Three of the best moon-phase watches, from Girard-Perregaux, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin
Chose to keep it simple or dress things up with a perpetual calendar to better show off a lunar complication
This week, I was going to provide another update on my aquatic travails, but I’ve been land-bound since I lost my drone in the Indian Ocean. I can’t lie, I’ve lost my zest for this swimming lark. Just the thought brings up all these awful memories. Perhaps things will change; time, after all, is a great healer. Or perhaps I should just buy another drone. We’ll see, dear reader, we’ll see. Damn it, I’ll just get another drone.
Let’s look at moon-phase watches as I haven’t for a while, which is strange as it’s one of my favourite complications. We’ll begin with the only dedicated moon-phase watch of this selection, the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Blue Moon (above).
A classy dress watch, the 1966 Blue Moon’s lack of features, numerals and indicators gives prominence to the moon-phase indicator at the six o’clock position. The dial’s colour scheme – midnight blue with a smoky effect – is a little on the nose given the lunar function, but it works well and offers a nice alternative to the usual white. I’m also a fan of the case. It measures 40mm and comes in matt-black-coated steel, again not something one expects of a dress watch but very welcome.
The only other feature on the watch is the date wheel, which rings the moon-phase indicator. Inside is a solid GP03300-0115 movement with 46 hours of power reserve. Although you’ll never take this watch near open water, it has 30 metres of water resistance and the strap is a rugged, rubberised alligator leather that’s matt black on the outside and matt blue on the inside. The 1966 Blue Moon is priced at HK$75,200.
Next, we have two perpetual calendar watches that feature a moon phase as a sturdy support feature. As the 1966 Blue Moon showed, moon-phase watches can be a draw without the need for extra features, but I’ve always felt a perpetual calendar best shows off a lunar complication. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin is as cutting edge as watches get. Here the moon phase is given prominence at the 12 o’clock position.
The design is gorgeous, of course, featuring the iconic industrial octagonal silhouette of the Royal Oak case, but the genius is the thinness of the watch and its movement. At 6.3mm thick, with the calibre 5133 movement only 2.89mm thick, AP claims this watch is the world’s thinnest self-winding perpetual calendar. It’s crazy thin and wears light on the wrist, unsurprisingly.
As it’s a perpetual calendar watch, this piece is feature rich, with day, date, month, leap year, day/night and astronomical moon indicators. The Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin is priced at 140,000 Swiss francs (HK$1.1 million).
Finally, we have the most gorgeous moon-phase indicator I’ve seen in a 2019 watch, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Perpetual Calendar. OK, OK, if a watch costs HK$610,000 it had better be a looker as well as a technical marvel. The Overseas Perpetual Calendar is both of these things but it’s also wonderfully executed and modern looking.
Unlike the AP, the Overseas Perpetual Calendar’s moon phase is in the more orthodox six o’clock position, with the Maltese cross logo below as a counterpoint. Once again, all the features you’d expect are there, including day, date, month and leap year. Inside, the watch is a calibre 1120 movement with 40 hours of power reserve. The ultra-thin 41.5mm case is made of pink gold and the watch comes with a choice of leather or rubber straps.
