Officine Panerai L’Astronomo – Luminor 1950 Tourbillon Moon Phases Equation of Time GMT is the latest horological creation dedicated to Italian polymath Galileo Galilei. The new watch presented at SIHH 2018 – Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Geneva is packed with numerous complications and has a back case that is more poetic and attractive than the dial itself.
Officine Panerai L’Astronomo – Luminor 1950 Tourbillon Moon Phases Equation of Time GMT; images: Officine Panerai
The Florentine high-end brand Officine Panerai is bringing once again innovation into the world of high quality sports watchmaking with its first creation to have moon phase indication and innovative system using polarised crystals to indicate date. The new L’Astronomo – Luminor 1950Tourbillon Moon Phases Equation of Time GMT is a watch dedicated to Galileo Galilei.
The first Panerai L’Astronomo, presented in 2010 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the celestial observations made by Galileo as a result of the invention of the telescope, was the first timepiece created by Panerai with a tourbillon regulator, calendar, equation of time indication and the display of the times of sunrise and sunset.
Like its predecessor, the new L’Astronomo – Luminor 1950 Tourbillon Moon Phases Equation of Time GMT watch is made to order, and the skeletonised movement, the P.2005/GLS (standing for Galileo Luna Scheletrato), is personalised to operate in accordance with the geographical coordinates of a place chosen by the client. It provides the same range of remarkable functions as the first L’Astronomo, and in addition, GMT and two other innovations: indication of the phases of the moon and an original system for displaying the date using polarised crystals.
L’Astronomo Luminor 1950 Tourbillon Moon Phases watch: THE MOON PHASE INDICATOR
Thanks to the invention of the telescope, Galileo made revolutionary discoveries concerning the appearance and the movement of the moon. He made remarkably beautiful drawings of what he saw with an accuracy and attention to detail which is still amazing even today. So in a timepiece dedicated to him, nothing would be more logical than moon phase indication, a classic complication of high quality watchmaking which Panerai has interpreted in its own way and with an accuracy of a century. On the back of the new L’Astronomo’s P.2005/GLS movement is a day/night indicator which also clearly displays the phases of the moon, by means of a system consisting of two superimposed discs which rotate in combination.
Given that each watch movement is made according to the coordinates of a place chosen by the watch’s owner, the indication of the moon phases always relates to the sky above that place, and of course it also takes account of the difference between the earth’s northern and southern hemispheres.
Like the moon phase indicator, the indicators of sunrise and sunset times are connected to home time and therefore, if the owner of the watch should find himself in a city with a different time zone from that of the chosen city, these indicators will continue to show the situation at the time at home, which is indicated by the GMT hand.
Finally, at six o’clock is the linear indicator of the equation of time, which displays the difference between actual time (solar time) and conventional time on each day, this period ranging between plus 15 minutes and minus 15 minutes, according to the time of year.
In a watch with this construction, a date disc designed in the traditional way would to some extent conceal the fascination of the skeletonised movement, because it would cover part of the components. The Laboratorio di Idee at the Manufacture in Neuchâtel has therefore designed an innovative system – pending patent by Panerai – in which the date disc is made of borosilicate glass and the numbers of the days have laser-modified optical properties. The numbers are virtually invisible in all positions except for the one that is aligned with the little date window, where a further polarized crystal, situated above the date disc, causes the number to appear so that it is perfectly legible.
As well as the technical personalisation of the P.2005/GLS movement, the new L’Astronomo -Luminor 1950 Tourbillon Moon Phases Equation of Time GMT also provides the opportunity of selecting the material and finish of the case, the colour of the hands and that of the Super-LumiNova which makes the watch’s indications extremely readable even in the dark, as well as the colour of the alligator strap. In this way each client can create an individual watch of great character and elegance, for example choosing between a red gold or a white gold case, or thebrushed titanium case of the basic version of the L’Astronomo for a more sporty and functional appearance. In each instance, the watch is water-resistant to 10 bar (a depth of about 100 metres).
