Sarpaneva Lunations – Not for Everyone

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Sarpaneva Watches have a special place in my heart. I always blame myself for not taking the time to present you more of Stepan’s creations. So today I decided to do something about it. Here it is, the spectacular Sarpaneva Lunations – not one but two models. 

Sarpaneva Lunations – a visual and tactile obsession

When I started to get serious with the world of watches, there was a handful of people that caught my attention – Stepan Sarpaneva is one of them. I was always fascinated by its creations. The Sarpaneva Moon’s gravity is something that attracts me beyond my understanding. I cannot escape the moon’s mirage – why should I?

Here is the first model of Lunations:

The steel Lunations

Can you imagine a single day of error only once every 14,000 years? I don’t… But Stepan did and implemented that precision into his Lunations.

Sarpaneva watches, and Lunations makes no exception, have that signature case. In this case (pun intended), a 42mm diameter original shaped steel. Sarpaneva dares to be different. While many stay in a comfortable classic design, he makes a bold move. Stepan says its watches are not for everyone. His watches are recognisable by a mile – by those who know. The ones that can appreciate an “out of the comfort zone” piece.

This Lunations has a polished brushed finishes case. On the polished caseband, the crown stands out. The Sarpaneva Moon face govern the side of the watch. The crown design is original and gets perfect into the “picture”.

The open-worked sandwich dial

For those familiar with Sarpaneva pieces, Lunations will have that familiar sandwich dial with SuperLuminova that serves as hour indexes and as decorations.

Lunation has a very interesting approach of the skeletonised movement/dial, where, the outer metal comb also serves as minute indexes. Other signature elements are the blue, elongated arrow minutes and hours’ hands.

But the most spectacular detail of any (moon) Sarpaneva watch is the moon phase indication. The Sarpaneva moon face and indication is realised using laser-machined fiberoptics. In the picture above can be seen the honeycomb distributed fibres. But what we see in the front is just the “light carrier”. The true indication is placed on the back of the watch – an RC Tritec’s Lumicast treated disk.

As mentioned before, the moon phase accuracy is of a single day once every 14,000 years.

 

The crazy good looking engraved Lunations

The second Lunation of today was realised together with Joanne Ryall, a renown engraver.  This Lunations is not their first collaborations, but oh boy, that is more than a spectacular one.

The case is a work of art itself. The engraved case is fitting like a glove the Sarpaneva watch.

On the dial side, the Lunations presents another colour them. Sarpaneva pieces are highly customisable.

The dial side also presents the balance wheel and the snailed barrel.

In-house movement Moonment®

Stepan Sarpaneva created for the Lunations a hand-wound movement – the Moonment®. An appropriate name, I would rather say. The 3Hz balance wheel and one barrel assure a power reserve of 60 hours.

The precise moon phase indication can be better viewed on the back. An original implementation.

The Moonment® has a very technical decoration style with a satin finish on almost all surfaces. This fits well the theme. The other main decoration is brushing: circular or straight, depending on the component.

How does it work?

The Lunations have a relatively simple idea behind, well explained visually in the videos below:

And with the lume example:

Wrist shot and conclusion

As Stepan mentions, the Lunations are #notforeveryone. You must want to be part of the Sarpaneva family.

The Lunations pieces are spectacular in appearance but also technically speaking. I have mentioned in the beginning that Lunation is a visual and tactile obsession. Visual obsession caused by the Moon’s grin. The dial’s lines created by the open-worked design catch the eyes. I follow every line to discover its path and its surrounding.

The tactile obsession is given by the case design. Its shape asks for attention. Unconscious, I follow with my fingers the case’s contour, feeling and exploring any surface. The obsession is amplified at the engraved case, since the finishes are interesting not only for my eyes but also for the tip of my fingers.

Sarpaneva Lunations Technical Specifications and Price

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