Chronoswiss recently announced their return into the UK market, meaning their watches are now purchasable from authorised dealers here in Blighty – specifically at Swiss Gallery in London. One of the first new releases since that announcement is the launch of the Rise of the Moon collection, a duo of lunar themed wristwatches. They’re the Lunar Chronograph Aurora and Space Timer Gravity.
Lunar Chronograph Aurora
The Lunar Chronograph Aurora is a modern take on a Chronoswiss classic. The Lunar Chronograph was first introduced back in 1999 with its combination of chronograph, pointer date and moonphase complications. Evidently designed for people who enjoy racing at night and want to know how much illumination the moon will provide.
Primarily the Aurora is an aesthetic update to the model. Its dial introduces a new CVD (chemical vapour deposition) finish in an almost iridescent shade of green that appears blue under certain lighting and angles. It’s this colour shifting appearance that gives it the name Aurora, inspired by the Borealis lights. The actual layout and textural finish of the dial with its guilloché is retained from the existing steel model.
Speaking of steel, the case measures 41mm in diameter with 15mm thickness. It has coin edge finishing across the top and bottom of the caseband, which pairs nicely with the onion crown and fluted tips of the chronograph pushers. The elegance of the finishing is maintained across the exhibition caseback too which reveals the inner workings of the movement inside.
That movement is the calibre C.755 automatic with 46-hour power reserve. The rotor has the same aurora green finishing as the dial helping to tie the piece together nicely. Though the rest of the movement is also finished in classy style with perlage and Côtes de Genève as well as an exposed balance wheel. It’s priced at £10,400.
Price and Specs:
Space Timer Gravity
The Chronoswiss Rise of the Moon Space Timer Gravity at first glance looks more complicated than its chronograph cousin but that’s because of its unusual display rather than mechanical complexity. It’s essentially a partial regulator display where the hours sit on a separate subdial at 12 o’clock but the minutes and seconds are both mounted centrally. In formats like this we’re more used to seeing the seconds be the unit on a separate subdial, so much so that it has its own terminology of ‘small seconds’.
On top of that, the gear trains that operate the various time indications are openworked to reveal some of their inner workings, adding a technical aspect to the display. Part of that openworking comes in the form of transparent timing scales for the hours and the date which is wrapped around the moonphase at 6 o’clock.
However, the most striking aspect of the Space Timer Gravity’s display is actually the main dial that sits beneath all those complications and scales. Just over 1/3rd of the display is given over to a wave pattern guilloché with the same CVD green-blue finish as seen on the Lunar Chronograph Aurora. The rest of the dial instead features an almost photo-realistic moon texture achieved through laser engraving.
Housing the dial is a large 44mm diameter case in steel with the familiar Chronoswiss design elements such as the coin-edge finishing and onion crown. The case also houses the calibre C.308, which is visible through the exhibition caseback. It has a 42-hour power reserve and is finished immaculately with perlage.
The Space Timer Gravity is limited to 50 pieces at a price of £22,500, making it the more exclusive of the two. That’s understandable given the higher level of finishing on the dial with that insanely intricate laser engraved moon texture in addition to the guilloché.
Price and Specs:
More details at Chronoswiss.
