For the past week or so I have found myself in the welcome company of this stylish new PanoMaticLunar from Glashutte Original.
The PanoMaticLunar
Officially launched earlier this year at Baselworld, this was my first chance to spend some “hands-on” time with the watch and I have to say I was suitably impressed. As with pretty much every high-end German watch ever made, the PanoMaticLunar blends practical functionality with a refined yet attractive aesthetic. Of course, a huge amount of thought and effort has gone into achieving this sense of effortless simplicity.
For a start the creation of the dial of the PanoMaticLunar involves up to 40 separate operations, all of which are performed by Glashutte Original’s in-house artisans at the company’s dial manufactory in Pforzheim, Germany. I was reviewing the 40mm Rose Gold model, which features a gorgeous black dial with contrasting applied hour indexes in gold.
Typically speaking I would say this is somewhat of a boring combination but the matte black finish on the dial really pops, making the PanoMaticLunar far more eye-catching than you would expect. Combine that with a nicely detailed, golden moon-phase and an easy to read data display and you have the makings of a rather attractive dress watch.
The real highlight of the PanoMaticLunar however is on the other side of the watch, in the form of the Saxon manufactory’s calibre 90-02, which is visible through the sapphire caseback. The major drawcard here obviously is the gorgeous, hand-engraved balance cock with duplex swan-neck fine adjustment that simply demands closer inspection.
The hand-engraved balance cock is something of a trademark of Glashutte Original and has featured in several other pieces however I still never get tired of looking at it. The automatic movement offers 42 hours of power in reserve, which is generated courtesy of the off-centre 21ct gold oscillating weight.
Offered on your choice of either a matte black Louisiana Alligator leather strap or alligator nubuck leather strap, the red gold PanoMaticLunar retails for US$23,900.
For more information please visit the official Glashutte Original website.
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