Earlier this year, Swiss watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre unveiled its newest collection of Rendez-Vous watches, including the Rendez-Vous Moon Medium watch. The 34mm timepiece quickly captured the hearts of women around the world thanks to its chic design, intricate dial, romantic moon-phase complication and technical prowess. Today, we give this watch some wrist-time and see why it has some great appeal.
It wouldn’t be fair of me to write this review without stating upfront that this brand is one of my all-time favourites for a host of reasons that run the gamut from history to craftsmanship and more. Still, I refused to let that cloud my judgment as I was wearing the Little Lange 1 Moon Phase watch, an elegant and slightly different conception of Haute-Horlogerie for Ladies.
As we already showed you in several articles, Frédérique Constant watches have some impressive qualities. In fact, they allow collectors with a smaller budget accessing to a luxurious and elegant design, classical complications and even manufacture movements (as we showed you in our video report). This is what the brand calls “accessible luxury”. With this in mind, Frédérique Constant has decided to update one of its best-sellers, the discreet and elegant Slimline Moonphase Manufacture, with a new display – all of that being available in a relatively small case.
Ulysse Nardin’s history is deeply linked to Marine chronometers, yet there’s another speciality, rather forgotten, that the manufacture masters (and which is not that far from Marine watches), the astronomical watches. Some may recall the mid-1980s Trilogy – Astrolabium Galileo Galilei (introduced in 1985), Planetarium Copernicus (introduced in 1988) and Tellurium Johannes Kepler (introduced in 1992). This year, UN introduces yet another astronomical watch, the Moonstruck Worldtimer, combining the movements of the moon and sun in relation to the Earth, as well as a map of the tides and (novelty) a world-time display. You say complex, we say exciting.
The Tonda 1950 is one of our favorite time-only watches, here at the Monochrome redaction. Elegant and classic, yet with a modern and slightly Italian twist, it combines affordability with a superbly designed and finished movement. For 2017, Parmigiani has a new black-dialed version of the Tonda 1950 Steel collection, now with moon phase indication.
Since its inception back in 1984, Blancpain has never built a quartz watch. In fact, I remember the unveiling of the first-ever Blancpain watch at the Basel Fair, wherein the then 34-year-old Jean-Claude Biver announced in the midst of the quartz era that this was a brand dedicated to mechanical watches. The announcement shook attendees at the event, with many naysayers insisting the brand could not last with a mechanical focus. Fast-forward 33 years and not only is Blancpain still a pure mechanical brand, but also it is creating simple mechanical complications for women, just like the recently introduced Blancpain Villeret Quantième Phases de Lune.
Over the last few years, IWC has been steadily re-positioning its various collections in a decidedly upward direction. Most notably, the Portugieser has moved up a few rungs on the price list, whilst the Portifino now occupies the space this move created. Although at first this may not seem like great news for your wallet, it has resulted in the introduction of several interesting and attractive pieces into the Portofino range, including this gorgeous IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Moon Phase. Today, we go hands on to find out what all the fuss is about.
At the SIHH 2017, Cartier introduced a watch that I considered a hit (this remains of course very personal), the Drive de Cartier Extra Flat. Slim, refined, elegant, perfectly proportioned, featuring a nice engine… Well, in fact, this watch might be problematic for some. Obvious reason: its price, as only available in gold. Then, it might be too clean, too simple for some. In addition to the existing models (time-and-date and dual-time), Cartier introduced a Moon Phases version of the Drive, with quite some arguments to fell satisfied.
At SIHH 2017, some new Master Ultra-Thin watches went almost unnoticed, as the cool Master Control with Sector Dial somehow stole the show. However, the old Maison was not short of watches to feed the 2017 catalogue. Today, we take a look at 4 unapologetically elegant new watches with classic style and functions, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra-Thin Small Second, the Master Ultra-Thin MoonPhase, the Master Ultra-Thin Power Reserve and the Master Ultra-Thin Perpetual Calendar, all of them now paired with grey or blue dial.
Usually, when you imagine a watch bearing the name Rolex, you have something purpose-built, casual-sport (not always, but usually the dressier you can think about is a Day-Date) and quite simple in terms of complications (to the exception of the Sky-Dweller… but it is one watch in the middle of mainly time-and-date pieces). Yet, in 2014, Rolex revived a name synonymous of elegance and dressed watches: Cellini. Built around a classical and subtle case, this watch already introduced several complications, with all of them being rather practical. But what if The Crown goes where you don’t expect them… into poetical complications. Not very Rolex you’ll admit. Though, this is what you’ll get with the new Rolex Cellini Moonphase Ref. 50535 and it feels very satisfying.