Hands-On With The MeisterSinger Lunascope – That’s A Big Moon!

When I started collecting watches about 20 years ago, I loved to browse those big books that showed a huge amount of watches that were either categorized by brand name, price or complication. The moonphase (and calendar) complications appealed to me most at the time, as I love that big gold moon on a dial. Perhaps it is not the most useful complication in the world, but that also is part of its charm. The problem is, like with many nice things that are for sale, that these mechanical moonphase complications do not come cheap most of the time.

The MeisterSinger Lunascope is an automatic watch with moonphase indicator, and retails for just below €3000. The Lunascope combines the well, although I don’t like over-using the word too much, an iconic design with one of the most visually attractive complications, the moonphase indicator.

MeisterSinger Lunascope Automatic

The MeisterSinger Lunascope was presented to us during Baselworld this year, and it comes in two flavours basically: a dark blue dial and a silvery white dial. The dark blue dial is definitely my favourite of the two, although it is a matter of personal preference, of course. What I like so much about the dark blue dial version (reference LS908), is that the moon disc blends in so nicely with the rest of the dial and the photo-realistic moon and stars give such a nice contrast. The silvery white dial version, reference LS901, has a blue moon disc, which gives a very big contrast. The numerals on the dial are also in the same blue tone. Somehow the dark blue MeisterSinger Lunascope sings more to me.

Automatic Movement

Inside this MeisterSinger Lunascope Automatic we find the ETA 2836-2 movement, with a moonphase module added. The moon needs exactly 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2,9 seconds to rotate around Earth. Most watches with a moonphase complication round this off to 29,5 days. Not at MeisterSinger. It would mean that the moonphase indication has a deviation of 8 hours per year and would need an adjustment of an entire day every three years. For the MeisterSinger Lunascope, they made sure that it is much more precise, only requiring a small adjustment for the first time after 128 years.

MeisterSinger’s Lunascope is relatively thick for a dress watch (due to the movement module), with its 12mm. The case diameter is 40mm, so the dimensions are still good in my opinion. As you can see above, the case back is attached to the case by 4 screws and fitted with a sapphire crystal. Inside is the ETA-based movement, with Geneva-stripe finishing and ‘MeisterSinger’ engraved and golded. All necessary (or not, I beg to differ) details have been engraved on the bezel of the case back.

Oversized Moon

Although many people will definitely enjoy looking at the mechanics of this movement, the dial is where it happens for this MeisterSinger Lunascope. The beautiful large, oversized even, moon is on the dial, surrounded by stars. From up close, you can see the ‘pixels’ of the photo-realistic moon on the dial, but from a more common distance (>30cm) it all looks very fine. We’ve also seen this with other brands that use these photo-realistic moon phases. A large moonphase also requires a large aperture, and that is exactly what MeisterSinger did. An opening between the Arabic 12 o’clock numeral and center pinion almost, and its width from 10 to 2 o’clock. It is huge! Especially on the dark blue version, this blends in all nicely. The silvery white MeisterSinger Lunascope really has some contrast.

One Hand

Besides the playfully designed dial of the MeisterSinger Lunascope, there’s, of course, the one hand time indicator. If you’re not familiar with this, which we can hardly imagine since these watches have been around since 2001, the MeisterSinger watch from Münster (Germany) became famous due to this interesting way to indicate the time. You can read the hours and minutes, by just using one large hand. In the image above, the time is almost 2 o’clock. On the watch in the image below, it is 10 o’clock. 10:30 would be the time when the hand is on the marker between 10 and 11 o’clock. By using small markers for every 5 minutes, it isn’t possible to read the exact time on these watches of course, but you will come close. Especially for a dress watch, I think it is an elegant solution to show the time and during elegant occasions, you probably don’t need to be very precisely concerning time.

Elegant Shape

You could say that the MeisterSinger Lunascope is quite large for a dress watch, but it is a modern piece and 40mm is still pretty much accepted in my opinion. Most important is that you feel comfortable with the size of a watch, each wrist is different and some can handle a 40mm a bit better on the wrist than others. The case of the Lunascope has nice curvy lugs and a beautiful shaped (and signed) crown. Furthermore, we find a nicely domed polished bezel on top of the case. There’s little to criticize about the design and finish of this watch, MeisterSinger just created a nice classic looking timepiece with elegant lines.

Conclusion

Moonphase watches are cool, there’s no doubt about that. MeisterSinger created a very classic looking 40mm watch with a moonphase indicator that really stands out. I am not sure whether I prefer a nice gold applied moon or this photo-realistic moon for a dress watch as can be seen on the MeisterSinger Lunascope Automatic. A photo-realistic moon at least ensures the watch isn’t too classical, so perhaps very appealing to a younger audience. The elegant case is very pleasing and the size is probably perfect for most men (and women). Straps shown on the watches in this article would not be my choice, to be honest, but MeisterSinger has a nice online possibility to virtually try different straps to see what’s best for you. The blue Lunascope on a dark blue croco strap would be my pick. MeisterSinger also offers calf straps, calf with croco print straps, alligator straps, cordovan straps and Milanese bracelets. Enough to choose from.

Price of the MeisterSinger Lunascope Automatic is €2990,- (including sales taxes).

More information about MeisterSinger via their official website.