Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon

Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon, the winner of the Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize at GPHG2024. Price: from CHF 70,000

Today, we focus on the recent winner of the Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize at the 24th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG2024), the Classic Moon by Swiss independent watchmaker Laurent Ferrier.

Available in two versions, in polished stainless steel or 18-carat red gold, this elegant model features an annual calendar and the brand’s first ever moon phase complication. 

Measuring 40 mm in diameter with a thickness of 12.90 mm, the pebble-shaped case of the Classic Moon features two correctors for the day and the moon, placed on the caseband at 10 o'clock and 8:30, respectively. Curved lugs and a ball-shaped crown contribute to the retro style. Water resistance is ensured up to a pressure of 3 bar (30 metres / 100 feet).

The dial, in grey-blue opaline for the steel version or vertical satin-finished silver for the red gold one, features, from outer to centre, 31 date numerals, a chemin de fer minute track, and Roman numerals and indices.

Just below 12 o’clock are two bevelled windows framing the day of the week and month displays. 

The hour and minute hands, in white-lacquered or ruthenium-treated white gold, resemble the Assegai spears. The slender hand indicating the date is also Assegai-shaped.

At the centre of the small seconds dial at 6 o'clock, a dark blue moon disc shows the cycles of the Earth's satellite. Aventurine glass, crafted by Murano artisans, is engraved and painted by hand to depict the moon and stars. Super-LumiNova fills these details, which are then fired and further engraved to add craters. The disc is completed with a translucent petrol blue enamel layer. 

The lunar phases of the Northern Hemisphere are opposed to the Southern Hemisphere moon, as indicated by the N and S markers between the small seconds markers.

The annual calendar complication recognizes and distinguishes months with 30 and 31 days, automatically advancing to the 1st of the month when appropriate. Manual adjustment is only necessary once a year, on March 1st, to adapt to the varying number of days in February. 

Visible through the transparent sapphire crystal caseback and meticulously finished, the new in-house developed and produced LF126.02 calibre is an evolution of the brand’s previous annual calendar movement, the LF126.01 calibre. 

Over 30 components have been added to create this new hand-wound movement, and more than twenty have been revised and optimized. 

Operating at a frequency of 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour), it offers a power reserve of 80 hours, whose indicator is placed on the movement side.

The new Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon is priced at CHF 70,000 in stainless steel (Ref. LCF039.AC.C1WC) or CHF 80,000 in 18-carat red gold (Ref. LCF039.R5.G3N). laurentferrier.com