Earlier this month, we brought you word of a new Kickstarted watch, the Agelocer Moonphase. As we mentioned in that article, we had a loaner on the way in, and now we’re back for a review. And perfect timing as well, as the campaign is fully funded, but it’s still got some days left on the clock. So, read on to see if the Agelocer Moonphase might be the one for you.
As I suspected in my original article, the star of the show on the Agelocer Moonphase is, without a doubt, the dial. For one, I’ve never seen a moonphase so dominate a dial like this. I will note here – from some reading, and my own sense of feel with setting the phase, this is running on the date pinion, meaning it’s got a 31-day cycle rather than the 28 a true moonphase uses. So, you will be resetting this regularly, but that’s a minor inconvenience (and something that’s not too surprising at this pricepoint).
It’s not just that the moon dominates the dial of the Agelocer Moonphase – it’s that it’s a pretty lovely modeling of the moon, with it’s dimples and craters. That, of course, it set into that aventurine dial which is about the loveliest material I’ve seen on a dial. Used to be that I’d say that lapis lazuli was my favorite blue dial material, but now that I’ve experience aventurine (and that’s ignoring opal), I’m going to have to widen my own category to say top dial materials, and not just a single choice. It really captures the sense of a star-filled sky, and captures the light as you move your wrist in a way that’s hard to capture in a photo. I will say, when I showed it to some friends (who aren’t into watches) they as well were captured by the moon set into the sky as we have here. So, definitely an attention-getter.
All of this is set into a 40mm case with a very narrow bezel, so you are not distracted from the celestial display. And, at just 11mm for an automatic, this is very essence of a dressier piece that slips under a shirt cuff without issue. Paired to the croc-embossed leather strap, that keeps things going in the dressier manner, but that was actually the weakest part of the design for me. The strap is ok enough, but the way that the clasp works (and for how wide it is) it’s difficult to get it in a comfortable spot where it wasn’t digging into the bottom of my wrist. It also adds a good bit of bulk, so my recommendation is going to be to get the upgrade metal bracelet they’re offering (with curved end-links), and then plan to sub in your own leather strap if you want something a little more casual.
At the end of the day, the Agelocer Moonphase is unlike any watch I’ve reviewed in recent memory. The dial is just lovely, and the moon sets in it quite nice as well. A bit of a shame the moonphase is on a 31-day cycle, but balanced against the overall packaging and the fact you’ve got an 80-hour power reserve, there’s a very lot to like with the Agelocer Moonphase. As I mentioned at the outset, there campaign is funded, and it’s still going until April 29th. There’s still an earlybird slot at $599 (or $279 for the ladies’ quartz version). Check it all out over at the campaign page / agelocer.com
Tech Specs from Agelocer
