MeisterSinger Astroscope 2022
The MeisterSinger Astroscope 2022 is the latest example of the brand’s single-hand approach to timekeeping. This latest model again features an astronomical-themed date indication but encompasses a new colourway. Previous versions have received much praise for their styling, culminating in the German brand receiving a RedDot design award, a German design award and an IF design award.
MeisterSinger was founded in 2001 and from the outset it always looked at time very differently from other watch brands. Based in Münster, the German brand quickly gained a strong following for its single-hand watches. No separate hands for hours and minutes, instead the firm believes one hand can fulfil all needs.
Furthermore, while many brands focus on enhancing chronometry or furnishing new models with a multitude of complications, MeisterSinger has always urged horophiles to view time in a philosophical sense. For example, the company believes it is pointless to fret over nanoseconds, the value of time with family and friends is of greater importance.
Nevertheless, MeisterSinger sometimes releases new models equipped with one or two additional functions. In 2020, the luxury marque released the Astroscope. At first glance, this model, equipped with a lone needle hand, looked typically MeisterSinger. However, the Astroscope also features a date display at 6 o’clock and a highly unusual day display.
The Astroscope dial has seven apertures arranged in an arc. The prevailing day is indicated using a coloured disc, positioned adjacent to a track marked with the seven celestial bodes, each of which corresponds to a specific day. Interestingly, the coloured disc moves in an unusual way. It doesn’t travel in a circular fashion but seemingly flits backwards and forwards, heightening the sense of theatre.
Since the German marque released the inaugural version of the Astroscope in 2020, the model has won a RedDot design award, a German design award and an IF design award. The watch firm has released a total of four models, including two at the outset, a limited edition in 2021 and now a new limited edition for this year, the MeisterSinger Astroscope 2022, encompassing a new palette of colours.
The brand’s press release
Triple award-winning Astroscope now as a new special model
The planetary spectacle continues. MeisterSinger presents a special model limited to 100 pieces in luminous bright blue and yellow.
Triple awarding-winning spectacle …
The Astroscope displays the weekdays like they’ve never been shown before, i.e. related to the heavenly bodies that have been attributed to the various days since ancient times. The Astroscope has already won the German Design Award, the Red Dot Design Award, and the iF Design Award for its overall design concept.
… goes into the next act.
The new variant comes with a bright blue dial, reminiscent of a mild evening sky that appears after a sunny day. The numerals are depicted in a fine serif typeface and the astronomical symbols are designed in luminous yellow, which, together with the luminous hand, ensure that the wearer can tell the time with the Astroscope even after dark. Above the circular date window and the MeisterSinger logo there is an intimated horizon, enhancing the impression of gazing up at the heavens. The new model comes with a super-soft calfskin watchstrap in yellow that beautifully matches the graphic depictions on the dial.
The day becomes an event
Just as most planets are named after Roman gods, most days of the week in both German and English take their corresponding names from Norse mythology. Throughout history, the allocation of the days of the week to celestial bodies has endured the test of time:
Monday, the Moon ☽
Tuesday, Mars ♂
Wednesday, Mercury ☿
Thursday, Jupiter ♃
Friday, Venus ♀
Saturday, Saturn ♄
Sunday, the Sun ☉
With these celestial bodies and their classical symbols, the Astroscope displays the days of the week with a white dot, not in a linear or radial fashion, but wandering back and forth in a constellation that only occurs every ten to twelve years in the southern night sky of the northern hemisphere.
Further reading