SIHH 2013 - TREND: Triple Date Moonphase

I have a feeling that all the brands from SIHH/GTE are holding something back to around late April, you know, just to steal some thunder from the brands that show their new ware at Baselworld. But having seen the releases so far (through the wonderful medium of the interwebs) it seems there is a bit of a trend going on...

The most obvious one that caught my attention was the amount of new "triple date moonphase" watches launched this year. Granted. one of these is an annual calendar (ie only need to change the date in feb) and one has a tourbillon hidden from front view, but nevertheless they all have day-date-month-moonphase on top of time display. Three of the brands have a more traditional dial layout, one has a modern fresh taken on the traditional layout. Three automatics, two manuals.

Personally I find the moonphase one of the most useless complications to have, (I don't follow the lunar calendar, nor am I a werewolf or a witch...) however, I love it as it prettys up the dial. It gives and otherwise boring and monotone the dial that extra pop of colour.

So if moonphase is your thing and you need to know the day-date-month at a quick glance, (no we don't resort to looking at our smarty phones for that. No way.) here are your choices from SIHH/GTE 2013: (all price points and materials covered too!)

(In alphabetical order)

A.Lange & Sohne Saxonia Annual Calendar

Baume & Mercier Clifton 1830 Complete Calendar Moonphase

De Bethune DB16 Tourbillon

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Calendar

Montblanc Star Quantieme Complet

De Bethune Meet and Greet

If you happen to live in Sydney, and can spare an hour to get all the questions you have about De Bethune answered by the President and co-founder of the brand (such as how exactly do you pronounce the name and put to rest once and for all whether he really WAS inspired by the Starfleet badge) this is your chance!

Meet David Zanetta at The Hour Glass in Sydney on Monday the 12th of November and perhaps get your mitts on some hot watches too.

Don't believe me about the Starfleet badge? Have a look at the watch above, and below, and finally, the  Starfleet command logo...

image from De Bethune website

image from the internet