A British Watch Is About to Make Lunar History
Bremont has become the first British watch brand bound for the lunar surface, launching its new Supernova collection alongside a groundbreaking mission with aerospace company Astrolab.
2 min
Luxury British watchmaker Bremont is about to make history.
Later this year, the brand will become the first British watch company to place a timepiece permanently on the Moon through a collaboration with American aerospace company Astrolab.
The mission centres on Astrolab’s FLIP rover (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform), which will carry a Bremont Supernova Chronograph aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One.
The rover is scheduled to land in the Nobile region near the lunar south pole no earlier than summer 2026, launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Unlike watches that have previously accompanied astronauts into space, this one won’t be coming home. The Supernova Chronograph will remain on the Moon as a permanent artefact, integrated into the FLIP rover’s chassis via a custom-engineered tile plate.
The timing carries extra weight. The White House has tasked NASA with establishing a Coordinated Lunar Time by the end of 2026, a consistent, atomic-clock-based standard for navigation and communication on the Moon. Bremont’s watch will land in the same year that lunar time itself comes into being.
“We are incredibly excited by the prospect of becoming the first British watch brand in history to go to the Moon and stay there indefinitely,” said Davide Cerrato, CEO of Bremont.
“Bremont and Astrolab share deep synergies in their values, particularly around innovation, exploration, and a relentless pursuit of new frontiers.”
Astrolab founder and CEO Jaret Matthews said the mission was designed to prove technology can survive the Moon’s harshest conditions.
“This mission is all about demonstrating critical technologies in the harsh environments found at the lunar south pole. We look forward to putting the Supernova through the ultimate engineering test.”
Before launch, both the watch and the rover must pass a gruelling testing regime known as Spacecraft Protoflight Qualification, covering structural, thermal and electrical performance under conditions more severe than the mission itself will demand.
The process follows what Astrolab calls a “Test Like You Fly” philosophy.
The mission also marks the debut of Supernova, a new collection that sits above Bremont’s existing Supermarine, Terra Nova and Altitude lines, and introduces Space as a fourth universe alongside the brand’s established Sea, Land and Air categories.
The 41mm Supernova Chronograph is built from 904L stainless steel, with a multi-faceted decahedral black ceramic bezel and a three-dimensional dial inspired by the geometry of spacecraft solar arrays.
It runs on Bremont’s chronometer-rated BC77 movement, with a 62-hour power reserve and an exhibition case back.
A full-scale FLIP rover will be on display at the Bremont booth at Watches & Wonders Geneva, which opens on April 14, the brand’s third consecutive year exhibiting at the show.
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All three vehicles will form part of a broader charitable initiative benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross and Starlight Children’s Foundation
Apple’s first foldable, the $1,999 iPhone Duo, combines an iPhone and iPad Mini experience—but its size, weight and price come with compromises.
4 min
As I watched a Netflix show on Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, I had two surprising thoughts.
The first: Maybe I don’t need my iPad Mini anymore.
The second: Uh oh, am I about to spend $1,999 on a phone?
I didn’t think folding phones were for me. I’ve been testing Android versions from Samsung and Google since 2019, and those early editions came with too much screen and too many compromises.
Fast forward seven years, and the technology has come a long way. Apple—in its very Apple way—has also come up with some hardware and software trickery to make up for some shortcomings of the basic design. My desire for a folding phone before today was zero. After today, it’s a lot more than zero.
I’m not ready to recommend the Duo, which ships on Oct. 23, just yet. Not until I am able to test it more fully, so be on the lookout for that review in a few weeks. But from what I experienced at Apple Park on Wednesday, I could actually picture myself using this new half-phone, half-tablet hybrid.
Crease camouflage
For months, I’ve been using Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, a similarly squat, passport-shaped foldable that opens up to a larger screen. It’s impressively thin and can easily fit into the infuriatingly tiny pockets in women’s pants and dresses. Samsung did a lot of work to minimize the crease—the dip between the two halves of the big interior display—but it’s still clearly there.
When I held the iPhone Duo open, the crease was barely visible. As I slid my finger across the display, I could feel it, but it’s more subtle than Samsung’s. Most of the time, the screen looked as flat and smooth as the one on an iPad.
Apple employed both software and hardware techniques to camouflage the crease. The matte surface of the interior 7.6-inch screen minimizes reflections to hide it. (Samsung’s Fold 8 screen is shiny.)
And as you begin to open or close the iPhone Duo, the interface shifts the controls and content away from the center crease. If, say, you’re watching a video on the outer screen, you can open the Duo to switch to the bigger display within. A black fade marks the transition. You don’t see the video full screen until the phone is completely flat.
Heavy handed
My second observation was that, when the Duo is closed, in phone mode, it was harder to use one-handed than I expected.
In the keynote trailer and press release, Apple touted how thin the Duo is. It’s marketed as the thinnest iPhone ever—when open.
But it’s actually thicker and heavier than most of its Android competitors. The Duo weighs 254 grams, and is 11.3 millimeters thick when closed. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 8 is just 201 grams, with a thickness of 9.7 millimeters. Google’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold is 239 grams and 10.1 millimeters.
Because the Duo is also wider than a standard iPhone, I found it quite a challenge to type.
I admit, I do have smaller-than-average hands. So I consulted my colleague Rolfe Winkler, who has a larger grip. He agreed the Duo feels big.
Apple rearranged the interface on the outer screen so it looks different than traditional iPhones. The dock and control center are off to the right to be more reachable. Committing to the Duo as your main device will require adjustments in your handling. You will have to learn a new way to use and type.
Work and play
My most surprising takeaway? I feel a pull toward this device.
I always thought that combining an iPhone and an iPad would mean bigger compromises. The battery life is about the same as the 18 Pro (up to 24 hours of “regular use” on a single charge), though I’ll need to verify that in my real-world testing. And it’s also as durable, with the same IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating as the rest of the iPhone lineup.
There are trade-offs, for sure. Trying out the camera, I immediately missed the 8X zoom in my Pro model. The Duo has just 2X zoom, which wouldn’t cut it for the dozens of pictures I take of my kid every day.
But the dual screens unlock new photo functionality. You can see what your shot looks like from the outside screen. As someone who has tried tirelessly to self-direct a family photo—or a spouse—I am very eager to try this out more.
Foldables, I initially thought, were for classic mobile-warrior jet-setter types, who never sit at a desk and are always on calls. For that crowd, the Duo can run two apps side-by-side.
Me, I’m more of a bed binge-watcher and ebook reader. That’s what my beloved iPad Mini is for.
Watching videos on the Duo is a nice experience—nice enough that you forget the screen is 0.7 inches smaller than the iPad Mini’s. The main screen is also a 4:3 aspect ratio. Very similar, by the way, to the IMAX edition of the Odyssey.
Because I wasn’t able to snag a ticket to one of the sold-out screenings, I will be watching Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s epic on the Duo, just as the director intended. (Just kidding! Sort of.)
The Duo costs $800 more than an iPhone 18 Pro, and I’m not sure I want to spend that premium on a first-generation Apple device. But I’m not ruling out the idea that a Duo might one day be in my future. Stay tuned for my full review.
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