Hands-On Review of the Arnold & Son Luna Magna Red Gold Meteorite
When you think of moon phase watches, or at least when I think of moon phase watches, the first brand to come to my mind is Arnold & Son. But beyond the brand’s wide selection of moonphases in their current collection, Arnold & Son has a lot of history. The brand’s founder, John Arnold, along with Abraham-Louis Breguet, are long thought of as the two inventors of the modern mechanical wristwatch. The story goes that in the early days of mechanical watchmaking, Arnold met and became friends with Breguet. This friendship went so far that Breguet allowed Arnold’s son to intern for him. In exchange Arnold let Breguet use some of his innovations in Breguet’s watches.
Relationship with Breguet aside, Arnold and his eponymous brand, Arnold & Son, has plenty of its own history to write about. Founded in 1787 by Arnold and, you guessed it, his son John Roger Arnold (yes the same son who interned for Breguet), the brand has been making luxury watches ever since.
In its more recent history, I would argue that Arnold & Son has become almost synonymous with a single complication, the moonphase. Yes, the Time Pyramid is a well known timepiece (that I really love) and they do produce a tourbillon, but its the moonphase where Arnold & Son really makes its mark in terms of the breadth of the collection and innovation.
And probably my favorite of Arnold & Son’s moonphases is one of their more recent releases: the Luna Magna. Unlike most other moonphases produced by all the big luxury brands from Patek Philippe to Breguet itself, the Luna Magna is just different. It is a spherical moonphase that to me is much more visually interesting than anything else out there on the market (because, let’s face it, who actually needs a moonphase complication?).
The original Luna Magna was released just about two years ago, in January 2022. But I went hands-on with the newer Luna Magna Red Gold Meteorite, released just a few months ago in September. Before we get further into details of the Luna Magna Red Gold Meteorite, let me just get this out of the way. This is my favorite moonphase watch I’ve seen in the metal.
When you first hold the Luna Magna, you’ll notice that its a large watch. Not only is the watch 44mm in diameter, but it is thick. Luckily, the crown is rather flat and close to the case and the lugs are small and curved, so it does wear a little bit smaller that a typical 44mm watch. However, let’s talk about the watch’s thickness. Including the domed crystal (and the boxed crystal display caseback), the Luna Magna is 15.9mm thick. Normally, I would say that this is too thick, but there is a legitimate reason for it here. The spherical moon is a whopping 12mm in diameter. In order for the case and watch to accommodate such a large object, the crystal had to be domed. If you look at a side view of the case, you will see the 3D moon peaking above of red gold case.
Speaking of the moon, as I have said, it is three dimemsional and really the first of its kind. The moon side of the moonphase is made of Cacholong opal, while the other half is a blue PVD-treated meteorite, matching the dial (more on that later). The moonphase is coated in lume and when lumed it reveals the terrain of the moon. The moon is visible through the display caseback as well and there is also a moonphase indicator on the caseback allowing easy setting of the correct phase of the moon. The moonphase has an incredible accuracy, only requiring a single day correction every 122 years and the moonphase indicator really aids this. Setting the moonphase without an indicator would only allow you get an approximation of the actual phase of the moon, so having it allows a more exact setting. And while you need to correct the moonphase once every 122 years, I don’t think any of us will live to actually live to see the day. But its good to know we can pass it down to our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren without having to worry about the moonphase being incorrect (well, that is if you keep the hand wound movement going).
The time only subdial is a relatively classic affair with Roman numeral indices and blue skeletonized hands. The hands and indexes aren’t lumed, instead the whole subdial is lumed (the same color as the 3D moon). This makes time-telling very legible, even in the dark. I also found the lume to be extremely long-lasting, which can be a problem with lume dial watches.
Besides the spherical moon, the other main attraction of the Luna Magna is the meteorite dial. Besides the time subdial and half of the moon, the entire dial is meteorite. The meteorite dial has a typical criss-cross pattern, but it is unique because the dial has been treated with a blue PVD technique. In darker rooms, this can make the meteorite harder to see, but when in proper light, the dial really shines. It pairs well with the red gold (or rose gold) case and the blue alligator leather strap. The leather strap is on a partially gold and partially steel deployant buckle. Though for its price-point, I would have expected the entire buckle to be gold.
The watch runs on the in-house, La Joux-Perret manufactured A&S1021 caliber manual wind movement, which beats at 21,600vph/3hz. It has a very respectable 90-hour power reserve. The watch features some, though not a lot of, decoration. It has Geneva stripes in a radiating pattern from the center. I think that with the moonphase and moonphase indicator visible through the caseback, there is enough visual interest there and, yes, the finishing is excellent.
As I said, the watch is large, and does not try to be anything but. Yes, Arnold & Son has employed some watchmaking tricks (described earlier) to make it a more manageable wear on the wrist. I don’t have a particularly large wrist at 6.75 inches, but I didn’t feel like the Luna Magna was too large. The one thing I will note is that, stylistically, at least, the Luna Magna is a dress watch. As such, due to its thickness, it is not going to easily slip under your cuff. I personally, don’t adhere to the dress watch vs. sport watch distinction very much in my daily decision on what watch to wear, so I am not too bothered by this. However, I am not sure I can recommend the Luna Magna to be your Black Tie, tuxedo watch. All this aside, I really love the watch, and if you are a fan of moonphase complications, I would say this is the watch to own.
The Arnold & Son Luna Magna Red Meteorite is is a limited edition of just 38 timepieces and is fairly expensive. It retails for $61,100 USD. You can learn more Arnold & Son’s website.
