Introducing The Harry Winston Premier Moon Phase 36mm

While our attention slowly drifts towards SIHH 2016, Harry Winston reminds us today that brands that won’t be displayed inside the Palexpo of Geneva later this month are not idle.

Ahead of its own fair, Baselworld 2016, Harry Winston has announced the launch of the Premier Moon Phase 36mm, a precious timepiece for the ladies market that combines the sophistication of a mother-of-pearl dial with moon phase, to the symbolic three arches of the Premier.

Last year, that collection welcomed the delightful Shinde and Precious Butterfly, both automatic timepieces powered by the caliber HW2008, a self-winding movement made exclusively for Harry Winston.

Somewhat disappointingly, this year’s Moon Phase 36mm features a proprietary quartz movement instead. Already available in the Ocean Moon Phase 36mm it returns to once again power a lunar cycle, hours, minutes and a date display.

Elsewhere, we find that Patek Philippe and Girard-Perregaux offer similar models, featuring the same complication and mother-of-pearl dial, also inside a rose gold case adorned with diamonds…except they are powered by the hand-wound Caliber 215 PS LU and the self-winding GP03300-0067. Patek’s Ref. 4968R-001 and GP’s 1966 Lady Moon Phases become even more interesting when you consider they fall inside the current price range of Harry Winston quartz moon phase watches (and we expect the latest to fall somewhere inside that window, between $30,000 and $50,000).
America’s most famous jeweler bedazzles nonetheless by the artistic techniques and materials used to achieve the Premier Moon Phase’s textured and graceful dial, successfully combining two different shades of mother-of-pearl, pure white and pearl blue, to guide the eye towards the central function of the timepiece.

Altogether, 104 brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 2.58 carats feature on this timepiece, some serving as hour markers, while others, placed on the bezel, arches and buckle serve a purely decorative purpose.

And so, the collection that launched the Harry Winston into the world of fine watchmaking in 1989 continues to grow. Too bad it couldn’t do so with a mechanical movement.

The Harry Winston Premier Moon Phase 36mm comes on an iridescent white alligator strap.