Watches & Wonders 2026: The Bremont x Astrolab Supernova Chronograph Is Going On A One-Way Trip To The Moon

This year at Watches & Wonders, Bremont announced an intriguing collaboration with an aerospace company called Astrolab, whose brief – to simplify somewhat a complex series of objectives involving innovations in lunar landers as well as uncrewed lunar rovers – is to develop a series of rovers of increasing autonomy, size, capacity, and complexity, to conduct experiments on the lunar surface. The company’s first mission, Griffin One, has a planned launch window from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center later this year, with the launch vehicle provided by SpaceX. Griffin One will carry what Astrolab hopes will be the first in a series of rovers, the FLIP (Flex Lunar Innovation Program) rover, which is designed to operate in the Nobile region of the lunar South Pole; the rover weighs 480 kilograms and has a carrying capacity of 35 kilograms. It will carry a variety of both commercial and government payloads, and the Griffin One lander is designed to operate semi-autonomously during the landing phase, in order to select a suitable landing site and avoid any hazards, in the form of dangerous terrain and physical obstacles like boulders.

Once deployed, the rover will be operated in order to test its various systems, one of which are its tires, which are designed for lunar surface operations in the especially rugged terrain of the Moon’s south polar regions. The rover will obtain power from its vertically oriented solar array, which is designed to capture as much energy as possible from the sunlight which reaches the Moon’s south pole at a very low angle. The rover will also conduct experiments designed to test various properties of the lunar regolith, which is the Moon’s equivalent of soil. The regolith, however, is a much nastier substance than the soil found on Earth – since there is no weathering on the Moon, due to the absence of any weather (the Moon has no atmosphere) the minute mineral fragments which make up the regolith are razor sharp, and moreover, carry a static electrical charge which makes them prone to adhering to anything with which they come in contact. Coping with the highly abrasive properties of the lunar regolith is a prerequisite for any longer term human exploration of the Moon, and the establishment of permanent lunar bases.

On board the rover, in a specially designed receptacle, will be a passenger from Bremont: the Supernova chronograph, which has been designed to reflect the angular architecture of solar panels (the default system for maintaining power aboard any mission close enough to the Sun to gather enough light energy; probes traveling to the outer Solar System rely on thermal generators which use the heat from the decay of plutonium) and which has been tested in cooperation with Astrolab for its ability to tolerate the stresses of launch, transit to the Moon, landing, and lunar surface operations.

The testing regimen for the Supernova, includes vacuum testing, testing for tolerance to temperature extremes both during the flight to the Moon, and while on the lunar surface; hot/cold cycling testing; random vibration and acoustic testing; “sine vibe” testing, which sounds like a Gen Z term for something cool not otherwise specified, but which here is short for sinusoidal vibration testing, and which specifically concentrates on low frequency sound and vibration patterns); self-generated shock testing, which tests for resistance to shocks due to systems intrinsic to the mission equipment and which includes the pneumatic and pyrotechnic devices which aid in deploying protective covers and other equipment; and finally, resistance to electromagnetic interference.

Physically, the watch is cased in 904 stainless steel, with a black ceramic bezel and a Bremont “Trip-Tick” three part case, with a DLC coated case middle; dimensions are 41mm x 48.7mm x 14.4mm and water resistance (which the watch on the Moon won’t need for obvious reasons, but in this case the gaskets help keep that nasty regolith at bay) and running the caliber BC77 (Sellita SW500 base) which is an automatic chronograph movement, with a 62 hour power reserve, fitted with an industry standard Glucydur balance, Anachron balance spring and Nivaflex mainspring, with a respectable 62 hour power reserve. This is all solid in terms of specs (not that servicing the one on the rover is an issue ever likely to come up) but the real party trick of the Supernova, for an ol’ lume-hound like me, is this:

Folks, we are all lucky enough to live in an era when Super-LumiNova is chemically stable enough that lume can be deployed, not just in the service of nocturnal legibility, but for dramatic effect as well. Bremont says “space architecure” but I think this is kind of giving “muzzle of the Death Star superlaser right before it fires” and for my money that’s nothing but good, clean, regolith-free fun.

“I’m a Rocket Man, burning out his fuse up here alone.” – Elton John, “Rocket Man”

Well, that’s about it for the Supernova … I will say though, as I hinted in the subhead, that I think it’s a little sad that this puppy is on a one way trip to the surface of a cold, dead, hostile planetoid totally inimical to life. I mean, we anthropomorphize watches to some extent and it’s hard not to feel for the Supernova’s one way trip, but hey, life itself is a one way trip, isn’t it. So pour one out for this mechanical voyager; it’s not the Velveteen Rabbit, but still.

The Bremont Supernova: case, 904L stainless steel with black ceramic bezel and DLC case middle; integrated bracelet and strap, 41mm x 48.7mm x 14.4mm, 100M water resistant. Dial, tachymeter scale, 3D pattern galvanic dial with blue emission Super-LumiNova, and lots of it. Black gold hour and minute hands (also with lume). Movement, caliber BC77, Sellita SW500 base, running in 27 jewels at 28,800 vph. Automatic chronometer, certified by the COSC. Price, $8000 on a rubber strap, or $8250 on a bracelet.

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