To mark the 150th anniversary of Jules Verne’s science fiction novel Around the Moon, Ateliers Louis Moinet has created the Moon watch in a limited edition comprising just 12 rose gold pieces and 60 steel pieces.
At three o’clock, the “Moon” piece features a capsule containing a genuine lunar meteorite fragment. The capsule is positioned amid a dial that faithfully reproduces the surface of the Moon, complete with its familiar craters. Indeed, expert craftsmanship has been exercised on the brass dial to produce accurate depictions of Gassendi, Tycho, and Cassini, the best-known craters on the visible face of our closest neighbour.
Moon features three different sets of openwork – on the hour markers, on the dial, and on the lugs and vertical bridges – giving the timepiece a uniquely three-dimensional aspect.
It is also the first creation by Ateliers Louis Moinet to feature Roman numeral hour markers, made with three different geometrical sections. Their satin, diamond-studded finish is designed to reflect the blue flange that encompasses the piece, evoking the cosmos – and they appear to be suspended in mid-air, as if weightless.
The openwork on Moon’s dial, between 8 and 12 o’clock, reveal search and every beat of the piece’s caliber.
The escapement (generating 28,800 vibrations per hour) and the offset seconds hand are displayed in all their glory – carefully positioned to ensure an unobstructed view of every detail of Moon’s movement. The assembly is housed in Louis Moinet’s 43.2-millimetre Neo case, structured around two vertical bridges that span the timepiece, securing the strap at each end of their openwork lugs.
An exclusive presentation case in the style of the first edition of Around the Moon has been specially created for this piece. In a new development, the Moon presentation case will also be punched in the shape of a lunar crater –in the middle of which a second fragment of lunar meteorite is sealed.
