This Affordable Moonphase Combines Dress Watch Looks with Everyday Toughness for Under $1,000

Although it is almost exclusively featured in dress watches, there is no rule stipulating that a moonphase complication may only be added to a thin, elegant watch on a leather strap.

There are several sports watches that incorporate a moonphase display, often in combination with other complications like a chronograph, like on certain Omega Speedmasters, or a perpetual calendar, as on various Royal Oaks.

But those sporty moonphase watches are expensive, and few options exist for a sporty moonphase under four figures. So leave it to value-based Singaporean microbrand Zelos to give us a great one in the form of its new Helica Moonphase.

Zelos

Over the moon

The Helica is arguably Zelos’s best “GADA” watch, in that it can “go anywhere, do anything.” This is owed to the model’s combination of a wearable 39mm x 11.9mm stainless steel case with a design and specs that straddle the line between sporty and dressy. The flat-link, Jubilee-like bracelet leans dressy, while the dial design is more sporty. The bright lume and 100m water-resistance rating also scream “sports watch,” but there’s really nowhere you couldn’t wear this thing.

Now, Zelos has further blurred the lines of the Helica’s sporty-dressy vibes by adding a moonphase complication in three distinct variations.

The lunar complication comes courtesy of the Swiss-made Sellita SW288 manually wound calibre, which is visible through the display caseback. The moonphase is in the “panoramic” style often associated with high-end brands like Arnold & Son, along with fellow approachable independent brand, Christopher Ward.

Zelos

Here, a large, photorealistic moon takes center stage on the top half of the dial against a starry aventurine glass backdrop, while a smoked sapphire aperture partially obscures the second moon of the moonphase disc when it’s not in use. Both moons are fully lumed with Super-LumiNova Grade X1 BGW9, along with the hands and applied two-piece indices, the latter of which are made of solid Lumicast lumed ceramic blocks.

The dial is effectively split into three parts, with a brushed steel chapter ring featuring a minute track and then a two-piece sector dial comprising a wide track for the hour markers and 6:00 date window surrounding a large round moonphase display.

The broad hour track is where the three versions of the Helica Moonphase differ, as each uses a different material. One features meteorite, another goes for a mother-of-pearl mosaic and the last, most cohesive version features aventurine to continue the theme of the starry-skied moonphase display.

Zelos

Pricing and availability

As is the case with most Zelos watches, the Helica Moonphase is absolutely tricked out with features. The bracelet features both quick-release spring bars and a microadjustable clasp that’s activated by pressing the Zelos logo button on the outside. There are sapphire crystals on the back and front, with the latter being a near-2mm-high boxed design. And the water resistance remains a robust 100m.

As is also almost always the case with Zelos, the watch has a price that’s seemingly too good to be true. For these materials, this movement and these features, I would expect to pay at least two grand. Yet, the Helica Moonphase is priced at only $949.

Each of the three versions is limited to just 100 examples, and they’re sure to go fast when the watch goes on sale on Zelos’s website at 10 am EST on January 15.

Zelos

Zelos Helica Moonphase

Specs

Case Size	39mm
Movement	Sellita Cal. SW288 manual-wind moonphase
Water Resistance	100m

• $949 at Zelos

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