FORSINING Moon Phase Multi-Calendar Automatic Watch, Black Leather, Shanghai Movement

A white-dial automatic built around a detailed multi-calendar layout, a blue moon-phase display and a black leather strap with white stitching. The silver-tone case and mechanical movement give it a classic dress-watch foundation with plenty to find on the dial.

Why It Stands Out

• The moon phase is the reason to own it. A blue aperture at 6 o'clock is the one piece of color on a white dial, and it moves slowly enough that noticing it changed is part of the pleasure.
• Day, date and month are laid out asymmetrically, which gives the dial depth without swallowing the contrast that makes a white dial legible.
• The Shanghai movement runs automatically off your wrist and can also be hand-wound, so it does not need a full day of wear to get going after it has been sitting.
• 36.5 mm is a classical dress size, and it is increasingly hard to find on a watch with this much going on.
• Black leather with white stitching against a silver-tone case is a deliberately restrained frame for a busy dial, and it is what keeps the whole thing wearable.

Watch Details

• Movement: Shanghai automatic mechanical; automatic and hand-winding
• Dial: White multi-calendar with day, date and month displays
• Moon-phase display: Blue aperture at 6 o'clock
• Dial diameter: 36.5 mm
• Case material: Alloy
• Crystal: Hardened mineral
• Band: Black leather with white stitching
• Clasp: Buckle
• Water resistance: Not rated; keep dry

Fit and Wear

At 36.5 mm this sits on the smaller side of modern taste, which is exactly right for a dress watch and a relief on a slimmer wrist. It goes under a shirt cuff without a fight and it suits a jacket, a shirt or anything you would not wear a dive watch with. Two things to know about living with it. First, a mechanical watch varies more day to day than quartz does, so expect to nudge it rather than set it once. Second, this one has no water rating at all, so keep it dry, including hand-washing, and take it off before a shower. Avoid strong impacts and magnets, and if the winding or the calendar starts feeling wrong, have it looked at rather than forcing it.

Colin's Take

Buy this if you like a dial you can sit and read. Day, date, month and a moon phase on a 36.5 mm face is a lot of information in a small space, and it is the sort of watch you keep glancing at for reasons that have nothing to do with the time. The white, silver and black combination is what saves it, because the same complications on a gold case would be a costume. Skip it if you want one watch for everything, because with no water rating this is a watch you take off, not one you forget about.