Sometimes I realize that I’m writing an entry that only a SMALL number of people on the planet have any interest in, but when I’m one of those people, it makes it worth it to me. Last week, I finally got my Luar Swatch from Squiggly. The Luar is a VERY rare watch that is only sold the Swatch Luxury Store on the Via Della Spiga in Milano and on the Place Vendome in Paris. It is also the first Swatch with a moon phase.
Setting it was a bitch…
Since it keeps track of day of the week, month, date, time and moon phase, you can understand why it might be difficult to set a watch like this with only one crown. I scanned in the directions, but even with their help, it took Mike and I about ten minutes to figure out how to set the watch.
The crown has three positions. The A position is when it’s pushed all the way in. You can’t set anything in this position. The C position is when it’s pulled all the way out. The B position is the click between all the way in and all the way out. My biggest problem is that I read the directions to mean that there were FOUR positions. I didn’t realize A was all the way in. I thought there were three pulled out positions.
To set the day of the week (Sun, Mon, etc.):
Pull the crown all the way out (position C) and turn the time to just after midnight. The setting will click to the next day. To advance it an additional day, you don’t have to turn the hands another twenty four hours. You can turn the hands backward to before midnight (you will see the day of the week setting click a little, but not go backwards), then turn the hands past midnight again.
I recommend setting the day of the week setting to YESTERDAY. You’ll see why later.
To set the date:
Pull the crown one click out (position B) and turn the crown away from you (clockwise). This will advance the day indicator (it looks like a second hand). To set the month, you have to keep turning until you get past an entire year. There is no separate way to set the month. To make the correct month show, you must keep turning the crown past every day of the year until you get to the correct day.
I recommend setting the date to YESTERDAY. I’ll explain why later.
To set the moon phase:
Pull the crown one click out (position B) and turn the crown toward you (counter clockwise). To find out what phase the moon is currently in, here are a couple of websites:
Once again, set it to the moon phase for YESTERDAY.
To set the time:
Pull the crown all the way out (position C) and turn the crown either away or towards you to set the time. Keep turning the time away from you (clockwise) until you get past midnight. Once you get past midnight, ALL the settings should change (day of the week, date and moon phase). Now you KNOW you’re on today’s date at just after midnight. Set the correct time and your Luar watch is ready to go!
Review
Many of the Swatch enthusiasts were disappointed that the Luar is a battery powered watch instead of an automatic. With a price tag of approximately $450, it’s a little much to expect an automatic with a real moon phase. I’ve talked at length about what I desire in a watch here:
My desires have changed a lot since that day nearly four years ago when I went looking for the perfect watch. I still haven’t found it, but the Luar was able to do more than any other beautiful watch. Here were my criteria and how the Luar stands up to it:
- A beautiful watch: The Luar is definitely beautiful. It’s the moon phase and the simplicity of one crown that make the Luar look so good to me.
- Women’s watch: The Luar is too big for my wrist. It’s a man’s watch, but I’ve given up on having a women’s watch with a day/date/month feature. If I ever find one, I’ll let you know.
- Digital: I had to give up digital. NO ONE makes beautiful digital watches. I’ll just have to finally learn how to tell time with an analog watch.
- Metal case and band: The Luar has that.
- Time and Date on the display at the same time: This is one of the best features of the Luar.
- Stopwatch: There is no stopwatch (chronograph), but I run with my iPod and Nike+ all the time now. Not only does it log my workout times, but it uploads them to my computer automatically. I don’t need a stopwatch on my wrist anymore.
- Countdown Timer: There is no countdown timer, but my iPhone has taken the place of my need for one on my wrist.
- Light: There is no light, but the hands are glow in the dark. That doesn’t help me at two in the morning when the glow has worn off, however.
- Dual Time: I had to give this up as well.
So, with a rating of three features out of nine desires, the Luar looks like it just doesn’t stack up, but it’s the ONLY watch that has come this close. Keep trying, watch designers of the world. You just might make a watch specifically for me.
Update 04-29-13: Thank goodness I wrote this entry. The battery finally died on my watch and I had to reset it. The whole process was MUCH easier this time because of what I had written. On another note, I still ADORE this watch, but I have gone blind and can’t read the month or day of the week without reading glasses, so it’s less useful to me than some other watches I have. Doesn’t stop me from wearing it, though. If I REALLY need to know that info, I can pull out my phone.
Loading...