Are people still interested in the MoonSwatch? It’s been over two years since the original collection dropped and since then the collection has seen numerous additions to become quite a large collection, although many of them have been limited editions. In that time every single launch has proved controversial and divisive but one thing has always been true, just as much as some people hate it, others love it. Now Swatch has expanded the range yet again with the new Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch Mission to Earthphase.

The phrase Earthphase is not a common one in watchmaking or life in general because it’s a phenomenon that only a handful of people have ever witnessed. Those people being the astronauts who have stood on the moon and looked back at the Earth, which just like the moon has phases of being hidden in solar shadow. This is the first time that this phenomenon has been represented on a wristwatch alongside a moonphase.

Mechanically the Earthphase and Moonphase are virtually identical with some notable exceptions. Both take exactly the same period of 29.5 days to complete a cycle but importantly those cycles are inverse. While there’s a full moon the Earth is totally hidden (technically called a new Earth) and while there’s a new moon, there’s a full Earth. It really emphasises the interplay between the two celestial bodies in relation to their position together with respects to the sun.

Additionally, because of their inverse movements, the moonphase rotates clockwise and the earthphase rotates anti-clockwise. On top of that, the image of the Earth is fixed in position and it’s the shadow that rotates while on the moonphase, it’s the moon that moves into the shadow. It makes for a very unusual pair of subdial. But that makes sense because it’s never been done before. One thing to note is that because they replace the normal chronograph subdial, the watch is only equipped with a central 60-second chronograph hand so I hope you don’t plan to time anything longer than one minute.

In terms of aesthetics, the MoonSwatch Mission to Earthphase has a grey dial with a lunar dust, grainy texture that really comes into its own around the bottom of the Earthphase complication where it has been digitally painted to look like the surface of the moon. That’s been paired with black accents and a black tachymeter bezel, which reminds me of the original MoonSwatch Mission to Mercury. The most colourful aspect is the image of Earth, which has been lovingly created in striking shades of blue, green and yellow to show the world’s oceans, forests and deserts. It is also made from UV paint meaning it glows under UV light.

The MoonSwatch Earthphase is powered by a quartz movement housed inside a 42mm bioceramic case. It’s priced at a similar level to the other MoonSwatches at £288 and is available in the UK from Swatch stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London’s Covent Garden and Oxford Street boutiques. As always with the MoonSwatch it’s strictly one watch per day, per boutique.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Swatch (@swatch)

More details at Swatch.

I am an unapologetic fan of Glashütte Original’s more daring watches. Yes the Senator and SeaQ are nice, but they sit safely within their archetypes. Give me the bright colours and interesting textures of the 1960s and 1970s collection or the haute horological vivacity of the asymmetrical Pano range. Today we get to focus in on the Pano range further as Glashütte Original have combined the PanoInverse and PanoMaticLunar for the first time to create the new PanoLunarInverse.

Before we get too deep into the discussing the new watch, it’s probably worth understanding the two watches to which it owes its heritage. The PanoInverse is one of the more visually impressive in the collection as it features a partially openworked display that reveals a floating balance at roughly 3 – 6 o’clock. It’s also often the basis for some immaculate finishing or engraving as in the case of the PanoInverse Limited Edition. Then, the PanoMaticLunar is a closed dial watch with a moonphase function off-set towards 2 – 3 o’clock.

Combine both of these models together and there’s an apparent issue. The signature elements of the floating balance wheel and the moonphase complications overlap the same positional area of the display. Well, not precisely but near enough. As such, in order to produce the PanoLunarInverse, Glashütte Original had to completely reimagine the layout of the watch’s display. And thank goodness they did because the result is stunning.

The moonphase that was once banished to a small wedge on the periphery of the watch now finds itself in pride of place in the centre of the hours and minutes dial. What once was small, and frankly almost illegible, is now large and beautiful. The twin moons are engraved with as much detail as the PanoInverse Limited Edition I mentioned earlier, with each crater on the surface depicted with astonishing detail. The moons are presented against a backdrop of aventurine glass that emulates a starry background.

By moving the moonphase they also allow the exposed balance wheel to remain in its key position in the 3 – 6 o’clock quadrant of the dial. It’s part of the Calibre 91-04, an automatic movement with a 45-hour power reserve and guilloché finishing. It had to be specially adapted to accommodate the addition of the moonphase function to the Inverse construction with its dial-side balance.

Outside of the balance and the time display, the rest of the dial is stunningly finished with a diamond-like guilloché motif. It’s akin to Clous de Paris with its tessellating, geometric pattern. I particularly like the way the lines weave through the display creating a shifting, spiralling, scale-like appearance. And then it pulls your eyes inward towards the moonphase and you find yourself again shocked at the brilliance of the moons.

Housing this dial is a 42mm x 12.46mm case made from platinum. Considering that it’s made from such a high end, luxury material it’s perhaps not surprising to learn that it’s a limited edition. Although for a watch of this scale it’s surprisingly not as exclusive as you may imagine with 200 pieces available. It’s priced at $42,600 (approx. £36,600), which makes a lot of sense too. I could stare at this watch all day.

More details at Glashütte Original.

The rumours are true: Patek Philippe’s first new collection since 1999 is here and, unless you’ve had your ear to the ground for the last couple of weeks, it’s probably not what you’re expecting. This is, of course, the new Patek Philippe Cubitus – and it’s certainly something. It’s also, very firmly (according to Patek themselves) square.

The Cubitus is, first and foremost, Patek Philippe’s first square watch. They’ve dabbled in ellipses aplenty, circles of all sizes and whatever you want to call the Gondola, but this is their first square, and was apparently somewhat of a passion project for Patek’s Thierry Stern: “since I was quite young, I always challenged myself to say, ‘I need to have also a beautiful square watch in the collection.’ So that’s how we started, actually.”

And yet, it’s not entirely square, either. With it’s octagonal bezel, with four shorter and four longer sides, it aesthetically feels like they’ve simply squared the circle of the Nautilus. The similarities to Patek’s genuinely iconic sports watch don’t stop there either. The new Cubitus has similar bold shoulders either side and even the same grooved dial and integrated bracelet as the Nautilus. So while it may be a first for the Swiss watchmaker and might feel pretty left-field, it’s not exactly a huge departure from their usual sports style. If you’ve ever seen the old ‘Nautellipse’, the Cubitus fits in rather well.

As you’d expect with this calibre of watchmaking, the case surfaces are alternately brushed and polished, emphasising that striking shape across the many edges. I don’t really need to go into the finishing too much; it’s a Patek, you know it’s going to be phenomenal.

There are currently three models in the collection. The first is in steel with a green dial, marking an entrypoint into the Cubitus collection. The second is my favourite of the three, a rose gold and steel bi-colour number with a classic blue dial. The last is the complicated version, a platinum case with a blue dial and grand date, day subdial and moonphase.

The green will set you back £35,330, the bi-colour £52,480 and the platinum £75,690. The time-only models are equipped with the calibre 26-330 C with a 35–45-hour power reserve. The day-date watch uses the 240 PS with a 38–48-hour power reserve. All the movements are, of course, visible through the exhibition case back and are, equally obviously, stunning.

Now, there’s been some divisiveness around the Cubitus. Square watches aren’t for everyone and a square version of the Nautilus isn’t something anyone was particularly clamouring for – except perhaps Stern himself. But all the furore is around the shape. The watch itself is well-made, has all those Patek hallmarks and scratches that well-heeled steel sports watch itch. I imagine it will go the way of the Code 11:59, divisive now but something we’ll all soon calm down over and accept. At the very least, it’s nice to have something even harder to get hold of than a Nautilus.

It might not be the 5711 replacement we were all hoping for, but maybe it’s the one we deserve?

More details at Patek Philippe.

Frederique Constant have one of the most diverse ranges of watches in the entire industry. Not in terms of style necessarily, as they tend to primarily occupy the luxury sports watch and traditional dress watch niches, but in terms of their haute horological prowess. They run the full gamut from relatively accessible Sellita-based watches like the Runabout all the way up to manufacture, GPHG nominated masterpieces like the Slimline Perpetual Calendar. Their latest timepiece, the Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture Limited Edition falls towards the latter end of that spectrum.

Immediately, let me say that I really like the visual design of this watch. It has a 40mm 18k white gold case with a classic round design. It has a pronounced crown with a round, fluted design, which is known as an onion crown because… well, that should be obvious. The slightly curved lugs lead into a dark green alligator strap, which pairs with the green malachite dial.

Malachite was a very popular dial material a few years ago and it’s easy to understand why. The delicate striations look amazing and also mean that every watch is unique as no two dials are identical. Here it also makes the watch stand out from Frederique Constant’s traditional dress watch displays. It’s also the first time FC have used the material on any of their watches and is only the second mineral they’ve used on their dials following a handful of meteorite models (and also depending how you classify synthetic sapphire but maybe that’s too pedantic).

Focussing in on the display, the layout has been totally redesigned compared to previous editions of the Classic Moonphase Date. The two titular complications have been superimposed on top of each other on the subdial at 6 o’clock, providing more clean dial space with which to admire the malachite. The hour markers have been updated too so that they are more refined and the central hands are now alpha shaped.

However, the most significant update to the Classic Moonphase Date is the addition of a brand-new movement, the FC-716. It has a 72-hour power reserve, which is an upgrade of 89% compared to the 38-hour FC-335 that their previous Moonphase Date models used. It’s a huge increase in practicality and quality of life for the wearer. While we’re talking here about the limited-edition gold case and malachite reference, this new movement has immediately found its way to the core collection too.

Speaking of being a limited edition, there are only 36 Frederique Constant Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture watches being produced, making them very exclusive. On top of that, the malachite dial and gold case mean it has a price of £25,995. To give that some context, the updated core collection in steel with the same movement is £3,495.

More details at Frederique Constant.

Moonphase complications are by their very nature, a niche function. The phases of the moon have very little impact on our day to day lives and while the moon used to be an important tool in early timekeeping, it is largely redundant in a world governed by the Gregorian calendar. As such, it’s often a decorative complication that demonstrates a watch brand’s horological prowess rather than being a practical inclusion. Consequently, aesthetics are a significant factor in their design and the new Orient Star M45 F7 Mechanical Moon Phase is the perfect example of that.

This wristwatch was first teased earlier this year but goes on sale this Friday, July 26. It’s a really cool 41mm piece with a steel case featuring black plating that gives it a dark appearance. That darkness is matched by a grey gradient dial with a grainy texture that reminds me of the surface of the moon. Omega’s Dark Side of the Moon has a similar design.

However, technically the Orient Star’s dial isn’t a representation of our closest celestial neighbour. As the name M45 indicates, it’s inspired by the M45 star cluster, better known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Meaning the gradient surface of the watch – achieved through a special painting technique involving a uniquely-formulated paint applied with a gradation machine followed by a thick, clear coating – could be interpreted to represent the wide star field of the cluster as opposed to the surface of the moon. Regardless of if interpret it as the moon or the stars, it is stunning.

Completing the dark display are the black Roman numerals, grey hands, power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock and monochromatic moonphase and pointer date subdial at 6 o’clock. It’s a relatively understated display but every element has been thought through carefully with just the right amount of detail to make it visually interesting.

Housed inside the Orient Star M45 F7 Mechanical Moon Phase is the in-house automatic movement F7M65. It’s a really solid movement with a 50-hour power reserve and an accuracy of +15/-5 seconds per day. It’s also fairly thin, allowing the watch the have a total thickness of 13.8mm, which is perfectly respectable.

It’s a limited edition of 120 pieces and is presented on a Cordovan leather strap. There is also a crocodile leather strap edition exclusive to Orient’s prestige boutiques in Japan. It’s priced at £2,199.99 and is available from Orient UK from July 26. For a cool moonphase watch with an interesting dial, that feels like a winner.

More details at Orient Star.

Our daily lives are pretty tuned to the sun. Day and night define our circadian rhythm, our working hours, the frustration behind daylight savings, pretty much our entire concept of daily life. It’s even used as a yardstick for the time of year, with painfully short days in winter, longer in summer. And yet it’s the moon, the sun’s weird, celestial little cousin, that makes its way onto watches. A fact that’s worth investigating, so let’s delve into the history of the moonphase complication and its importance to horology.

The moon has been used as a calendar marker for as long as 35,000 years. No, that comma’s not in the wrong place, we’re talking THIRTY-FIVE millennia here. Referenced in cave paintings, it’s something that every culture on the Earth has used in one way or another – and there are good reasons why.

Image credit: NASA

Unlike the sun, which shifts ever so slightly day after day, the moon changes much more dramatically. There’s a visible difference from one night to the next as it moves through its monthly cycle, making it much clearer and easier to use as a timekeeper. In horological parlance we’d say it’s beating at a much higher frequency than the sun. These clear changes are the reason for the Chinese lunar calendar among many, many others.

Then there’s its real-world effect. Tidal shifts have been historically vital to anyone making a living in coastal waters which, given trade, fishing and countless other uses, is a lot of people. Therefore, understanding the moon and the way its various phases affect the tides, is a practical necessity. Sure, our understanding of why and how the moon does what it does have come a long way – especially since landing on the thing – but it’s always been one of the most important aspects of human culture. These days though, unless you’re a fisherman, it’s also one of the most pointless complications to put on a watch.

St Mark’s (Torre dell’Orologio) astronomical clocktower in Venice

Now I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing. Since quartz in the 1970s and mobile phones more recently, the wristwatch has been an obsolete timekeeper, and we still love them. That’s without getting into the ornamentation of metiers d’art; a realistic engraving of Cambodian ruins doesn’t guarantee a COSC certification.

And yet these days it’s one of the most common complications to see among a certain breed of watchmaker, specifically when talking about dress watches, and we’ll get onto that. But before Patek Philippe put the first moon phase into a wristwatch (because of course it was Patek Philippe), the complication already had a rich mechanical history.

A recreation of the Antikythera mechanism found 2,000 years ago, the world’s first computer used to predict astronomical events.

One of the earliest known, solid examples of a mechanical moon phase is the Antikythera mechanism, most recently famous as the latest Indiana Jones McGuffin. While it’s not some cartographic time machine, it is a piece of pure innovation we’ve discussed before – we interviewed Ludwig Oeschlinn, the creator of the Ulysse Nardin Freak and the man that figured out what the twisted, salvaged mechanism was. It’s a mechanical calendar and indicates among other things the irregular movement of the moon around the Earth.

It only took a couple of millennia for Europeans to catch up with the idea and in the renaissance era astronomical clocks were often found on churches and city landmarks. These clocks were a historical quirk for one fact: they represented the sun and the moon moving around the Earth. They nailed the moon part of the equation, but were discovered to be a little iffy when we started taking a closer look at the solar system.

The first moonphase wristwatch introduced by Patek Philippe in 1925

Moon phases re-appeared in what would become their final form in Germany in the 1700s. It became a template to use the semi-circular space above otherwise rectangular dials to show one half of a disc with two moons on it. This meant that the indicator would move from new moon to full moon and back again, before re-setting as the disc revolved. It was inspired, genuinely useful (at the time) and perhaps most importantly, was absolutely beautiful.

Over the next centuries clockmakers would try and outdo each other to create more ornate moon phases. They were often the highlight of the dial, with happy moons, dour moons, silver, gold, or painted moons, over-the-top or retrained moons of all shapes, sizes and backdrops. Some would bring in other astronomical complications, but the moon phase itself soon became one of the most popular additions to fine clocks.

Patek Philippe calibre 97975

That kind of embellishment however is slightly at odds with how wristwatches evolved, that’s to say the trenches of WWI. Watches as we understand them now – not tiny, jewellery pieces a la Breguet – were utilitarian and rugged. That’s in large part why it took until 1925 for Patek Philippe to introduce it into their collection in the calibre 97975. That might sound familiar as we touched on it in the last issue, as it’s the movement inside the first perpetual calendar wristwatch, and is in large part the reason for why the two complications are linked in many collectors minds.

Perhaps the bigger impact came from the Rolex 8171 from 1949. Another calendar watch, the 8171 placed the moon phase by itself at six o’clock, making it the focal point of the dial. Since then, rare is the moon phase that mixes up the formula. Even the way it works has rarely been altered since.

Rolex 8171 (circa 1950)

Despite its lofty themes, the moon phase is actually one of the easiest complications to implement, provided your movement already has a date. All you need to do is link the moon wheel to the date, which will rotate it a little once each day. Because it takes a whole month to do one revolution, it’s not a ticking you’ll notice. It’s an elegant solution and one that is accurate enough. This is the kind of moon phase that 99 percent of watches will use. But it’s not the only one.

Recently, Christopher Ward brought out what they call a moon phase in perpetual motion in the aptly named C1 Moon Phase. They achieve this by linking the moon phase separately to the date with a module, so that it’s constantly, slowly moving. It also separates date and moon phase which you need for a truly accurate take on the complication.

Hermes Arceau L’Heure De La Lune Blue Pearl

There are also versions that use awesome display methods like the Hermes Arceau l’Heure de la Lune, which goes completely off the deep end and moves the ‘dials’ across the moon indicators, rather than the other way around. It’s one of my favourite versions out there. Or there’s the Ochs & Jnr Selene Nebra Moonphase, which actually pays tribute to that early Greek astronomical clock – fitting as it’s designed by none other than Oeschlinn.

Ochs Und Junior Selene Nebra Moonphase designed by Ludwig Oeschlinn

However, if there’s one watchmaker working today recognised as the master of the moon phase, it’s Andreas Strehler. I don’t mean colloquially; his Sauterelle à Lune Perpétuelle holds the Guinness World Record for most accurate moon phase. In numbers, this is because it will be out by a day every 2.045 million years (although since the world record was awarded in 2014, the industry has continued to improve accuracy – check out the IWC Eternal Calendar). It would take longer than the entire history of moon phase watches – of humans using the moon as a calendar at all – before it needs adjusting.

Andreas Strehler Sauterelle à Heure Mondiale

How? An incredibly complicated set of calculations and patented fine machining that’s hard for seasoned watchmakers to wrap their heads around, let alone a humble (ish) horological writer. Why? Because even though moon phases aren’t strictly useful, they tie into multiple facets of why we love watches. They’re beautiful, inspirational, gloriously unnecessary; they tap into a millennia-old fascination with the night sky and the passage of time both. They’re one of the oldest complications in watchmaking and, whether it’s a simple addition to the date wheel or a mind-blowing tour de force of mathematical obsession, they’re here to stay for many more millennia to come.

While they might not have the broad brand recognition of the Rolexes and Patek Philippes of the world, Laurent Ferrier are one of the brands that are constantly floating around the conversation for coolest watch brand. Their Grand Sport is a worthy grail watch with its integrated sports design and tourbillon movement. However, for 2024 Laurent Ferrier have moved away from sporty designs to release the Classic Moon, the brand’s first ever moonphase. There are two versions, and I got to see both at Watches & Wonders.

The first reference is in stainless steel with a blue dial while the second has a red gold case with a white dial. They both measure 40mm in diameter with gently curving lugs and fairly broad, sloping bezels. Classic Moon is a good name because they feel extremely classical, the round shapes give a distinct pocket watch vibe that feels quaintly vintage. The red gold in particular feels like it could be an unearthed antique with its polished finish giving it a burnished quality.

They both have a decent weight to them and at this size they’re on the larger side for dress watches. Although that’s not too much of an issue because the rounded edges make it very easy to slide under your cuff despite also having a thickness of 12.9mm. These days it feels like the industry is so obsessed with what’s new and modern that it’s quite refreshing to see a relatively understated and classical design be executed on so precisely.

That brings us to the dials, which are equally classical. They have the look of a vintage Patek Grand Complication, or perhaps more accurately a Rolex Triple Calendar. There’s a day-date window below 12 o’clock and a pointer date function around the periphery of the display. Again, it’s a lesson in precision and refinement without any extraneous details. The gold edition with white dial has a red date hand and petrol blue date scale while the steel and blue model has a pastel blue hand and scale. As a note, this calendar complication is an annual calendar, meaning you only need to adjust it once per year.

The moonphase that gives the Classic Moon its name is then located on a subdial at 6 o’clock. It consists of a disk of aventurine glass engraved with two moons and a selection of stars that are then painted by hand and coated with lume for a glow in the dark brilliance. The moons are then engraved again to created the cratered surface of our closest lunar neighbour. Superimposed over the moonphase is the small seconds indicator, the scale of which features N and S markers at the top and bottom to denote the correlation of Earth’s hemispheres to the moon.

Flipping either Classic Moon over reveals an exhibition caseback and the LF126.02 movement housed inside. It’s a manual movement with an 80-hour power reserve, giving you plenty of time to remember to wind it. Plus, there’s a power reserve indicator on the back so you can always check if it needs a top up. It’s finished beautifully as well with a combination of bevelled edges, Geneva stripes and perlage.

At time of writing, the prices are listed on Laurent Ferrier’s website as CHF 70,000 for steel and in gold it’s CHF 62,500 (approx. £61,000/£54,500). That seems a little odd to me as I can’t see a reason the steel should be more expensive than the gold and there is the figure of CHF 80,000 for the gold floating around online so perhaps there is an error somewhere. Regardless, any price in that ballpark seems appropriate for a seriously lovely classical dress watch.

More details at Laurent Ferrier.

Recently Vacheron Constantin have been about two things: haute horology and the Overseas. Indeed, when it comes to the sheer amount of attention to detail and horological engineering that goes into both those areas of the brand can often leave the humble Patrimony being forgotten about. Well, the Patrimony is now celebrating its 20th anniversary and with it comes a great opportunity to revisit what makes the collection a surprisingly important one. An opportunity seized upon with the launch of a new Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Manual-Winding and Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date.

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Manual-Winding

For the anniversary, there haven’t been drastic changes here as the template for the Patrimony is well established. It’s Vacheron’s most centrist collection, not as casual as the entry-level Fifty Six – another watch inspired by the 1950s, as the name indicates – or the much more lavish Traditionnelle, which has found itself as a home for Vacheron’s high watchmaking tours de force.

When you’re sticking to the relatively pared back formula of the ‘50s, there’s only so much wiggle room you have. And yet Vacheron have managed to seriously up the ante. If you’re looking for a svelte dress piece the equal of any Calatrava (and I’d argue a touch more interesting), look no further.

Two vintage models side by side

Firstly, the size has thankfully been adjusted downwards. 40mm wasn’t exactly gargantuan, but what a difference a millimetre makes! The new watches now sit at 39mm and, while that’s still a couple of mils bigger than the vintage pieces, it’s a perfectly wearable and, let’s be honest, more practical size to be working with. It also ensures that the dial feels minimalist rather than sparse, a tricky line to balance.

Of course, there are some concessions here. Unless you’re working with a lot of excess space in the case, downsizing the width of a watch comes with some compromises. Primarily that’s in thickness, which honestly isn’t a big deal. Sure, it’s a touch thicker, but if anything that gives the new Patrimony more wrist presence than a slimmer, 38mm watch would have.

The dial itself has been overhauled to have an almost aggressive curve to it. The pie-pan look is emphasized by sunburst guilloche in an antique silver that really shows off the slope around the edge of the dial, authentic to the modern Patrimony’s horological square roots. The detailing is equally faithful, with sharp, triangular indexes interspersed by absolutely miniscule, polished golden pearl hour markers. Other than the handset, that’s it, nothing else. At least in the manual-wind version.

The manual movement inside is the calibre 1440. For a manual-wind watch the 45-hours isn’t great, but it’s part of the innate give and take that comes when designing a slim watch that most of us don’t really think about. It’s funny though because the calibre 1440 is immaculately finished; it has to be, the Patrimony has the Geneva Seal which enshrines a superlative level of attention to detail into the DNA of the watch. And yet the new watches have a solid caseback. And not just solid but plain and unadorned at that. There’s actually method in that particular madness though, which leans into another aspect of the new Patrimony models: customisation.

The idea is that when you buy one of the new watches, you can have whatever you want engraved on the caseback, be that a message, a coat of arms, something to make it that much more personal. It’s usually an optional extra, here built into the watch. Sure, it’s a shame that you can’t see the movement but the option to make it your own in a very real sense is at least a solid twist on the formula.

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date

Joining the time-only model is a new take on the Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date. A combination of retrograde date across the top half of the dial and an accurate, beautifully rendered moonphase across the bottom. It’s a stalwart of the Patrimony collection as a whole and has become a Vacheron signature. It’s not a small watch; the complication needs room to breathe after all and shoving a 31-day indicator onto a small dial is a recipe for disaster. So here you have 42.5mm which on the wrist feels almost disc-like when combined with its relative thinness.

Other than the new dial (same updates as seen on the Manual-Wind above), there’s one key difference between the new Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date and the previous in that it joins the 39mm time-only models for one other 20th anniversary twist: the straps.

The new edition of the Patrimony Retrograde Moon Phase is only available in white gold; the Patrimony Manual-Wind models are available in white gold or rose gold. All however come with distinctively modern (some might say un-Vacheron) straps. The white gold models come on an olive green while the rose gold is paired with azure blue. It’s a small change, but one that makes a marked difference to a watch collection that has often tended towards the sober over the fun.

There are certainly showier pieces in the Vacheron collection than the Patrimony. Even this year, the new Excellence Platine slice of monopusher beauty is all but guaranteed to take the limelight with its two-toned hands and insane complications. And yet the Patrimony for me is quintessential Vacheron. It’s elegant, reserved and timeless to the point of being almost ahistoric. It’s the kind of watch that in its understatement conversely emphasises finishing, that in its quiet echoes a supreme confidence. It is also, less pretentiously, an absolute beauty, now with its slight evolutions more than ever.

More details at Vacheron Constantin.

In watchmaking, calendar complications are everywhere. Technically your time and date watch is a form of calendar, although the least prestigious kind as it needs resetting five times a year whenever a month doesn’t have 31 days. Essentially, the less often a calendar watch needs correcting the more prestigious it is, as it means that it can mechanically account for the nuances and peculiarities of the Gregorian Calendar. At the absolute pinnacle of calendar watchmaking is the secular perpetual calendar, a complication that IWC have attempted for the first time with their new watch, the Portugieser Eternal Calendar.

In order to understand why the secular perpetual calendar is so impressive, you need to understand how the Gregorian calendar works across centuries of time. Unsurprisingly, it all comes down to leap years – the phenomenon whereby every four years an additional day is added to the end of February. However, there’s also a nuance whereby in centenary years there is only a leap year if the year is also divisible by 400. So, the year 2000 was a leap year but the years 2100, 2200 and 2300 won’t be, and then the year 2400 will be. A standard perpetual calendar will assume that all of these years are leap years, which is why you’ll often see brands saying the next time their perpetuals need updating is the year 2100.

A secular perpetual calendar can account for these centenary years, skipping three leap years across a 400 year period. That means they will stay accurate to the Gregorian calendar indefinitely. In fact, the only limitation and the reason brands can’t advertise that their watches will be accurate forever, is that humanity itself hasn’t decided if the year 4000 will be a leap year or not. These watches are even rarer than perpetual calendars and we don’t exactly have perpetual calendars coming out of our ears.

The IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar accomplishes this by adding a new module consisting of 8 parts to its perpetual calendar movement. This module is called the 400-year gear and quite simply it’s a gear that completes a rotation once every 400 years and which has 3 indentations that cause leap years to be skipped. Considering the social media furore that rocks up every four years of collectors sharing their perpetual calendars ‘doing the thing’ on February 29^th, imagine the anticipation of the owner of a secular calendar at the dawn of a century. A once in a lifetime horological experience.

However, that’s not the only impressive mechanical feat of the Eternal Calendar as it’s also equipped with a new hyper-accurate moonphase mechanism. The engineers at IWC simulated over 22 trillion possible gear train configurations to find the most accurate possible mechanism and the resulting moonphase will only deviate by a single day after 45 million years. To put that into perspective, humanity has existed for around 300,000 years, which equates to approximately 0.7% of 45 million years. This level of accuracy borders on inconceivability.

Since we’ve already talked about the movement so much already, let’s continue. It’s called the IWC manufacture calibre 52640 and it’s an automatic movement with a 7-day power reserve. Which is an absolute blessing because all of those amazing technical feats of accuracy are pre-requisite on the watch staying wound constantly. If the watch stops working because of the power reserve then obviously it won’t keep time properly and will need resetting. A reliable watch winder definitely a worthwhile investment here.

Zooming out from the movement at the core of the IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar, we come to the case and dial. The watch has a 44.4mm diameter x 14.9mm thick case made from platinum with a double-box glass sapphire crystal. Glass is an important material because the white lacquer dial is also made from it, giving certain elements like the Double Moon™ phase a translucent property.

The display itself is fairly conventional for a perpetual calendar. It has central hour and minute hands, with the moonphase at 12 o’clock with a scale and hemisphere indicator. At 3 o’clock is a subdial for power reserve and date, at 6 o’clock is months, between 7 and 8 is the year and lastly at 9 is the small seconds and days of the week.

It’s priced at CHF 150,000, making it one of the most expensive watches in IWC’s current range, similar to the Lewis Hamilton Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph, another platinum timepiece. The Eternal Calendar is a seriously impressive piece of engineering, backed up by a display that’s fairly industrial with its translucent glass, bordering on ascetic. A dedication to watchmaking as a science.

More details at IWC.

After Swatch teased the existence of a black edition of the Snoopy MoonSwatch last week, all eyes have been on the look out for the fabled timepiece to emerge. Perhaps “fabled” is a too much hyperbole but it is true that after the MoonSwatch fatigue of 2023, there has been a renewed interest in the collection. At time of writing, the Snoopy MoonSwatch Full Moon is being list on the pre-owned market at £600 – £720, more than double its retail price. Will the new black Snoopy Mission to the Moonphase New Moon have the same level of success?

First of all, let me specify that I am fully aware that the MoonSwatch is the marmite of the watch world at the moment. Some people love being able to purchase accessible interpretations of their favourite luxury watches and others believe that Swatch is whittling away any credibility of the brands they’re collaborating with. On that argument I’ll plead journalistic neutrality and say that whichever side you fall on, you can’t deny that it’s been a hugely successful campaign in terms of interest and sales. No such thing as bad publicity and all that.

Focussing in on the new watch, its official name is the Bioceramic Moonswatch Mission to The Moonphase – New Moon but being realistic it’s going to be known as the Black Snoopy. The concept behind it is that the original white Full Moon edition represents the bright disk of the moon at its largest while the black New Moon edition is inspired by the other end of the phase cycle where the moon is completely hidden. It’s actually quite a fun way to produce a pair of watches based on the moon while also being an excuse to produce two of the most popular colourways.

Beyond the change in colours, the new edition is identical to the original. It has a 42mm diameter case with 30m water resistance and houses a quartz chronograph movement. Its signature complication is the moonphase indicator at 2 o’clock featuring Snoopy taking a nap on the moon alongside Woodstock.

As with every MoonSwatch, it’s available only from select Swatch boutiques globally. In the UK specifically, those boutiques are: London (Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Harvey Nichols, Oxford Street, Westfield White City), Glasgow (Buchanan Galleries), Liverpool (Paradise Street), and Edinburgh (Princess Street). Notably London Battersea Power Station has been removed from that list whereas it was included for the Full Moon. For details on the closest boutique to you, we recommend visiting Swatch’s website.

The Black Snoopy MoonSwatch Mission to the Moonphase New Moon is due to go on sale on April 8^th (next Monday at time of writing) at a price of £270. So, are you going to be joining the queue in the morning or are you stalwart in your belief that the MoonSwatch is uncool? Sound off in the comments below.

More details at Swatch.

The launch of Raymond Weil’s Millesime 2930 last year felt like a real breakout moment for the brand. It saw them win their first ever GPHG award and injected a fresh sense of vitality after years of relying on the Freelancer as their main flagship collection. Building on this momentum, they’ve now expanded the Millesime into a full-blooded range with the addition of 11 new references. For now, we’re focussing on just four of those watches, the Raymond Weil Millesime Moon Phase.

A moonphase is a natural addition to the Millesime due to its neo-vintage aesthetic and dress watch appeal. Across the four watches, there are two sizes available – two at 39.5mm and two at 35mm. Ostensibly this splits them into men’s and women’s duos but with the increasing popularity of smaller watches, there’re actually very unisex.

They’re all made from stainless steel although one reference at each size also features a rose gold PVD, giving those watches a more traditional luxury dress watch aesthetic. Speaking of luxury, the plain steel edition at 35mm also features gemset lugs, making it the most overtly feminine of the four but only fractionally.

Of course, at the core of the Millesime Moon Pphase is the new moonphase, presented at 6 o’clock on the sector dials. It matches the graphic, Art Deco style of the watch’s display with a face presented on the disk of the moon adding a cool level of stylisation. It would be a worthy addition to our complete guide to modern moonphase watches. Beyond the addition of this celestial complication, the dial remains refined and elegant. In terms of colour, at 39.5mm there’s midnight blue for the gold case and silver on the steel, at 35mm that’s flipped to a silver dial on the gold model and denim blue for the steel.

Powering all four watches is the RW4280 automatic movement, based on the Sellita SW280-1. It’s a calibre that has seen use previously in watches like the Raymond Weil Maestro Moon Phase. The main drawback is its 38-hour power reserve, which is fairly low by modern standards. Hopefully that will be improved in future considering that Sellita has upgraded its range – presumably when Raymond Weil uses up its current stock of movements they’ll move to the improved version.

For attractive moonphase watches, they have very reasonable prices: the 39.5mm steel model is priced at CHF 2,125, both rose gold-plated models are CHF 2,225 and the gemset 35mm model is CHF 2,450 (approx. £1,875/£1,960/£2,160). I think those prices make sense because these are some of the most attractive dress watches Raymond Weil have released in recent years.

More details at Raymond Weil.

In addition to incredibly cool tool watches like the C65 Dune Shoreline (objectively the coolest watch of all time, source: trust us) Christopher Ward also produce a range of watches devoted to our lunar neighbour. The C1 Moonphase is one of the purest expressions of the moonphase complication on the market and that was preceded by the C1 Moonglow from 2019. Now, that 2019 version of the Moonglow has received a visual update courtesy of the C1 Moonglow second generation.

The primary update to the watch is the case. Previously the C1 Moonglow was presented in a 40.5mm steel case with a thin crown, large, rounded flanks and long, thin lugs. It’s a style that feels like a vintage dress watch, which is at odds with the modern, forward facing style and attitude of Christopher Ward. That’s why the new version of the case is based on CW’s modern and sport Light-catcher case. It’s made from the same material and is the same size, but it’s much sleeker and more precise.

Specifically, the edge of the C1 Moonglow case is now flat instead of round and the edges have a polished bezel, creating a sharper, facetted appearance. The crown is thicker and more robust looking, putting a greater emphasis on easy utility. Plus, the lugs are thicker as well and the connection between them, the bracelet and the case is more solid, with no gaps visible anywhere. In short, the case just feels like it’s better made than before, more cohesive in its concept and execution.

As for the dial, it still features the characteristic double luminescent moonphase display with translucent glass dial. For the 2024 model, the luminescence of the moons has been increased for better legibility and a more striking appearance in low light conditions. I’m glad that CW haven’t really changed anything here because it’s a very unique interpretation of the complication.

Even the periphery features like the hour and minute scale as well as the pointer style date function with rotating indicator add to the overall style of the dial. Almost as if the moon is being viewed through a window of a spaceship with all sorts of computers and read-outs surrounding it. Which complements the updated modernity of the case.

Powering the C1 Moonglow is the same movement as used in the previous edition as well as the C1 Moonphase. The ETA 2836 with Christopher Ward’s JJ04 module, an automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve. It would be nice to see that power reserve increased a touch but it’s very standard for CW.

The new generation of the C1 Moonglow is available now at a price of £2,120, the exact same price as the Moonphase variant. Which makes sense considering that the only difference between the two is really the translucent dial and peripheral scales. The watch is also available at £1,995 on a Vacona leather strap instead of the consort bracelet, but I think it look much better on the bracelet. When the Moonphase was released, many people wondered if the Moonglow would be consigned to the history books, but no, it’s still here and it’s better than ever.

More details at Christopher Ward.

As one of the oldest complications in watchmaking, the moonphase taps into a collective fascination with the starry night sky, which people have held for thousands of years. And no matter how gloriously unnecessary it might be today, mechanical moonphase watches remain an irresistibly unnecessary addition to a gentleman’s watch collection at any price level or budget.

Moonphase complications are not particularly rare, featuring in calendar watches and grand complications galore and if we mentioned all of them, we’d all still be here when the next full moon rolls around. You can check out our top calendar watches here. Instead, we’re focussing on those watches that put the emphasis squarely on the moon and its horological complication.

I think it must be the case that CODE41’s workshops are the closest thing to a mad scientist’s lab that you’ll find in the watch industry. Constantly pushing boundaries in terms of modern, industrial design as well as exploring intriguing niches within the sphere of horology through projects like the Mecascape. For their latest creation, CODE41 are striking out in a new direction with the Moon INCEPTION.

The first thing you’ll note about the CODE41 Moon INCEPTION is that unlike every other watch they’ve produced, it has a closed dial with no skeletonization. Instead, it showcases an entirely new level of classicism and high-quality finishing that they’ve never demonstrated before. Those qualities are best observed on the watch’s dial, which consists of three discs. The first, largest disc is the main dial of the piece, bordered on all sides by the railway minute track. It has a grained texture finish reminiscent of the surface of the moon.

On top of that disc and off set towards 7 and 8 o’clock is the moonphase disc, which depicts the silver moon against a backdrop of celestial constellations. Then, in the top right of the display at 2 and 3 o’clock is the date disc with a similar constellation background but instead of the moon at its centre is the date. The different sizes of the discs almost make the display appear like its own celestial system with the various complications orbiting around each other.

Zooming out from the dial to the case, this feels like more familiar territory for CODE41. The Moon INCEPTION is presented in a 41.5mm steel case in a cushion shape with sharply facetted lugs, giving it a high tech, modern appearance despite cushion watches often being associated with retro or Art Deco designs. Although, there are actually some intentionally retro aspects to the design of the watch because it has a convex sapphire crystal. It gives the watch an intriguing hybrid style.

Below the surface of the watch is housed the new C41-MP automatic calibre. It’s based on the architecture of the Sellita SW288 Elaboré movement with custom moon discs and rotors produced by AJS, a Swiss watchmaking factory. It’s a really solid movement with a 41-hour power reserve and options upon ordering to be upgraded to a COSC certified chronometer version.

The chronometer upgrade isn’t the only optional benefit on offer either, as 16 customers will be be able to take part in an immersive watchmaking experience. Taking place in a real watchmaking workshop, they’ll be invited to assemble their Moon INCEPTION themselves, overseen of course by professionals helping them at each stage.

Pre-orders for the watch are open now and will stay open only for a single Lunar cycle, between the January and February full moons. Which, if you don’t have a moonphase watch already to keep track of it, means pre-orders close on February 23^rd. As for pricing, the CODE41 Moon INCEPTION is £2,905 with the COSC upgrade adding £273 on top of that. I personally think this is one of the most exciting launches CODE41 have done in the past few years, although I am biased by my love of retro design, which this leans into for the first time.

More details at CODE41.

This might sound like a big claim but the Ochs und Junior Selene Nebra is a tribute to the first known horologists in all of history. But then, what would you expect from a watchmaker so interested in the history of timekeeping as Ludwig Oechslin, the mind behind Ochs und Junior. Specifically, the watch is inspired by an artefact called the Nebra Sky Disc, a bronze disc that dates all the way back to c. 1800-1600 BCE – the Early Bronze Age – and which has golden depictions of stars (including a cluster of seven assumed to be the Pleiades), a lunar crescent and what is either a full moon or the sun.

Nebra Sky Disc

The Sky Disc is essentially the earliest known example of humanity recording astronomical phenomena. More than that, arcs along the periphery of the disc are assumed to represent the solstices, making it a form of celestial calendar – a really early, nascent version of horology. How that translates into the Ochs und Junior Selene Nebra is that they’ve taken its proto-moonphase complication and turned it into a fully-fledged moonphase – by reinterpreting their moonphase watch in the style of the Sky Disc.

Ochs und Junior Selene Nebra Moonphase, Piece Unique, 2013

Aesthetically, the dial is heavily influenced by the materials and colours of the Sky Disc with a blue-green colouration based on the bronze patina. Then the golden decorations of the artefact are represented by the gold leaf coated hour markers, 18k gold hour hand, 18k gold minute hand and 24k gold rotating date indicator. There’s then a central moonphase complication with a platinum disc representing the moon and a black disc representing the absence of the moon. Quite simply when the silver disc is full it’s the full moon and when the black disc is full it’s the new moon.

In terms of structure, the Ochs und Junior Selene Nebra is available in two sizes. There’s a 42mm diameter version and a 39mm diameter version, both produced in lightweight and robust titanium. Housed inside the case is the ETA 2824-2 equipped with Ludwig Oechslin’s 5-part epicycle moonphase, which will remain accurate for 3,478.27 years before it is off by one day. The term ‘perpetual moonphase’ isn’t really used in watchmaking but that’s what this is.

Oechslin’s moonphase function

In terms of pricing and availability, the Ochs und Junior Selene Nebra Moonphase has a limited order period from now until January 6^th 2024 at a price of CHF 8,100 including VAT or CHF 7,520 without (approx. £7,350/£6,800). I should also address the fact that this is not the first time that Ochs und Junior have produced the selene nebra, in fact it was first released more than a decade ago. However, that original watch was a piece unique produced specifically for a collector interested in the Nebra Sky Disc and so this is the first time it’s been available in series. I really love this watch, it looks incredible, the accuracy of the moonphase is astounding and the history behind it is fascinating.

More details at Ochs und Junior.

‘Tis almost the party season and, along with updating your dinner jacket and reminding yourself how to tie a bow tie, that means finding a dress watch to match. While there’s certainly no shortage of them around – the archetype’s relatively unchanged since the 20s – most recent ones we’ve covered have been a little ornate or colourful, like Etien’s T02 or Garrick’s S5 Moon Phase. For pure, sleek elegance however, you could do a lot worse than the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon in pink gold & blue.

The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon is classical watchmaking in the most traditional sense, a svelte, gold number perfectly suited to glamorous, champagne soaked evenings. That pink gold is perfectly paired with a gradient blue dial. It’s lovely and a relatively subtle gradient, ranging from midnight blue on the periphery to just a couple touches lighter at the middle and in lower light you’re not going to see a big change.

To match the case, the slim, sharp, elegant indexes and handset are in the same pink gold. The focal point however is the moon phase at 6 o’clock, a mirror-polished disc with a golden moon and stars. There are a good number of moon phase indicators these days – with more to come, most likely – but this is one of the best-looking out there. I’m happy that this year Jaeger-LeCoultre have stepped back from their whole celestial theme, but this just goes to show how well they do it.

The moon phase also doubles as a peripheral date indicator thanks to the central hand, making it a rare small date subdial. It condenses the watch’s only non-time indicators into one, keeping things as svelte as possible.

At 39mm of rose gold it’s slightly larger than you might expect for a dress watch, which typically wear a lot smaller than your everyday beaters; 36-38mm are pretty standard for the genre. But there’s a reason for the roomier dial as a good chunk of it is taken up by the eponymous moon phase at 6 o’clock. That said, it’s also incredibly thin at just 9.3mm, perfect for slipping under a shirtsleeve, exactly what you want for a more formal piece.

Inside is the Calibre 925, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s latest-generation automatic movement. That means 70-hours of power reserve and the kind of finishing you’d expect from a watchmaker like Jaeger-LeCoultre.

While you might not want to invest too much in a daily wearer that’s going to go through the bumps and knocks of everyday life, a dress watch is different. Sure, there are accessible dress watches, but it’s the kind of timepiece you want to make a show of – and £22,000 is definitely a show. With its innate elegance and mix of pink gold and gradient blue, you could do a lot worse than the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon.

Watchmaking has two very distinct sides. On the one hand you have mechanical watches that speak to our nostalgia and wonderment at clockwork and beautifully crafted machines. On the other hand, you have those watches that seek to be as scientifically accurate and precise as possible by any means and embrace the capabilities of electricity and digital mechanisms. That leads us to the Citizen Tsuki-Yomi A-T, the world’s first light powered analogue moonphase regulated by atomic timekeeping.

Now, there sure are a lot of words in “light powered analogue moonphase regulated by atomic timekeeping” but what it essentially comes down to is that Citizen have created a new moonphase eco-drive movement. Eco-drive is their term of a quartz movement that has its battery charged by light, making it one of their most reliable, accurate and sustainable types of calibre. Where the atomic timekeeping comes in is that the movement, called the Eco-Drive Cal. H874, is equipped with a multi-band radio receiver that picks up signals emitted from atomic clocks (the world’s most accurate timekeeping devices) around the world to ensure constant accuracy.

What’s more, the use of these radio signals means that the Citizen Tsuki-Yomi A-T knows where in the world you are. Which means it will automatically adjust to the local time zone without any manual alteration. It will even adjust the moonphase when you hop between the northern and southern hemispheres since the phases look different once you cross the equator. Since we’ve already talked about the movement so much, let’s wrap this up by mentioning that it has a power reserve of 2.5 years without additional light charging and an accuracy of +/-15 seconds per month without signal reception. The fact that those are worst case scenario stats is pretty impressive showing it still operates to a high degree without its main systems in place.

Let’s zoom out now and talk about the structure and aesthetics of the watch. The case is 43mm in diameter and is made from Citizen’s Super Titanium material, which is titanium that has undergone a Duratect surface-hardening treatment. It has a round design with a gentle sloping bezel and facetted lugs. At 43mm it’s obviously pretty large but that’s offset by the light weight of the titanium.

As for the dial, there are actually three versions of the Tsuki-Yomi A-T, one in grey, one in blue and one in red. Those colours are apt because the background of the dial is an image of the moon. So you have the regular moon in grey and then the famous blue moon and blood moon as the three variations. Beyond that, the dial features the actual moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock, a day/night indicator at 9, a date at 4 and a combined days of the week, power reserve and hemisphere indicator at 12 o’clock.

The more I look at this watch, the more I like it. I know that in the introduction I set out that it’s often mechanical watches that capture our imagination more so than quartz one but this watch bucks that trend. The way it depicts the moon as accurately as possible is in the spirit of scientific research and space travel. People have always yearned for the moon and the Tsuki-Yomi A-T brings it to your wrist with the utmost precision. All for just £595.