FOR THE STARGAZER

ong before he started getting billionaires in trouble with NASA, the comedian Joe Rogan did a bit onstage where he mocked our obsession with the Grand Canyon. People say it’s worth travelling miles to see because the scale makes you realise just how small your role in is quite a mouthful for the non-Gallic tongued, and as it caused more than the usual ripple, most took to the more easily pronounced ‘Hermès Moonphase’ moniker. But this is no standard moonphase. The case is familiar, the top-heavy lugs particular to the Arceau collection created in 1978 by star designer Henri d’Origny. But the execution of the lunar display is unlike anything seen before, and really rather fetching. There are two Moons, seen from the southern hemisphere at 12 o’clock, northern at six. In an inversion of tradition, the Moons stand still while time and the calendar revolve around them. A miniature planetary revolution, available with either aventurine or meteorite dial, each limited to 100 pieces.