The New Sarpaneva Nocturne, And Its Glowing Moon Display

One of the rare Finnish watchmakers, Stepan Sarpaneva is also one with a very personal take on design and conception of his watches. One of his recurring themes is the Moon, again a very personal, stylized Moon that can be seen as a sort of auto-portrait, which has been seen in many of Stepan’s creations. The Finnish man is also known for his extensive use of Super-LumiNova, revealing most of his watches’ beauty at night and adding to the presence of our satellite. Today, it’s time for the Moon to proudly take centre stage again on the dial of one of his watches, with the new Sarpaneva Nocturne.

This watch “salutes the ruler of the night and her magical glow. She reveals the hidden beauty of our world, and maybe something about ourselves. The watch was originally inspired by old theatrical sceneries, especially the ones at tiny travelling theatres, capable of creating grand illusions. Its nocturnal illustration was created together with Ville Tietäväinen, an award-winning illustrator and graphic novelist from Finland,” explains Sarpaneva on his latest creation.

It all starts with the brand’s classic, scalloped case. The Sarpaneva Nocturne indeed relies on the typical and bold case design that has been Stepan’s signature for many years already. Original, yet not overly complex and still highly wearable, it is distinguished by its succession of convex and concave shapes, as well as sharp angles between them. The case, made of Finnish Outokumpu stainless steel, has reasonable proportions of 42mm in diameter, but mostly 11.4mm in height and 46mm from one lug to another. And if it might be a creative creation by an independent watchmaker, it remains nonetheless wearable on a daily basis with a screw-down crown, 100m water-resistance and sapphire crystals on both sides, with AR coating.

As often with the man’s watches, the Sarpaneva Nocturne is all about the dial and the story it has to tell. And here, it will tell two different stories, depending if you look at it day or night. The dial is composed of 6 complex parts, starting with the hand-finished stainless steel index ring on the periphery. Then, the lower plate, also in steel and with a matte surface, has no fewer than 233 openings, which are painted with 8 different colours of SLN to reveal the scene at night. The large Moon, shaped traditionally for Sarpaneva – the Moon FACE, to be precise – serves to measure the phases thanks to a cutout disc rotating over the dial. The animation below will help you understand the whole idea:

 

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The Sarpaneva Nocturne will be available in two different edition, one with a white glowing moon (the White Moon edition) and one with an orange glowing moon (the Harvest Moon edition). Each is worn on a black alligator leather strap with steel pin buckle. And the time is displayed by Stepan’s sharp signature hands, once again with luminescent material and two-tone finishing.

Under the sapphire caseback is a reliable, relatively simple base movement by Soprod, on which the Finnish watchmaker adds an in-house module for the Moon complication. The movement runs at 4Hz and stores 42 hours of power reserve. It displays the hours, minutes and phases of the moon, but not the seconds. It is finished with circular-grained and rhodium-plated bridges, under a specific and openworked steel rotor with Sarpaneva Moonface and white gold weight.

The Sarpaneva Nocturne will be limited to 30 pieces per colourway, with an expected delivery time between 2 and 6 months. It is priced at EUR 19,000 (without taxes). For more details and direct orders, visit www.sarpanevawatches.com.