Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New Ochs und Junior Day/Night Holiday Edition 2025
A celebration of light, darkness, and the poetry of time, with over-the-phone assistance to set it all up.
Ochs und Junior, the independent brand founded in 2006 around the inventive genius of Dr Ludwig Oechslin, has built its reputation on watches that present complex astronomical or calendar displays in radically simple, functional designs. Models such as the perpetual calendar, annual calendar, and moon phase are already cult favourites among collectors who appreciate mechanical intelligence paired with understated aesthetics.
For the holiday season 2025 (it’s that close already), the brand brings back one of its most poetic creations, the day/night, in a new 40mm Holiday Edition. Initially conceived in 2018 as a one-off project, the day/night has since become a signature of the La Chaux-de-Fonds atelier, capturing the passing of time not just in hours and minutes but in the rhythm of light and darkness, and more, as we have explained when covering the initial Day/Night release in 2024.
The Holiday Edition 2025 comes in a Grade 5 titanium case weighing 61g, including strap and buckle, with a rhodium-plated dial accented by blue markers and hands coated in Super-LumiNova. The upper half of the dial represents daytime in brass, while the lower half shows nighttime in Ochs und Junior’s distinctive deep-blue patina, hand-drilled with brass stars. A hammered 24k gold sun and a platinum moon mark their positions in the sky as the display evolves throughout the day.
Despite its clean look, the watch presents an entire suite of astronomical information: it shows sunrise and sunset times, the length of day and night for a selected location in either hemisphere, solar noon, the position of the sun and moon, the moon phase, as well as the date, hour and minute. All of this is powered by the Ulysse Nardin UN-320 automatic calibre base, with a complication module by Oechslin.
In practice, the day/night is designed to be as intuitive as it is poetic. Winding the movement requires about 50 turns for a full 48-hour reserve, after which the crown allows for straightforward setting of the moon phase, solar noon, date and local time. Owners need only avoid adjusting the date between 8pm and 2am, a standard precaution for mechanical calendars. For those new to the watch, Ochs und Junior offers personal guidance over the phone, with the entire process taking just a few minutes. Please note, this is not a customizable edition.
The Holiday Edition is delivered on a Swiss sturgeon or Ecopell calf leather strap, with a handmade leather pouch by Sabina Brägger. This seasonal Ochs und Junior Day/Night 2025 is offered exclusively until January 6, 2026, at a special price of CHF 11,000 (export) / CHF 11,891 (incl. VAT). Orders placed by November 1, 2025, will be shipped in time for delivery by December 24, while orders placed after the cut-off date will arrive in early spring 2026. For more details, please visit www.ochsundjunior.swiss.
4 responses
What’s the logic behind those outrageous prices? OK, that’s a unique concept watch, but at this price point I would buy a lot of grail watches… You see, I am not super rich…
Interesting concept; shame it is so badly executed.
At first glance an ochs und junior watch might seem overly simple or overpriced, but as an owner of one of their Day/Night timepieces, I can tell you it’s worth every penny.
Let’s recap all the complications of this watch besides time and date:
– Location of the sun in the sky
– Location of the moon in the sky
– Length of day
– Length of night
– Sunrise
– Sunset
– Solar noon
– Moon phase
– Compass (if you match up where the sun or moon is in the sky with your watch, you are facing true south)
The only watch that comes even close to this number of astronomical complications is the Krayon Anywhere, which starts at $150,000 and only gives you four of the above complications, none of which involve the moon. And that watch needs 432 components to achieve this, while the Day/Night is only 240 components. To me, simplicity is better.
Then there’s the aesthetic beauty of a minimalist design, built for every day use, by a independent micro brand that only produces around 150 watches a year. And designed by one of the most ingenious watchmakers in the history of horology: Dr. Ludwig Oechslin.
I personally use my Day/Night as a tool watch. As a filmmaker, I’m constantly trying to shoot in the best light, so seeing sunrise and sunset at a glance is incredibly useful.
If the aesthetics of the Day/Night don’t do it for you, then I get why it’s not worth the money for you. But it hits every note that I could ask for in a timepiece. It’s my grail watch. Looking down and seeing a visual representation of the heavens, powered by gears and springs, always fills me with awe. I look forward to passing this watch to my son when I pass.
At first glance an ochs und junior watch might seem overly simple or overpriced, but as an owner of one of their Day/Night timepieces, I can tell you it’s worth every penny.
Take a look at the exhaustive list of complications that this deceptively simple watch has: location of the sun and the moon in the sky, length of day and night, sunrise, sunset, solar noon, moon phase, and a compass.
Then there’s the aesthetic beauty of a minimalist design, built for every day use, by a independent micro brand that only produces around 150 watches a year.
I personally use my Day/Night as a tool watch. As a filmmaker, I’m constantly trying to shoot in the best light, so seeing sunrise and sunset at a glance is incredibly useful.
If the aesthetics of the Day/Night don’t do it for you, then I get why it’s not worth the money for you. But it hits every note that I could ask for in a timepiece. Looking down and seeing a visual representation of the heavens, powered by gears and springs, always fills me with awe.