The Earth and Moon are, we’re reliably informed, three-dimensional, so why should the Moon-phase dial on your upmarket wristwatch be flat? At Baselworld 2014, Swiss watchmaker Vicenterra took up the challenge to rectify this with its Luna volume 1, which shows the Earth and Moon as rotating three-dimensional spheres as part of its set of complications.
Vicenterra’s second timepiece, the Luna has a polished steel case, water resistant to three atmospheres, with a black satin dial and sapphire crystal complemented by a black, hand-sewn, alligator leather strap. So far, that’s all pretty standard, but the party piece of the Luna is the two spheres down at the bottom of the dial. On the left is a 6.5-mm Moon sphere showing the phases of the satellite, and on the right is a 7.5-mm Earth sphere showing the position of the Sun over the Earth’s surface at that moment. That is, the point where the Sun is at its zenith or local noon.
Meanwhile, the top of the dial shows the Sun during the day and a comet at night arcing across a starry sky made of black diamonds, so you’ll know why it got dark outside. There’s also a date window. The reverse of the watch shows off the automatic winding movement and has a window, so you can see the antipodes on the Earth globe.
What makes all this go is the automatic, 45-jewel movement made by House Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, powered by auto-winding white-gold weights with two barrels in series for a 42-hour power reserve. The movement is given a black rhodium surface treatment and has chamfered bridges that are also blasted and rhodied. There’s a crown at 3 o’clock for setting date and time, a button at 4 o’clock for setting the Earth globe to one of 24 hour positions, and another button at 8 o’clock for setting Moon phases.
Available only on a pre-order basis in a limited run, the Vicenterra Luna volume 1 comes in a pink gold, yellow gold, white gold, or steel finish, with prices ranging from CHF 16,500 (€13,500, US$18,600) to CHF 27,650 (€22,490, US$31,000), depending on the finish.
The video below introduces the Vicenterra Luna volume 1.
Source: Vicenterra
