What first attracted me to the Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar was the movement – cal. 90-02. It is possibly the most well balanced automatic movement I’ve ever seen. It is not just the finish, which is of course immaculate, but the whole composition of the pretty big micro-rotor, that works perfectly with the ¾ plate. In comparison, the manual wound Panoreserve just has a striped ¾ plate and Lange & Söhne the same. The Saxomatic movement from Lange is very similar, but here I feel they have overdone the decoration of the rotor. The Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar has a cleaner look. The engraved balance bridge and the double swanneck complete the picture. I don’t think you get it better than that.

When you consider the decoration and finishing of the movement and then look at the price, compared to an “ordinary” Senator with moonphase and big date, the Senator is more expensive, but the caliber 36 is not nearly as decorated and beautiful as the cal 90 in the Senator. I know I shouldn’t say this out loud, but get the Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar before somebody in GO realises the mistake and raises the price.

Despite my love for the movement I hesitated as I didn’t really like the look of the silver dial version, and I already had the Panoreserve with silver dial. The grey version was kind of boring, so I was warming up for years to get the Blue version. I quite like that and I was sure I was going to get it one day, but something inside me must have told me it was not the best they could do at Glashütte Original. And sure enough, along came a green version. It’s always difficult with pictures and I wasn’t really that keen on it until I saw it in real life. The shaded effect is so good and there is so much life in the colour of the dial. It’s not just green, it is many shades of green.

Some might think that the height of the Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar at 12,70 mm is a bit too much for a dresswatch with a 40 mm case, but personally it doesn’t bother me. When I look at my watches in general, I have quite a few thick watches. Still, I have no problem getting it under the cuff.

The Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar came on a brown alligator nubuck strap, which means that it has kind of a dusty look when you first put it on, but quickly looks worn. It gives it a rugged and more relaxed look. I’ll probably try something different when I need a new strap. Still, the GO straps are made to be worn for a long time, so I will not have to replace it anytime soon, unless I really want to.

The date window is pure joy for somebody who is a bit challenged when it comes to eyesight. Setting the moonface is easy with the accompanying little tool that doubles as a screwdriver to fasten the buckle. It is not my first GO with a moonphase, so I could go straight to it without reading the manual.

All in all, I find that the greatest problem I have with the Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar is to get it off my wrist to allow some of my other watches a little wrist time.