Lunar ticks: three of the best moon-phase watches from A. Lange & Söhne, IWC and Louis Vuitton
Our intrepid watch columnist briefly stops taking credit where it definitely isn’t due to review timepieces cobbled together under the vague theme of ‘moon’
Anyway, watches. So, this week it’s sheer lunacy! Yes, we’re talking about the moon, in a specific sense and, in one case, rather tenuously. We’ll begin with a moon-phase I’ve loved since I first saw it, in January, the A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Moon Phase, which may just be my favourite luxury dress watch at the moment.
Virtually the same as the 2016 release, with a few design tweaks, the immediate thing that jumps out, of course, is the moon-phase complication at the six o’clock position, set against the black dial, giving it an elegant yet masculine look when coupled with the oversized, industrial-looking date indication that is the brand’s signature.
The moon phase here is just beautiful, you can see the painstaking detail, with the hundreds of individual stars painted on the display. The moon phase is also where the stop-seconds dial is located. This watch is the essence of classic German watch design – clean, simple and with an emphasis on symmetry. The case comes in white gold and pink gold and measures 40mm but actually looks bigger on the wrist. This being a Lange, the L086.5 movement, with its 72 hours of power reserve, is top class and where most of your money is going. Speaking of which, this watch will set you back HK$228,000.