Blancpain Léman Moon Phase

[dlgates]

(These are old photo reviews rescued from the original RWG site; I didn't want them to get lost forever! Old hands will already have seen them; some newbies might be interested.-- Dave)

Blancpain Léman Moon Phase

Received 7th April 2005 from Jos Nana

SS; diameter 38 mm; day, month, date, faux moon phase

The authentic watch is pictured here and carries a suggested retail price of $6,500 USD for the SS version::

The replica is quite accurate except that the 6 o'clock subdial has a 24-hour hand for a dial marked as if it were running seconds, and a jour et nuit sun-moon wheel, whereas the original has a power reserve indicator and true moon phase wheel.

In almost all other regards, the replication is quite accurate. The day and month windows are spaced slightly closer together than on the original; the red arrow point on the date hand is larger; and there is a 6 o'clock marker that shouldn't be there. Considering this is a rare watch that few people are ever likely to have seen, much less worn, it is a very good copy. Note particularly the hour and minute hands, which are transparent except for the tips.

If you look very closely at the pictures just above, you may notice that the "hump" on the left side of the moon dial looks as if it has been nibbled on by a wee beastie.

I was unable to find a picture of the authentic case back to compare with the replica:

An elegant watch...

And finally, on the wrist...

Before concluding, there is an interesting little story about the delivery of the watch. The watch was ordered on 21st February and, in accordance with Joshua's excellent service, was promptly shipped on the 22nd and despatched overseas on the 23rd.. Delivery time should have been anywhere from eight days minimum to about two weeks maximum, based on previous experience. Weeks began to slip by and the watch had not arrived, although clearly it left Singapore on an airplane for JFK Airport in New York and should have been in Customs by the 24th of February. After a week, there had been no word from Customs that the watch was being held. After waiting still longer, around 16th March Joshua sent me an IWC watch that I selected as a substitute--we were assuming the Blancpain had been permanently lost by the USPS or stolen while passing through Customs.

Well, a month and a half after Joshua shipped the watch, it suddenly arrived at my local post office. The package was in excellent condition and it had obviously not been opened by Customs or anyone else. The address was bold and clear. Finally, a day after the watch arrived on 7th April, I looked carefully at the package again and noticed a barely legible scribble in one corner that appeared to be "73011" and an indeterminate squiggle. Since 73011 definitely looked like a ZIP Code, I promptly found on the 'net that it belongs to a tiny town in Oklahoma called Bradley. This town has a population of 182 people, spread among 86 households. What kind of post office exists there I cannot imagine, but I now assume that the package had been lying in its possession for nearly a month--no doubt the first time anything with a postmark from Singapore had appeared there. It made me wonder if the local postal person had kept the package until everyone in the town had had a chance to see it before he/she bothered to forward it on to the correct address!

The end of the story, of course, is that Joshua got paid for and I received, eventually, two watches instead of one (that is not counting the others I bought from him in between).

Except it turns out that it is not the end of the story after all...

Now for the disappointing part. The hand on the 6 o'clock subdial initially ran and was obviously following the 24-hour clock even though it was off by 1-1/2 hours. In other words, the hand should have been on 30 at noon and on 60 at midnight. What has happened with the watch now is that as the date hand has come around, operating properly, and instead of passing over the subdial hand, as it is supposed to, apparently because the subdial hand is slightly bent upwards, the date hand is now caught under the subdial hand so that neither one of them can function properly. This could not be observed before, because if you study the dial, you can see that the date hand when moving from 18 to 31 and on to 13 is always clear of the subdial. However, since the date is now between the 13th and 18th of the month, the collision was inevitable and just happened to have occurred tonight. I had accepted the inaccuracy of the subdial hand as something I could live with. Unfortunately the date hand is one of the most significant features of the watch, and now that it cannot function because of being caught on the subdial hand, it will require a watchsmith to correct the situation (I am not prepared to dismantle the watch and fix the hands). Any volunteers? Since the collision of the hands actually occurred this midnight as the date hand was moving from 14 to 15, it remains to be seen what if any damage will be done to the movement by this situation. I have just now pulled out the crown, so that the hacking mechanism will stop the watch running and, one hopes, prevent serious damage. As of a few minutes past midnight, this beautiful watch is now useless as a timepiece.

It has, of couse, taken me all evening to prepare this photo review--nearly four hours from start to finish--with no intention of having anything but praise for the watch. But now, past midnight, I have just taken one additional picture that will show exactly what has happened:

THE END

Thanks for looking!

Dave

P.S. & N.B.: Subsequent posts to the original thread would have explained that the problem was fixed very simply by removing the movement from the case and replacing the hands in proper position after a very slight bending of the one that was catching. All was well, and Joshua had again delivered a marvelous watch.