Everything at once
By Sam Okafor, London ยท
Day and month in windows under twelve, a date hand pointing round the outside, a moonphase down at six that doubles as the small seconds. It's the full traditional calendar dial, and I'll admit it's well executed. Each element is in the place it's been for a century, the windows are neatly cut and the moon has a nice deep blue.
But I find it exhausting to look at. There are three separate ways of displaying information on one silver dial, and the hands have to pass over all of it. The gap between the tip of the hour hand and the numerals is fine; the gap between the date hand and everything else is nowhere, because it goes everywhere. It's a busy station concourse.
Practically, 40 mm and 11.1 mm is very wearable, and 72 hours of reserve means the calendar won't need resetting after a weekend off. 3,400 to 3,800 dollars for this much complication is a strong price. People who love calendars should buy it. People who like quiet dials should walk past.