in the capability to build their own calibres. According to Frederique Constant, the…
The Executive Moonstruck Worldtimer by Ulysse Nardin is a watch that combines astronomical functions with a world timer, in a display based on a series of concentric circles. This watch was originally just the Moonstruck, presented in 2009, reference 1062-113; it is now the Executive Moonstruck Worldtimer, and it offers an interesting combination of functions.…
The Little Lange 1 Moon Phase is a women’s watch with all the prestige of A. Lange & Söhne’s watchmaking sophistication. It mixes feminine grace with the fascination of a hand-wound movement. It follows the 2016 Lange 1 moon phase, which is 1.7 mm larger, and basically a men’s watch. Unlike that watch, the Little…
The Elite Lady Moonphase by Zenith has a size perfect for women, 33 mm diameter, with a case thickness of 9.25 mm. With respect to the previous version, its size has been reduced from 36 mm to 33 mm. It is powered by the self-winding Elite Calibre 692, designed and built in-house by Zenith, and…
Women’s preferences as regards watches are a debated question. The main dichotomy is between quartz and mechanical. Brands such as Glashütte Original use quartz for their Pavonina watches and say that women prefer quartz because the watch is always running and so doesn’t need fiddly adjustment on a small crown. But, talking to a woman…
In the Cat’s Eye collection, Girard-Perregaux speaks exclusively to women, with watches featuring diamond-setting and horizontal or vertical oval cases. The new Cat’s Eye Celestial has a mother-of-pearl dial with a radial guilloché finish, and a large moon phase display with a deep blue aventurine night sky. The large moon disc is almost 9 mm…
The Patrimony Moon Phase and Retrograde Date is classically beautiful and very expensive, a perfect example of Vacheron Constantin’s traditional watchmaking brilliance. The two versions, white gold and pink gold, give you the choice between a more discreet or a more colourful timepiece. The principal features of the watch are the retrograde date on the…
IWC extends its collection of watches for women with three Da Vinci Automatic Moon Phase 36 models, all of which share the fundamental characteristics of the new Da Vinci range – mobile lugs for easy wearability whatever the wrist size, domed crown, recessed circle on the dial, Santoni strap – along with the moon phase…
Cartier launched its Drive collection in 2016, and two new models were added in early 2017. The Moon Phases watch has the distinctive squarish shape that hallmarks Drive de Cartier, width 41 mm, thickness 12.15 mm. The octagonal steel crown is set with a faceted synthetic spinel. The silvered flinqué dial does a lot to…
I saw this watch on the morning of 17 January 2017, at the watch show SIHH in Geneva, at a presentation that began on a sad note because the A. Lange & Söhne representative began by announcing that their company founder, Walter Lange, had passed away earlier that morning at the age of 92. The…
The Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon, reference WHRO0013, is the latest version of a watch introduced in 2014, with lapis lazuli dial and a stylized globe at 12 o’clock. This year’s version features two discs of meteorite stone, one on the 24-hour subdial at the top of the watch, and one on the…
This is a watch that leads you away from our contemporary dimension of time, the digital indications on our televisions, computers and smartphones, and the beeps on the radio. The Rotonde de Cartier Day/Night Retrograde Moon Phases takes you back to the origins of our time, the planet earth as it spins and orbits the…
The Reverso One Duetto Moon by Jaeger-LeCoultre is a watch with the complication that is traditionally associated with watches for women, the moon phase display. It is made in two versions, in steel and rose gold. The lunar display is in mother-of-pearl, against a speckled backdrop in dark blue (steel version) or chestnut red (pink gold…
This is a 33mm watch by Parmigiani Fleurier with the favourite and most poetic complication for women, the moon phase. The poetry is combined with a mother-of-pearl dial, and by a lot of technical content, with a new in-house movement. At prices starting from 12,300 Swiss francs, this a piece offering good value. Dial Michel…
We are accustomed to high-end watches as being complicated machines; the more complicated they are, the more expensive they are. Even the simplest watch has about 160 components, all separately machined and then assembled by a watchmaker, in a movement that is displayed through a transparent caseback. Each additional complication, such as a chronograph, a…
Blue dials and moon phase indications have been popular watch themes for the last couple of years, and in this piece, Arnold & Son put them together and make the moon phase bigger and better. The whole dial is dedicated to the moon phase window, something that is usually relegated to just a subdial, and…
Two new versions of the Eclipse, a watch that Jaquet Droz introduced in 2010. It’s a timepiece that has all the Jaquet Droz DNA: a symmetrical dial designed to be uncluttered, leaving as much free surface as possible, and a few quirky touches such as the wiggly hand showing the date and the unusual system…