de lune

Blancpain L-Evolution Phase de Lune 8 Jours Watch

I must attest to the fact that I have no idea what this watch design is all about. In fact, the entire concept of the Blancpain "L-Evolution" collection more or less evades my understanding. That being said, I highly appreciate the brand's willingness to experiment versus just re-hashing what worked in the past. This quite fancy version of an already fancy watch has the well-made in-house made mechanical movement visible through the dial. Though much of what you see are discs through a sort of semi-opaque treated sapphire crystal.

Still, the mechanics are fascinating. The Calibre 66R9 movement is an automatic with 192 hours of power reserve, has an annual calendar with the date, month, and day of the week, as well as a moonphase indicator. The latter doubles as a subsidiary seconds dial. The L-Evolution collection attempts to mix sport with class (I think), which might explain the large Roman numeral "3" and "9" o'clock indicators that appear comically large. The watch case itself is 43.5mm wide in 18k white gold - being matched to a black reptile strap. I am glad to know that the case is water resistant to a respectable 100 meters.

Even with all the crazy stuff going on the dial, Blancpain made sure that the watch had full, lumed hour markers. I have a feeling that this Blancpain L-Evolution Phase de Lune 8 Jours watch will be easier to read in the dark - than in the light. Price is $43,900.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 8 jours, blancpain, de lune, l-evolution, phase, watch

Maurice Lacroix Classique Phases de Lune Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

For 2010 comes a classic-esque style watch from Maurice Lacroix - still with enough brand character to make it stand out a bit. Maurice Lacroix takes the traditional triple calendar look and adds rounded hands and a unique modernity to it. I can't say that I am convinced of its aesthetic value, but it is interesting in a very "right now" sense. A decade from now I fear a design like this will looked dated.

The case is 40mm wide in either steel, two-tone with steel and gold. Crystal is sapphire and the case is water resistant to 30 meters. Functions include the time (with central seconds), date around the dial, windows for the month and the day of the week and the month. There is also a moon phase indicator. For a watch that is only 40mm wide the elements on the dial look too small. Like Maurice Lacroix wanted to miniaturize the complications. Movement is the Swiss automatic ML caliber 37. Look for it soon if you like what you see.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2010, classique, de lune, DeLune, Maurice Lacroix, MauriceLacroix, moon, phases, watch