No hands, and that's the fun
By Sam Okafor, London ยท
The Copernicus replaces hands with rotating discs, one carrying the hour around the dial and another for the minutes, so the time is read from where two shapes happen to be rather than from where two pointers point. It's an astronomical idea, which explains the name, and on a black dial it does look a bit like watching a planetary model turn.
It's not easy to read. That's the first thing to say. For the first few days you'd be doing mental arithmetic every time you checked it, and even after that it's slower than any conventional dial. I'd also say the 13 mm thickness on a 40 mm case is hefty for something meant as a dress watch, and the discs need that height.
But I think a watch should occasionally be an argument rather than a tool, and the Copernicus is a good argument. 1,000 to 1,300 dollars, a Russian automatic with 40 hours, an open back. Buy it if you enjoy explaining things at dinner. Don't buy it if you have a train to catch.