Top 5 Moonphase Watches

To capture that immensity and put it on such small and precise a thing as a watch is an incredible feat, and one that adds a new scope to the telling of time and a new dimension of beauty to the watches I present to you today.

1. Laurent Ferrier, Classic Moon Dusk – Série Atelier

Sporting an elegant full circle moon phase dial as a part of a complete annual calendar, the Classic Moon Dusk uses gold sheen obsidian to give a warm shine to the dial, each star lighting up the dark background, giving a sense of depth and immensity worthy of the astral landscape it portrays. And when I say it lights up, I also mean that literally. The stars are hand-painted and enhanced with Super-LumiNova®, lighting up the night sky from within. 

But it is not only the design which is impressive. The in-house LF126.02 calibre is especially developed to combine annual calendar and precision moon phase to create a complete experience. Replicating the lunar cycle of roughly 29.53 days, it only deviates from it by one day every 122 years. 

2. A. Lange & Söhne, Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar “Lumen”

The Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar “Lumen”, if one judges it by its appearance, could be qualified as a discreet watch. That view disappears once the lights turn off and the complex mechanism of this openworked marvel lights up from within. 

The blue daylight background of the small moon dial turns a luminescent green, revealing shining stars and a darkened moon which slowly traverses the sky. This is done with a slowly turning dial inside of the Moonphase, with one side being the blue day cycle and the reverse being coated in a luminous compound. The moon moves separately and acts in stark contrast to its setting, turning from soft white to shining black in the darkness. 

But what truly makes this watch ‘shine’, other than its luminescence, is its inner workings. The newly developed self-winding movement L225.1 combines the brands’ signature tourbillon and perpetual calendar complications to create incredible precision, the display only deviating from the moon’s true position by only one day every 122.6 year.

An openworked marvel of engineering, described by the chief executive of A. Lange & Söhne as “the ultimate Lange 1”.

3. Van Cleef & Arpels, Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune

What really catches the eye on this watch is the rotation of the Moonphase dial. It is composed of 3 separate moving wheels, turning harmoniously to show the moon’s different phases as it completes its journey across the sky, before leaving the stage and letting the sun do the same. 

Instead of a small circle at the 6 o’clock mark, it covers half of the watch’s dial, showing a fully realised day and night sky, appearing from the horizon created by the guilloche mother-of-pearl disc. 

The Moon is sculpted from white mother-of-pearl, and the sun is guilloche yellow gold, both materials shining against the black Murano aventurine glass to create a relief, depth and contrast between the different reflections of light, creating a truly unique sparkling night sky.

The mix of materials and overlapping complications creates a deeply detailed and rich experience for the wearer, each movement of the wrist revealing new interesting reflections to admire. 

4. Jaeger-LeCoultre, Master Control Chronometre Perpetual Calendar

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Chronometre Perpetual Calendar features a smaller Moonphase which, instead of grabbing the entire stage, is part of an ensemble. 

However, that does not mean it does not grab your attention. On the contrary, on a dial composed of four sub-dials, the dash of blue and yellow gold, layered into the small circle pops out even more, seizing the spotlight and adding to the charm of the Master Control Chronometre.

We could, of course, talk about how thin the calibre 868 is, a mere 4.72 mm thick, while still being a perpetual calendar which will maintain its accuracy until the year 2100 without the need for manual adjustment. But for the purposes of this article, I will simply highlight the interplay of warm and cold colours which make each detail of this Moonphase unmissable: the 24K hammered gold leaf (999/1000) moon against the dark blue sub-dial, bringing additional warmth to the watch and making it that much more elegant of a timekeeper.

5. Patek Philippe Celestial Sunrise and Sunset, Reference 6105G-001

Why only show the moon when one can show the entire configuration of the night sky in the northern hemisphere, as seen from Geneva? Well, that is exactly what Patek Philippe accomplished with their Reference 6105G-001. A watch which, with its entire dial, tracks stars, the moon’s phases and its orbit. 

How does this work? You may ask… the 240 C LU CL LCSO calibre with 22K gold minirotor, sunrise and sunset indications, and correctors for adjusting summer and winter time demanded the filing of no less than six patent applications and demanded five years of work to create. 

It allows for a system of superimposed disks which rotate and create a moving depiction of Geneva’s night sky. A mineral disk in the form of a wheel with 279 teeth tracks the orbital position of the moon. Another wheel tracks the Moonphases while a third 356-toothed wheel rotates a transparent disk that depicts the sky chart and the Milky Way on opposite sides of the dial. 

The deviation of the lunar day is of only 18.385 seconds per year surpassing all expectations of its computational capabilities. 

Of course, the trajectory of the moon changes from season to season, and so, therefore, does its trajectory change on your wrist, lengthening and shortening throughout the year.

So why show the entire night in near perfect accuracy? Patek Philippe answers why not.