Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck Review

Today we're going to be taking a look at the most complicated watch that Hourstriker has reviewed. A watch so complicated that it even took me a good amount of time to understand the complications and how to even set the watch. A lot of the fun in watch collecting is experiencing something new, especially in complications you haven't come across before.

The watch in question is the Blast Moonstruck from Ulysse Nardin. Before we get into the details of the watch, let's quickly go over the history of Ulysse Nardin as well as the three watches that preceded the Blast Moonstruck and served for its inspiration.



We have reviewed a good deal of watches from Ulysse Nardin and have spoken in detail about the history of the brand, but we'll run through a quick refresher here. Ulysse Nardin was founded by their namesake Ulysse Nardin in Le Locle, Switzerland in 1846. Ulysse was a skilled watchmaker and was trained by his father Leonard-Frederic Nardin as well as master watchmakers Frederic-William Dubois and Louis Jean Richard-dit-Bressel.

The 23 year old Ulysse Nardin was a very ambitious watchmaker and with his solid training dedicated to the precision of timekeeping, Ulysse set off to disrupt the watchmaking world. Nardin really made a name for his new manufacture by producing some of the most accurate Marine Chronometers the world had seen. These devices were crucial for marine navigation and demanded the most in precision and reliability. In short time Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometers became the industry standard based on their exceptional quality.

In 1862, Ulysse Nardin was recognized at the London International Exhibition where they won the "Prize Medal" award. This accolade only bolstered Ulysse Nardin's reputation and navies all over the world started to outfit their ships with Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometers including the US, Russian and Japanese navies.



After Ulysse Nardin passed away in 1876, his son Paul-David Nardin went on to take over the manufacture. Along with Marine Chronometers, under Paul-David the brand started to produce pocket chronometers as well. During this time Ulysse Nardin would constantly place first in observatory competitions once again showing their ability to produce extremely accurate timepieces.

The Trilogy of Time

Ulysse Nardin was able to survive the quartz crisis of the 1970's and 80's and after being acquired by Rolf Schnyder in 1983 started collaborating with the brilliant watchmaker Dr. Ludwig Oechslin. Oechslin would go one to design two of the most important and respected creations for Ulysse Nardin, one being the Freak and the other being the Trilogy of Time series of watches. The Blast Moonstruck is the successor to the Trilogy of Time series, which we will explore first before moving on to the Blast Moonstruck.

The Trilogy of Time was a series of three groundbreaking astronomical watches developed by Oechslin starting in 1985. These watches were miniature planetariums that were wearable on the wrist and were able to display complex astronomical information in a clear and intuitive manner. The Trilogy of Time also completely redefined what was possible with astronomical complications in a wristwatch.



The first in the series was the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei released in 1985. This watch was a minute astrolabe on the wrist, which is an ancient tool that was used to determine the position of celestial bodies, predict their movements and tell time. These devices were normally the size of a dinner plate, but Oechslin was able to reduce its size to fit inside of a watch. The Guinness Book of World Records bestowed the honor of most complicated watch to the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei soon after its release as well.

Besides the typical local time, calendar and moon phase displays, the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei also contains many additional complications. The watch displays the solar time which varies slightly due to the elliptical orbit of the sun and is displayed via the equation of time. The Astrolabium Galileo Galilei also shows the times of sunrise and sunset as well as the moonrise and moonset based on the owner's location. The watch also displays the current position of the Zodiac and can also predict eclipses. Finally the most impressive complication is the display of the positions of the sun, moon and stars. The watch is able to represent the relative positions of the sun and moon as well as prominent stars to the Earth.

The next watch in the Trilogy of Time was the Planetarium Copernicus released in 1988. The Planetarium Copernicus shifted the focus of the celestial bodies as seen from Earth to being heliocentric. In this watch the sun was at the center of the solar system with the planets orbiting around it. The Planetarium Copernicus was a novel way of visualizing the solar system providing a dynamic model of our ever moving solar system.



As with the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei, the Planetarium Copernicus also had the traditional local time and month displays. The Zodiac Calendar was now in reference to the sun as opposed to the Earth as on the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei. The position of the five visible planets visible with the naked eye are also displayed with their accurate position to the Sun, these include Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Finally the Earth is also represented along with a smaller body representing the moon orbiting around it.

The final watch released in the series was the Tellurium Johannes Kepler which was released in 1992. This watch combines various complications seen on the previous two watches and also gives a unique perspective of the world as seen from above the North Pole. The name Tellurium means a mechanical model of the Earth, Moon and Sun system. Of the three Trilogy of Time models, the Tellurium Johannes Kepler is the most visually striking and shows Earth's perspective in the cosmos.

The Tellurium Johannes Kepler also displays local time, zodiac and calendar information like the other two watches, but now also added a world time display as well. With the visual representation of the northern hemisphere, the watch is easily able to display the terminator line which shows were sunrise and sunset is occurring around the world. The moon's phase and position are displayed as it orbits the Earth disc showing its position relative to the sun. The positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth on the tellurium also allow for the accurate prediction of both solar and lunar eclipses.



Besides being ground breaking watches that displayed unbelievable celestial information on your wrist, the Trilogy of Time were also revolutionary for being able to radically simplify these displays. Oechslin was also a master of getting all of these complications to co-exist with using fewer parts and gear trains that would have been thought possible to achieve for such displays. This meant the watches were easy to operate and maybe even more importantly relatively easy to service.

In 2009 the spiritual descendant to the Trilogy of Time was released by Ulysse Nardin called the Moonstruck. This watch was another astronomical watch with a geocentric view with the Earth found in its center and celestial bodies displayed in relation to it.

Like seen on various watches in the Trilogy of Time series, the Moonstruck also displayed time, date and world time information (2017 release). The main differences seen in the Moonstruck was with its moon, tide and sun displays. The moon phase and position display now displayed the illuminated portion of the moon as viewed from Earth. It not only displayed the phase of the moon, but also its angle of illumination. The sun's position also tied in with the world time display now not only displaying the time in the world's cities but also which were currently being bathed in sunlight. Finally the Moonstruck was able to display tidal forces exerted by the Sun and Moon on the Earth's oceans.



While the original release of the Moonstruck was housed in a more classical case from Ulysse Nardin, the 2022 update now came in the modern Blast housing. The Blast Moonstruck took all of the horological wizardry found in the Moonstruck and moved it into a modern and sporty case that tied in better to Ulysse Nardin's current design aesthetic. Other updates were also seen in this refreshed design, but we'll get to those later in the review.

Initial Thoughts

When the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck arrived the first thing I noticed about the watch was its black and gold color scheme. The case of the Moonstruck is crafted out of blackened titanium and ceramic and most of its displays are done in a rich rose gold. The color combination is just striking and unlike anything I've ever seen before. The contrast between the black and gold also makes the dial and all of its complications very legible.

The next thing I noticed was the size and weight of the Moonstruck. My personal watch collection is mostly made up of large watches and many of them are crafted out of titanium or ceramic, so the Blast Moonstruck seemed right at home to me. This is something I love seeing since everyday it seems a new sub 40 mm watch is being released. It really shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Moonstruck is a large watch since it is comprised of 733 individual parts. I measured a case diameter of 45.4 mm and a lug to lug length of 53.5 mm. The watch weighed in at 116 grams and at its thickest point is 15.5 mm thick. These numbers are just goldilocks measurements for me personally and naturally the watch fit great on my wrist.



The last thing I noticed during my initial time with the Blast Moonstruck is that I had no idea what anything on the watch did. While this initially gave me a bit of panic, once that washed away I knew it would be fun learning about what the Moonstruck is and what all the displays represented and how they worked.

Technical Specifications

Now that I've gone over the history of Ulysse Nardin as well as the Trilogy of Time collection and also given my initial thoughts on the Blast Moonstruck, let's now take a look at the watch's technical specifications. Like I mentioned earlier, the Blast Moonstruck is crafted out of blackened titanium and black ceramic. The case diameter is 45.5 mm and the lug to lug length is 53.5 mm. The ceramic and titanium construction along with the liberal use of sapphire leads to a fairly low weight of 116 grams when on the rubber strap with deployant clasp. I'm sure with how complicated the movement is, a good deal of the watch's weight can be factored to that. The Blast Moonstruck is also 15.5 mm thick, but that has a lot to do with the glassbox sapphire design and also the map of the Earth in the center of the dial is actually a secondary sapphire that is fixed to the primary sapphire and is domed.

To my best estimate the glassbox sapphire extends around 3 mm above the bezel and gives an amazing unobstructed view of the dial beneath. The center of the sapphire has been removed and replaced with an additional domed sapphire that measures around 14.5 mm in diameter that has a white depiction of the northern hemisphere on it. Between the two sapphires is a gold date ring which displays the current date. The sapphires are joined together by a gasket and as far as I can remember this is the first time I have ever seen a watch that utilizes two sapphires for just the front crystal.



Underneath the crystals is the mostly black dial which houses all of the Blast Moonstruck's complication displays. Around the outside of the dial the major cities of the world in various time zones are displayed. These cities are printed in alternating white and gold colors. Moving one ring in you now have the world time disc. This ring displays the current time in 24 hour format for all of the listed cities. Adding another interesting layer is that the times of day where the sun is out are displayed in the gold portion of the ring while the times during the night are on a black portion of the ring.

Also on this ring the representation of the sun is positioned at high noon or 12 o'clock. The sun is crafted out of a semi-precious stone called bronzite and is meant to resemble the convection cells in the Sun's photosphere. This ring also features some Murano aventurine backing to break up the black and gold. The sun's position also represents which city on the world time disc is currently getting mid-day sun.

The moon ring is next as you start to approach the center of the dial. The moon is represented by an aperture that displays not on the phase of the moon but also the angle of illumination. The moon disc actually has a star shaped depiction of the moon's surface that allows the watch to accurately display how the illuminated part of the moon would appear from the Earth's surface. Each of the five sections of the star has a slightly different detailed view of the lunar surface that when combined with the opening and movement of the aperture allow the Moonstruck to achieve this feat. Finally the number on the moon disc found under the sun indicates how long it has been since the last new moon.



Moving all the way into the center of the dial just outside of the date ring dividing the two sapphires is the date indicator. This small lumed triangle points to the current date of the rotating date disc. In the center of the dial are the hour and minute hands which are gold and feature the same Super-Luminova found on the date indicator. These are the only lumed elements on the dial and glow a bright bluish green in low light.

The final indictors on the dial are for the tides. These elliptical rings align with the Sun and Moon figures and can show each body effects the Earth's tides. When the Sun, Earth and Moon are all aligned we have spring tides which are the strongest high and low tides. When the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other we then have the neap tides, which are the weakest tides. The Blast Moonstruck easily illustrates these tidal patterns visually on the dial. You can also just visual see the normal tide patterns caused by the moon by following the elliptical path of the moon's disc.

Now that we've gone over all of the displays on the dial of the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck, let's take a break from the academic stuff and look at the case of the watch. The all blacked out look of the Blast Moonstruck is crafted out of mixture of blackened titanium and black ceramic. The case is comprised of many angles and a mix of finishes between polished and matte. The effect is a case that catches the light like not many watches I can remember. The different facets of the case seem to always be catching some bit of light and really make the case sparkle. The mid case is made up of a black satin finished recessed area that is framed by a polished frame giving the watch some amazing depth.



The left side of the case has two polished pushers that advance and back up the hour hand by one hour with each push. These pushers only adjust the hour hand as well as the date disc. Also found on the left hand side is small plaque that displays the case number of the watch, which is a mainstay found on most Ulysse Nardin watches.

The right hand side of the watch has a non-screw down crown that is a mixture of satin and polished finishes. The crown is scalloped deeply and is topped off with the Ulysse Nardin anchor logo. In its resting position the crown allows you to manually wind the automatic movement. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to move the date indicator around the date disc for quick setting of the date. Like most mechanical watches, it is important you never adjust the date setting between 10 pm and 2 am to avoid damaging the movement. Pulling the crown all the way out to position two allows you to set the time. Turning the crown in position two also allows you to advance the position of the sun and moon. Having a non-screw down crown and multi-part sapphire crystal gives the Blast Moonstruck a water resistance rating of just 30 meters. More than enough for rain and splashes, but this is not a watch you want to go swimming with.

Now the break from the slightly more complicated information is over as we turn to how to correctly set the Blast Moonstruck. The first step is to set the hour hand to GMT time by using the pushers on the left hand side of the case. Next pull the crown out to position two and advance the watch to the next new moon where the moon and sun are in alignment and the moon is completely dark. Now you need to push the crown into position one and adjust the date to the correct date. Finally pull the crown back out to position two and adjust the lunar display to the correct moon phase. You can then set the correct local time with either the crown in position two or with the pushers on the left hand side of the case.



I would normally say that watch winders are not a necessary addition to your watch collection, but in the case of the Blast Moonstruck I would strongly recommend investing in a good one. The setting procedure for the watch isn't that complex but it does take a good bit of time. Even watchmakers from Ulysse Nardin said give yourself 2 to 5 minutes to set the watch if it has stopped. This isn't even accounting for looking up the current new moon or phase of the moon in addition. Also with a watch this expensive there is always the risk of damaging the movement when quick setting the date if the time was set between 10 pm and 2 am by mistake when adjusting for the new moon.

Flipping the Blast Moonstruck over shows off the incredible in-house caliber UN-106 through the display caseback. Around the screwed down case back are engravings for the water resistance, reference number, Ulysse Nardin and the GPS coordinates for Le Locle, Switzerland the home of Ulysse Nardin. The caseback is fixed to the case using 6 exposed screws.

Underneath the rear sapphire you can see a 22k rose gold skeletonized winding rotor covering with the Ulysse Nardin anchor logo topping the movement. The bridges are ruthenium coated and feature circular Geneva stripes as well as perlage. There is also perlage visible under the exposed balance. Finally there are multiple blued screws visible on the top of the movement.



The caliber UN-106 beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and offers a power reserve of 50 hours and automatic winding. Like many of Ulysse Nardin's newer calibers the movement also features a silicon escapement and balance spring. On our timegrapher the movement showed an average accuracy of +/- 0 seconds when averaged out over several positions. That is as perfect as you can get when it comes to movement accuracy, not really something I expected to see, but it was a very nice surprise given the watch's price tag and complexity.

The lug width of the Blast Moonstruck is 27 mm and given the unique design of the lugs can only be paired with straps made for the Blast series. The watch comes on a black rubber strap that has a texture resembling the lunar surface. The strap tapers down to 20 mm at the blackened titanium deployant clasp that is brushed and satin finished and has Ulysse Nardin branding. The clasp requires both buttons on each side to be pushed in to release the clasp. Something interesting on this clasp that I haven't noticed before is that the section of the clasp that folds over first doesn’t click into place, only the side of the clasp with the deployant locks into place. It kind of threw me off a bit when the watch first arrived. I can't remember if the last Freak One I had in for review did this as well. The rubber strap is also very supple and didn't require any break in time to be comfortable. It is also beefy enough to be appropriate for a watch of this caliber.

On The Wrist

When a watch like the Ulysse Nardin Black Moonstruck comes in I really try to wear it as much as possible. It's not every day you get such a special watch in for review and are allowed to spend so much quality time with it. As I already stated the size and construction of the Blast Moonstruck reminds me a lot of some of my personal watches like my IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun (48 mm / ceramic) and Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun (46 mm / ceramic). This meant that the watch instantly felt right at home on my wrist. Sometimes there is a period where smaller watches or heavier watches made out of stainless steel or gold take some time for me to get used to. In contrast, strapping the Blast Moonstruck on just felt like putting one of my personal watches on.



Just like my IWC Top Gun models the all blacked out look goes perfectly with just about everything. I typically dress in a black t-shirt (hoodie), shorts (sweats) and sneakers and the Black Moonstuck looked right at home. The watch does have a lot of presence on the wrist due to its size, but also doesn't look too large since it's entirely black. Even for how large and complex the watch is, its sapphire, titanium and ceramic construction means it's very lightweight. For the most part you never really realize the watch is on your wrist while wearing it. The comfortable rubber strap also kept the watch centered on my wrist and it never favored one side over the other. The 53.5 mm lug to lug length filled my 7.25 inch wrist with 55 mm flat area just perfectly as well.

The way I typically test legibility is to see how hard it is to tell the time at a glance while driving. The Blast Moonstruck doesn't have any traditional hour markers and the center disc featuring the northern hemisphere takes up a lot of space where the hands would normally be visible. The hour hand also just barely peaks out from underneath this center disc as well. That being said it does take a moment to catch your bearings and make out the time. Also when setting the time you kind of have to guess where the minute hand needs to be placed. On most watches this would be a ding, but it really isn't here. The main point of the Blast Moonstruck is not to tell the time, the point of this watch is to display celestial bodies, time telling really comes second here. For what the watch is, it does just well enough at being a "watch".

The Blast Moonstruck also definitely gets noticed when on the wrist. The way the angled case catches the light and the mixture of black and gold really catches peoples' attention. I even wore the watch to an event being held by a very respected watch manufacture and I'd say it stole the show. The very veteran collectors I showed the watch to were blown away by it, even with my feeble attempts to explain it to them.



When wearing the watch out to run errands and also to dinner and drinks I could tell the watch received a lot of looks. A few people did inquire about the watch and were very impressed with it. Most people loved the look of the case and also the visible movement. For those that seemed interested enough they were also fascinated by what the watch could actually display complication wise. I normally also tell people about the price of the watch, but in this case if I didn't know who I was talking to, I left that part out.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck is priced at $90,100. For that price you're getting an extremely complicated celestial timepiece comprised of 733 individual parts. The Blast Moonstruck is also the newest in the line of celestial watches starting with the famed Trilogy of Time now housed in a modern Ulysse Nardin case from the Blast collection. To try to gauge the value of the watch, let's take a look at some other celestial timepieces from other top manufactures.

Up first we have the 6102R Grand Complication from Patek Philippe which has a case diameter of 44 mm and is crafted out of rose gold. The 6102R displays a rotating chart of the heavenly sky visible from the northern hemisphere. Framed out from the full nights sky is an area where what is visible from Geneva is displayed. The 6102R is powered by the in-house caliber 240 LU CL C automatic movement with 48 hours of power reserve. The 6102R is a lot more expensive than the Blast Moonstruck at $343,490.



Next up is the Master Grande Tradition Caliber 946 from Jaeger-LeCoultre which has 43 mm case diameter and is crafted out of white gold. The Master Grande Tradition has a star chart, sidereal annual calendar as well as a flying tourbillon. The watch is powered by an in-house caliber 946 which is manual wound and has 45 hours of power reserve. The Master Grande Tradition Caliber 946 also retails for more than the Blast Moonstruck at 155,000 Euros.

Moving on we have the Cosmos from Girard-Perregaux which has a case diameter of 47 mm and is crafted out of titanium. The Cosmos features two rotating globes, one representing the Earth and the other the zodiac constellations. The in-house caliber GP09320-1098 is hand wound and also features a tourbillon offering 57 hours of power reserve. Once again the Cosmos is a lot more expensive than the Blast Hourstriker at $340,000.

Finally we have the Midnight in Paris from Van Cleef & Arpels which measures 41 mm and is crafted out of white gold. The Midnight in Paris displays a sky chart with the view of the night sky from Paris. The watch is powered by a Jaeger-LeCoultre JLC849 caliber which is manual wound and has only 30 hours of power reserve. The Midnight in Paris is the least complicated watch of the bunch and retails for $85,500.



As you can see it gets to be a bit hard when it comes to comparing celestial watches. Many times celestial watches are packaged with high complications such a tourbillon which greatly inflates the price. Either way getting a celestial watch from a top manufacture means that the watch will be very close to if not deep into the six figures. For everything the Blast Moonstruck offers along with a continued tradition of celestial timepieces starting with the Trilogy of Time, I feel like you are really getting a lot for your money. The above four watches and their pricing also reflects this fact well.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the Ulysse Nardin Blast Moonstruck for me? I'd say it really is. Before even getting into the complications the watch offers, the Blast Moonstruck is pretty much the perfect case construction and size for me. I have various pieces in my personal collection that mirror its size and materials. The watch really felt at home as soon as I strapped it on my wrist. I had the opportunity to wear the watch a few times when we were out and about and it was nothing but a pleasure on the wrist.

Also it was awesome to think of how many individual parts had to come together to create the watch. It's not every day that you are dealing with a watch that has over 700 individual components. To be honest I'm not the biggest astronomy buff, but I have always found the universe to be fascinating. It was a bit of an undertaking to really understand what was going on with the Blast Moonstruck and I didn't even set the watch for the first week it was here. After taking some time to learn how the watch works and what it displays it was a fun little exercise to set it. Compared to other celestial timepieces the Blast Moonstruck even seems like somewhat of a bargain.

In that case, would I recommend the Blast Moonstruck to somebody looking for a celestial watch? Yes, of course I would, I would even take it one step further and recommend the watch to somebody looking for a conversation piece or even just something highly complicated. In all honesty tourbillons and chiming watches are a dime a dozen. On the other hand you just don't see many celestial watches. I have seen some of the Trilogy of Time pieces before as well as a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon, but that's it… in 25 years of collecting and 20 being in the business. This really is a special watch and not something you are likely to see anyone else wearing out in the wild. If you're at all interested in the heavens and complicated pieces, you should really see if there is an opportunity to see the Blast Moonstruck in person.



Finally I'd really like to thank FX and his team over at Ulysse Nardin to giving me the opportunity to experience this piece of high horology in person. It's really hard to get a good idea of how impressive this watch is from pictures online, you really need to play around with it and have it on your wrist to get a true sense of the watch. Like with the previous Freaks and skeletons I've reviewed from Ulysse Nardin, the Blast Moonstruck once again has proven why I feel Ulysse Nardin really deserves to be in the conversation for the new Holy Trinity of watchmaking.

For more information about the Blast Moonstruck please visit : Ulysse Nardin

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 1063-400-2A/1A

Retail Price: $90,100

Case Size: 45.5 mm

Lug to Lug: 53.5 mm

Thickness: 15.5 mm

Weight: 116 Grams

Case Material: Blackened Titanium and Ceramic

Bezel: Blackened Titanium and Ceramic

Strap: Rubber Strap with titanium Deployant Clasp

Movement: Ulysse Nardin in-house caliber UN-106 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Date, Astronomical Complication

Power Reserve: 50 Hours

Water Resistance: 30 Meters