There are women who ask you for the moon and pout when you bring them Mars. There are women who never ask you for anything and to whom you would like to offer everything: the sun, the moon and even a little more. Or, in the meantime, the latest AstroLUNA from Vicenterra…

By Joël A. Grandjean / JSH® Magazine & Swiss Watch Passport’ s Publishr & Editor in Chief
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If a gift could be a message, the AstroLUNA in grade 5 titanium from Vicenterra could be a declaration. Not the first one that confesses a budding passion, but the umpteenth declaration that professes and confirms feelings, in a perspective of renewing vows, of small daily gestures married to eternal promises. So goes the Vicenterra mania.

Cosmos and genuine values
Yes, I would like to hang on the wrist of Lady Muse (editor’s note: a person known to the editors), this automatic extraterrestrial wonder-watch that fell from the cosmos at the beginning of May 2021 in the Swiss Jura region, just after the Watches & Wonders (ex-SIHH). First, because she is well worth it, she deserves it, then because she embodies, in a personified version, the values as much aesthetic as moral that this UFO carries, either in a typical Vicenterra version or in a more classic one. Always with this delightful shapes whose curved sides of its case shelter gouge-like hollows.

Indeed, like the AstroLUNA, Lady Muse is overflowing with generosity, kindness and appeal. She has that little extra spirit that turns a single presence into charisma. It is full of subtle details and an ingenuous sophistication that can only be discovered by those who get closer to it: a dial made of blue-night aventurine glass, white gold appliques, a Ø7.50 mm earth globe in hand-painted titanium, a mini sundial showing noon or midnight in solid yellow gold, and a Ø6.80 mm moon globe, with a hemisphere covered with Superluminova. This watch is large, but not too much so despite its easy-to-live-with proportions (Ø43.50 x 13.50 or Ø41.50 for the classic version). It succeeds in combining the basic functions of hours, minutes, seconds and date with the most complex ones, with the absolute and mysterious magic of existential journeys.

Thus, beyond the merits of one of the noblest and best decorated automatic mechanical calibers on the market, a reliable value named Seed 3000 by Vaucher Manfuacture Fleurier which is operating at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, or 4 Hertz, the AstroLUNA is enhanced by rare, astronomical and above all, unusual complications: such as this moon and this earth which turn in orbit in the lower chamber of the watch case, each one according to its own galactic rhythm, i.e. respectively one revolution in 24 hours and one every 29. 53125 days. Its push-button stem is positioned at 2:00. and its unidirectional rotor will be made of yellow gold for the early adopters. Take a look under the blue of its dial where its heart is beating, or even a little below where its two celestial bodies are gravitating, and it will launch your mind into the stars…

Lady Muse suddenly realized the watchmaker Vincent Plomb is indeed a poet
That’ s when, among the stars, you will definitely meet Vincent Plomb. Ever since he got a little too close to the stars, this watchmaker inventor has been shuttling back and forth between the earth that once slipped from under his feet and the countless celestial bodies that enable him to take a step back, to see life from above, to float. From where he dreams, with his feet well anchored in the Jura region, one of the cradles of Swiss watchmaking excellence, he aims to conquer the earth. Lady Muse will therefore be fascinated by this magician who has survived a serious accident and has been battered by life. This manufacturer-developer who, with unending dedication, has created a special space inside the case of each of his watches, regardless of the collection, like an unchanging signature, a chamber in which the earth evolves as seen from above. Thanks to the exclusive development of an additional micromechanical module, the earth turns on itself, adding a bunch of ultra-precise astronomical complications: day-night indicator, permanent GMT and, with the AstroLUNA, even the moon phases…

Amazingly, for more than 10 years that Vicenterra has been part of the independent brands’ table, the market has been gradually enhanced with a multitude of “little spheres” that decorate today’s timepieces. The most prestigious brands no longer hesitate to play with small astronomical globes to brighten up their dials. Vicenterra has been a pioneer. This happens a lot in a world where the majors dominate and small labels play risks, innovations, trends and real revolutions. Vincent Plomb is not only ahead of the game, but he remains the only one to offer the earth seen from above and not the self-centered vision of celestial bodies seen from the ground. His AstroLUNA is in this line. It has turned the historical ‘V’ pointing to the earth’s zenith into a small sun surrounded by sapphire markers, providing a permanent day-night indicator. And after two years of technical research, the moon has been invited into this hypnotic kinetic ballet. It is not just a figurative entity because, like the earth, it really turns on itself and indicates with precision its various phases.

Subscriptions in progress, aficionados excited
Vincent Plomb is also at the beginning of another kind of innovation, the one that revived the subscription concept initiated by the watchmakers of yesteryear, including Abraham-Louis Breguet. This was back in 2009, before crowdfunding and self-financing platforms. This is how he pre-sold his first hundred watches. And the way he has acquired the love of a particularly active, heterogeneous and prescriptive community. True watch lovers, from newcomers, to the world of collectors who are already familiar with Patek Philippe, Rolex, Greubel Forsey, F.P. Journe, Bovet and other expensive timepieces, but who do not shy away from the side roads. Even better, the Vicenterra brand is highly esteemed by its peers, who are delighted with its success. Purists watch for the slightest move by Vincent Plomb, as shown by the excitement surrounding the unveiling of the AstroLUNA. Whether he is visiting an agent in the world or in Boncourt, in his Swiss Jura home, where the thirty or so suppliers who trust him are mainly located. A Jura-style hospitality, for clients, curious people or local and international medias, and if trust is granted, the sharing of a paternal vintage as old as it is full of emotion.

Gift of a lifetime, to be adjusted every 126 years
Of course, the conventionalists will argue that the latest Vicenterra magical piece, or even the brand itself, is simply reserved for men. The egotists, eager to reserve the privilege of owning an AstroLUNA, will say that women are impatient and that waiting a few months for a subscription to materialize into a delivery is simply against their nature. Let’s sweep away these clichés with a ring on the finger, pay the deposit of CHF 3’000 to be definitively on board and, above all, choose one of her favourite numbers that will tell her how unique and loved she is.

Lady Muse doesn’t suspect anything. Will she ever know the intensity of my quest to please her? She will have her whole life to contemplate her AstroLUNA, to immerse herself in the sparkling aventurine of its dial or the deep blue of its meticulously hand-painted oceans. Or to fly over its lunar surfaces with stylized mini-craters which, subtly lit at night thanks to a SuperLuminova undercoat, will add to the magic of its chiaroscuro. Will she ask me to provide her with a white strap? Thanks to this watch, she will realize one day she was at the beginning of a long-term commitment. Above all, she will realize she will have to plan for the next 126 years if she wants to be able to adjust her ultra-precise astronomical moon herself…

{*} watchmaking novel (or how to take your dreams for realities!)

Official website > https://www.vicenterra.ch/collection/astroluna-2/
DTwo numbered series of 100 pieces, including a more classic version.
Subscription in progress, CHF 3’000.00 at the order.
Value of the watch in CHF and excluding taxes: 13’500.00, delivered worldwide.

Technical specifications to download