Maurice Lacroix Les Classiques Phases de Lune Watch

Possibly one of the very best examples of folks buying a watch almost entirely for the specific movement and then brandname. And what do they get out of the deal? An ugly watch with an overly complicated vanity movement that will require expensive servicing (apparently sooner, rather than later), and I guess some kind of bragging rights (to whom I'm not sure) that they own a once upon a time, fancy Swiss, Maurice Lacroix watch? Lets's review... Rule No. 1 of watch collecting: Life is too short to wear and ugly watch; regardless of the brandname, the movement inside, or the deal you got on it. Rule No. 2 of watch collecting: The reason expensive watches end up here--is because they couldn't sell them there.

Nice! I'm way down off the peak of my own collecting and am down to maybe ten. I have had a lot of watches and very nice ones. I indulged myself and bought and wore my 'grails' then let pretty much all of them go. It's funny but after having major pieces, I most miss having a cool all-in-one sort of watch like this one. Not gold, not platinum, not AP or VC or Rolex… Nope. I had an old steel Zenith el Primero that was a chrono, complete calendar, and moon-phase—all packed into a 39mm, round, step-bezelled case. Crystal on the back is a must-have or it might as well just be a quartz. Really! It's all about honoring a 400 year-old mechanical art. It's about having a tiny machine that keeps track of and frames Your Universe. These types of pieces are the watches that I had a hard time letting go of when all the dust settled. Don't let it go!!!

The 7751 is not an easy movement to play with. The large number of complications make for a naturally busy dial that's difficult to complement well design wise, and I feel Maurice Lacroix missed it quite a bit on this one. Both black and white models seem terrible in terms of legibility, and to my eyes and taste don't look nice either, beyond the actual hands and sub-dials. Eterna has great examples of good looking 7751 based watches, and can be found for not so much more than this one when looking good/hard enough. [image] [image]