The Most Sought-After Complication
Jaeger-LeCoultre
“Depending on your interest or profession, a moon-phase complication might be very useful. However, to most people, it’s just a pretty complication.“
Together with luxury watch market platforms Chrono24 and Ebner Publishing (known for WatchTime magazine), I started a company called Chronolytics to analyse and structure Chrono24 users’ behavioural data. We had noticed that there was no real information source regarding consumer behaviour in the watch market, so we decided to fill that gap for watch manufacturers.
Besides being a data vendor for the watch industry at large, Chronolytics also culls data that we consider of interest to everyday watch fans — such as the brands that are generating particular interest within specific timeframes.
In each week of March, we’ll show you the most popular complication timepieces based on the data we collected from watch enthusiasts’ behaviour in 2012. This data consists of millions of watch queries performed by visitors to the world’s biggest luxury-watch-market platform. Check out last week’s feature: The Top 5 Chronographs.
This week, we’re talking about moon-phase watches. The moon-phase complication indicates, yes, the current phase of our beloved moon. It is one of the most sought-after and wished-for complications for watch enthusiasts.
The moon-phase indicator on a watch is a rotating disc that illustrates the illuminated portion of the moon, as seen from Earth. The cycle from new moon to new moon (nothing to see from Earth, as the moon isn’t illuminated by the sun) is 29.53 days.
Depending on your interest or profession, a moon-phase complication might be very useful. However, to most people, it’s just a pretty complication. Some watch brands are really taking the design of their moon-phase indicators to the next level whereas some other brands just display a simple-looking moon or part of the moon.
We picked the five most sought-after watch models with a moon-phase indicator.
1. Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase
Patek Philippe is well known for its complications. It makes a clear distinction between Complications and Grand Complications. The most popular moon-phase watches are in the Grand Complications collection.
This reference 5159G is part of the Grand Complications collection because of the Perpetual Calendar complication (day, month and leap year indicators). The moon-phase aperture on the 5159G is located at 6 o’clock and shows the moon (of course) and some perfectly drawn stars. A perfect dress watch!
2. Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Moon Phase
Go figure how popular the Patek Philippe brand is when it comes to moon-phase complications. A Patek Philippe watch also takes the second rank in this overview, this time from its Complications collection. This time, it isn’t a moon-phase watch with a perpetual calendar but rather an annual calendar. Reference 5146 displays the day, month, moon-phases and has a power reserve indicator. Next Page >>