Moon-gazing? These 5 moon phase watches do it differently

For centuries, the Full Moon has been at the heart of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when families gather, lanterns are lit, mooncakes are savoured, and, weather permitting, everyone looks skywards. It also happens to be one of watchmaking’s favourite celestial subjects.

Yet interpreting the Moon for luxury watches is an exercise that offers plenty of room for imagination. For this year’s moon-gazing season, we’ve picked five moon phase watches that interpret our closest celestial neighbour in distinctly different, mesmerising ways.

Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon Dusk – Série Atelier

Laurent Ferrier doesn’t simply depict the Moon here; it captures the moment when it begins to take possession of the sky. The newly unveiled Classic Moon Dusk – Série Atelier is inspired by dusk, with a gradient dial progressing from light taupe at its centre to chocolate brown at the edges, all housed within a 40mm yellow gold case.

The real watchmaking spectacle sits at 6 o’clock. The moon phase complication is integrated into the small-seconds display, but rather than using the familiar blue celestial disc, the brand turns to gold sheen obsidian. The naturally deep black stone produces green, brown and golden reflections, before being engraved with moons and stars. The stars are hand-painted, treated with white Super-LumiNova and fired, while further detailing gives the moons visible craters and texture.

Above it floats an anise-yellow plique-à-jour enamel bridge, made without a metal backing so that light can pass through the translucent enamel. What we really adore is that the imagery isn’t the illustration of a night sky but an impression of the Moon appearing as daylight fades.

Behind this 20-piece limited edition watch all is the manually wound LF126.02, combining the precision moon phase with an annual calendar and offering an 80-hour power reserve.

Vacheron Constantin Égérie Moon Phase Spring Blossom

With this high watchmaking version of the Moon, Vacheron Constantin delivers us into the softer light of a pink sky during the most joyful season of the year abloom with flowers.

The Égérie Moon Phase Spring Blossom presents the complication almost like a scene from a romantic painting: An 18k gold Moon appears from behind gold-edged clouds inlaid with mother-of-pearl, waxing and waning against a dusky-pink, star-studded background. A ring of diamonds frames the entire display between 1 and 3 o’clock.

That off-centre placement is characteristic of Égérie, a collection inspired by the parallels between haute horlogerie and haute couture. Here, the moon becomes one element in an all-pink composition. The 37mm pink gold case surrounds a light pink mother-of-pearl dial with Vacheron Constantin’s signature pleated pattern, while the crown is thematically set with — you guessed it — a moonstone.

Even the straps contribute to the effect: The watch comes with three interchangeable options, including pink calfskin miniature-painted by hand with delicate blossoms, which is a first for the maison, alongside a pink alligator leather strap and a pink satin-finished calfskin strap.

The self-winding Calibre 1088 L provides approximately 40 hours of power reserve, while the watch is limited to 100 numbered pieces.

Christiaan van der Klaauw Venus Zodiac

In its very singular brand of watchmaking, Christiaan van der Klaauw approaches the Moon not as an isolated celestial body, but as part of a much larger astronomical system.

On the Venus Zodiac, the dial becomes a miniature planetarium, showing the real-time positions and orbits of Venus and Earth around the Sun, as well as the Moon travelling around Earth. Three of the dial’s four discs rotate to carry Venus, Earth and the Moon through this celestial choreography.

That means its moon phase is displayed in an unusually literal way. When the miniature Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, the watch indicates a new moon; when Earth lies between the Moon and Sun, it represents a full moon. Instead of simply revealing more or less of a lunar disc, the Venus Zodiac therefore explains why the phases occur by reproducing the changing geometry between the three bodies.

The display unfolds against a blue aventurine dial that evokes a star-filled night sky, with zodiac signs around the perimeter indicating the constellation through which the Sun is passing.

Beneath it is the CKM-01 movement, introduced in 2024 and fitted here with Christiaan van der Klaauw’s astronomical Venus module. The watch comes in a relatively compact 38mm stainless steel or rose gold case, while the sapphire caseback reveals the movement’s star-shaped bridges and skeletonised rotor in the shape of the maison’s Sun logo.

De Bethune DB25Vxs Silver Moon

De Bethune gives the moon a physical presence on the dial, rendering it as a three-dimensional sphere rather than a conventional flat display.

At 12 o’clock on the DB25Vxs Silver Moon sits one of the manufacture’s signatures, a tiny three-dimensional moon made from two hemispheres of palladium and flame-blued steel. It rises from a mirror-polished, blued Grade 5 titanium sky scattered with white gold stars, allowing the changing illuminated portion of the sphere to communicate the lunar phase in a remarkably intuitive way.

The idea dates to De Bethune’s DB15 of 2004, the first of its watches to feature the patented spherical moon phase. Founder and watchmaking visionary Denis Flageollet drew on the tradition of astronomical clocks and even a Leonardo da Vinci sketch in the Codex Madrid. The three-dimensional architecture was unusual for a wristwatch at the time and has since become one of De Bethune’s most recognisable inventions.

The surrounding watch deliberately bridges old and new. Its silver-toned dial is hand-guilloché with a barleycorn motif and paired with curved rose gold hands, while the polished Grade 5 titanium case measures 40.6mm.

Beating within, the manually wound DB2105V5 uses self-regulating twin barrels for a six-day power reserve, alongside a silicon escape wheel, De Bethune balance spring and triple pare-chute shock protection. The moon phase mechanism itself is rated to require a correction of only one lunar day every 122 years.

Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon 41.5 Steel “Colours of the Moon”

While other luxury watches here play with the moon’s shape, setting or movement, Arnold & Son focuses its watchmaking on colour. Its new Perpetual Moon 41.5 Steel “Colours of the Moon” comes in three interpretations inspired by real lunar phenomena.

Blue Moon refers to the rare occurrence of an additional full moon within a single season, as well as the bluish cast atmospheric particles can sometimes give it. Golden Moon recalls the warmer glow of the moon when it sits low on the horizon, while Red Moon evokes the dramatic Blood Moon produced during a lunar eclipse.

The colour extends beyond the oversized lunar display to the dial itself. Arnold & Son states that it is the first watchmaker to use PVD treatment on mother-of-pearl, applying the technique to both the dial and moon phase sky to produce black, blue or green surfaces whose reflections shift with the light.

The moon itself is also fashioned from mother-of-pearl, with Super-LumiNova beneath it creating a glow in darkness. Even the constellations of Cassiopeia and Ursa Major, historically used by mariners to locate the North Star, on either side are hand-painted with luminescent material.

Each version is limited to 18 pieces and comes in a 41.5mm stainless steel case. Inside, the hand-wound calibre A&S1512 delivers a 90-hour power reserve, while a second moon phase display on the caseback allows the indication on the dial to be precisely adjusted.