As romantic as the name Moonstruck sounds, the reality is that the new Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck belongs to the realm of science, close to an astronomical instrument. The watch places a three-dimensional Northern Hemisphere beneath a domed sapphire crystal, then sets the Sun and Moon moving around it. Local time, world time, day and night, the lunar month, moonphase and tidal coefficient are read as parts of one celestial system.
That idea belongs to Ludwig Oechslin, the watchmaker, mathematician and astronomer behind Ulysse Nardin’s Trilogy of Time. Beginning with the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei in 1985, the trilogy translated planetary motion into wearable mechanics; the first Moonstruck followed in 2009. This rose-gold edition brings that intellectual heritage into the sharply cut 45mm Blast case.
Its closest relative outside horology is the astrolabe. For roughly two millennia, astrolabes compressed astronomy, geography and time-telling into portable, readable instruments. The Blast Moonstruck does something comparable with contemporary materials: an aventurine sky, a sapphire Earth, a bronzite Sun and a Moon whose illuminated side continually faces the Sun, just as it does in nature. It is less a miniature planetarium than a mechanical diagram of our viewpoint from Earth.
Left: Ulysse Narding uses a geocentric display in the Blast Moonstruck to bring together world time, moonphase, tidal coefficients and the positions of the Sun and Moon.
Middle: The sapphire caseback reveals the automatic UN-106 calibre, finished with a 5N rose-gold oscillating weight.
Right: A domed sapphire glass box creates the illusion of the Northern Hemisphere suspended above the aventurine dial.
There is also an important distinction in the tidal display. The alignment of Sun, Earth and Moon determines spring and neap tides, but it cannot tell you the exact height of tomorrow’s water at Cowes or Saint-Tropez. Coastlines, seabed depth and weather complicate the result. The watch therefore shows the astronomical force behind the tide, not a local harbour forecast. That makes it closely tied to Ulysse Nardin’s history in marine navigation.
The automatic UN-106 calibre contains 338 components, runs at 4Hz and offers 50 hours of power reserve and 30 metres water resistance. Silicon is used for the escapement and hairspring, while pushers adjust local time forwards or backwards by one hour without disturbing the celestial indications. Limited to 20 pieces, £87,530.
Author: Lina Ress
If you like watches related to the heavens, you may enjoy reading our review of the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Moonlight,
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