Louis Moinet Bets Twelve Buyers on the Moon Meteor

Louis Moinet priced the Moon Meteor at 48,000 Swiss francs and will make only 12. Each watch carries six named meteorites, a nebula painted under a microscope, and a lunar disc that changes after dark. The automatic movement still offers 48 hours of reserve, and the grade 5 titanium case stands 17.92 mm high.

That package is the wager. Collectors who want a grey meteorite slice with a certificate can buy one for a few thousand euros. This one asks them to pay for named rocks, miniature painting, and a scene that is unfinished until the lights go out.

The Wager Is Twelve Watches at 48,000 Francs

Les Ateliers Louis Moinet lists the Moon Meteor as a limited edition of just twelve pieces, each engraved “One of Twelve.” The 40.7 mm case is grade 5 titanium, polished and satin-finished, with openworked lugs and a box sapphire crystal treated on both sides. The case mass is 18 grams, which is light for the height, because titanium carries the stack rather than steel or gold.

THE MOON METEOR AT A GLANCE

• The run: 12 watches, each engraved “One of Twelve.”
• The price: 48,000 Swiss francs before taxes.
• The case: 40.7 mm across, 17.92 mm high, 18 grams of grade 5 titanium.
• The rating: 30 metres of water resistance.

Inside sits calibre LM113, a self-winding movement Louis Moinet developed with Concepto. It beats at 28,800 vibrations an hour, or 4 Hz, and stores 48 hours of power. It shows hours, minutes and the lunar cycle. A 135-tooth wheel drives the central moon, and the maison says the display will drift by one day in 122 years.

Those are not the figures that sell a 48,000-franc watch. A two-day reserve is ordinary. Thirty metres of water resistance is a dress-watch number. The money is in the dial, and in the decision to cut the run to 12 so each painted scene can be treated as a unique object rather than a production batch.

What Six Meteorites Sit on the Dial

Three fragments streak across the painted sky. A fourth forms the flange that carries the hours. Two more sit on the rotating lunar disc as the full moon and the new moon. Louis Moinet names every specimen, which is the difference between a space-themed watch and a tray of labelled rocks.

THE SIX ROCKS ON THE DIAL

The maison says NWA 13925, a genuine Martian stone, is priced at more per gram than gold and platinum combined. Jbilet Winselwan is the fragment it ties to amino acids, “molecules essential to life.” Sahara 97093 is an EH3 enstatite meteorite that, in the brand’s telling, holds microdiamonds of interstellar origin. Muonionalusta, formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago, shows the geometric Widmanstätten pattern once the flange is cut and etched, and the hour markers are laser-engraved into that iron.

The Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Meteoritical Bulletin records the Jbilet Winselwan CM2 found in 2013 near Smara in Western Sahara, with a total mass of about 6 kg, and lists it as one of 675 approved CM2 meteorites. The Bulletin writeup does not mention amino acids. That claim comes from the maison, and from founder Jean-Marie Schaller, who used the same stone on an earlier watch and called the traces “the first signs of life in the cosmos.” Sahara 97093, he said, took its microdiamonds “at the heart of stars that exploded and became supernovas.”

Gadamis 005, grey and white and marbled, stands in for the full moon. The maison says specialists rank it among the most beautiful lunar meteorites, and that its composition resembles material from the Apollo 16 highlands. Dhofar 457 is almost black because the rock formed inside a crater, and it plays the new moon. A tiny hand-painted astronaut stands above the slightly domed disc and acts as the reading point while the two lunar fragments rotate beneath his boots.

The Dial That Waits for Lights Out

The nebula is a miniature painting, built under a binocular microscope with a brush that holds only a few hairs. The artist lays successive coats of lacquer and varnish in blue, red and black, then works in a thick glow paint loaded with luminous pigment. Each stage is judged in daylight and again in darkness until the night scene holds.

Switch the lights off and the background ignites. The Moon glows. Details that sat in the varnish come forward. The brand has described that dial work as hour-long craftsmanship, which is a long time to spend on a disc that most owners will see in an office. The bet is that the owner will also see it at night, and that this second viewing is what they paid for.

Astronomy is inextricably linked to the history of Louis Moinet. The great watchmaker created the first chronograph in history for his celestial observations. Two centuries later, it has become part of my own personal history. Among the many passions my father passed on to me is this fascination with the cosmos and the infinite, with humanity’s great adventures and, of course, with meteorites, which he collected. With the MOON METEOR, I wanted to build on this legacy through my own artistic vision: to work with colour, texture and light, and to create a dialogue between the delicacy of a luminescent miniature painting and the mineral power of rare meteorites, all orchestrated by an astronomical moon mechanism. Above all, I love that part of the work remains a secret, and that you have to wait until nightfall to discover it.

Nathanaël Schaller, Creative Director, Les Ateliers Louis Moinet

The painted astronaut is easy to mock if you want a thin, quiet watch. It is also the only honest index for this moon display, because the disc itself is a landscape, not a window with two gold dots. Faceted, skeletonised hands carry lume so they still read when the nebula takes over.

Why the Case Stands 17.92 mm Tall

The movement measures 12.7 mm thick on its own. Add a domed box crystal, a painted dial, a meteorite flange and the central moon disc, and the finished watch reaches 17.92 mm. That is expedition-watch height on a 40.7 mm titanium case that otherwise tries to look civilised. Openworked lugs and the mix of polish and satin keep it from reading as a puck, and 18 grams helps on the wrist. It will still fight a tailored cuff.

THE EARTHLY LIMITS

• Power reserve: 48 hours, so a Monday-to-Wednesday watch if you take it off.
• Water resistance: 30 metres, enough for rain, not for a swim.
• Height: 17.92 mm including the box sapphire.
• Functions: hours, minutes and the lunar cycle, with no date.

None of those numbers would pass a tool-watch brief. They are consistent with an object whose job is to hold a painted sky and six labelled stones without fogging or flooding at a sink. “Moon” in the name is the theme. It is not a destination, and the 30-metre rating says so without a press release.

The thickness and the painted astronaut will look like costume jewellery to anyone shopping for a slim dress watch. The price assumes a buyer who wants that theatre and will wear 17.92 mm in the evening, when the lume is the point.

Nathanaël Schaller Picks Up His Father’s Rocks

Jean-Marie Schaller revived Les Ateliers Louis Moinet in 2004 and spent twenty years collecting meteorites. He put twelve different specimens into Cosmopolis, which received a Guinness World Records title on 21 September 2023 for the most meteorite inserts in a watch. Lunar and Martian stones became a house signature, not a one-off marketing inlay.

The Moon Meteor press kit went out on 21 August 2026. The quote on the product page is not Jean-Marie’s. It is Nathanaël Schaller’s, as Creative Director, talking about passions his father passed on, including the meteorites. The night-only painting is the son’s wager on top of the collection: same rocks, more colour, a secret that waits for darkness.

FROM THE 1816 COUNTER TO TWELVE WATCHES

1. 1816: Louis Moinet completes his Compteur de Tierces, a high-speed instrument built to time astronomical transits, later recognised as the first chronograph completed in 1816.
2. 2004: Jean-Marie Schaller founds the modern ateliers and begins a meteorite collection that will feed later dials.
3. 21 September 2023: Cosmopolis takes the Guinness title for the most meteorite inserts in a watch, twelve specimens on one dial.
4. 2024: The Black Moon puts Gadamis 005 and Dhofar 457 on a central disc in a 60-piece run priced at 26,500 Swiss francs.
5. 21 August 2026: The Moon Meteor press kit is issued, with Nathanaël Schaller as Creative Director.
6. September 2026: The Moon Meteor is shown as a 12-piece watch at 48,000 Swiss francs.

The original Louis Moinet built a 216,000-vph counter so he could time stars, not decorate a wrist. Two centuries later the house still sells astronomy, but the product is a painted nebula and a tray of named stones. The 135-tooth moon wheel is the leftover instrument, accurate enough that the artisans can dominate the conversation.

The 135-Tooth Wheel Comes From La Chaux-de-Fonds

LM113 is signed Louis Moinet. It is not made in a back room at Saint-Blaise. Concepto Watch Factory, founded in 2006 by Valérien Jaquet on the edge of La Chaux-de-Fonds, builds most of the maison’s movements. The factory houses about 160 people under one 7,500-square-metre roof and turns out 30,000 to 40,000 movements a year for more than 40 clients, from ultra-thin work for other brands to tourbillons and the theatrical modules Louis Moinet likes to put on the dial.

That partnership is the quiet half of the bet. The Moon Meteor does not need a new high-frequency escapement or a four-day reserve. It needs a central astronomical moon that stays honest while painters and stone-cutters take over the front. Concepto already knew this architecture from the Black Moon. The new work is the nebula, the extra meteorites, the astronaut, and the lume that has to be checked in a dark room.

Call LM113 a manufacture calibre if you want the brochure language. Call it a specialist engine from a supplier that also feeds much larger names, and the 48,000-franc ticket makes more sense. Buyers are not paying for an in-house balance spring. They are paying for six labelled specimens and a painting that has a second life after dinner.

Sixty Black Moons Came First, at a Lower Price

The 2024 Black Moon used the same lunar pair, Gadamis 005 and Dhofar 457, on a central disc, with the same 135-tooth claim of one day in 122 years. It was limited to 60 pieces at 26,500 Swiss francs and rated to 50 metres. The Moon Meteor keeps the moon idea, cuts the run to one-fifth, raises the price by 81%, drops the water rating to 30 metres, and spends the extra money on the painted sky, the Martian fragment, the carbonaceous streak, the enstatite streak and the Muonionalusta flange.

MOON METEOR AND THE 2024 BLACK MOON

Muonionalusta itself is no longer a scarce trick. Dive watches with a slice of that Swedish iron now sell in runs of 150 for a few thousand euros. Rolex and Omega have been selling grey patterned discs for years. A meteorite flange with a certificate would not justify 48,000 Swiss francs. Six named specimens plus a night-only painting might, if twelve people agree.

The Moon Meteor will not convince anyone who wanted a slimmer case or a longer reserve. It does not try. Twelve numbered titanium cases, a painted astronaut, and a dial that keeps a secret until nightfall are the whole offer, and the maison is asking 48,000 Swiss francs to see who takes it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Louis Moinet Moon Meteor Watches Will Be Made?

Twelve, and each case is engraved “One of Twelve.” The maison ties that number to the Moon’s steady rhythm rather than to a production target, and the run is small enough that each nebula is painted as a separate miniature rather than a repeated print.

How Do You Read the Moon Phase on the Moon Meteor?

A hand-painted astronaut above the central disc is the pointer. The full moon is showing when the grey-and-white Gadamis 005 fragment sits under him, and the new moon is showing when the black Dhofar 457 fragment lines up instead, as the 135-tooth train turns the disc.

What Strap and Clasp Come With the Moon Meteor?

A Louisiana alligator strap, 20 mm at the lugs, with alligator lining, closed by a triple-folding clasp that includes fine adjustment. The strap is the conventional part of an otherwise theatrical watch.

What Are the Exact Movement Measurements?

Calibre LM113 is 30.4 mm across and 12.7 mm thick, with 29 jewels, and the finished reference is LM-113.20.20. That 12.7 mm stack is why the boxed crystal and painted dial push the watch to 17.92 mm on the wrist.

Is the Moon Meteor a Diving Watch Because of the Name?

No. Water resistance is 30 metres, the same class as many dress watches, so rain and a washbasin are the limit. The name points at the lunar disc and the meteorites, not at a depth rating, and the sapphire caseback is held by seven screws so you can see the rotor rather than a tool-watch case.