You're welcome. Glad I could help. TY for clarifying what "a lot less" means to you. I can give you a few other suggestions I found. (see below)
Yes, they are Moonphase (or moon phase) watches. It's a typical complication in watchmaking and lots of houses making them. One key difference among them is that whereas A&S routinely offer the ones you pictured, when the other pricey brands offer something comparable, it's priced, more or less comparably. Also, outside of A&S, such things are generally limited editions made available initially only via ADs and as often as not, made of noble materials. That's unfortunate because were they SS, such pieces would move much better/faster/frequently for they'd be priced at ~$7K - $9K. Of course, it's possible that a few ADs won't move the one or two they are allocated and they'll pass them on to the grey market. Blue and the moon have special appeal, however, so the limited addition blue ones may be much harder to find at low-ish prices.
The Blancpain is from their Villaret collection. Black is the current color for the moon phase piece. Blue and brown are prior colors. All are handsome. The white and cream variations will be easier to come by, but with a lot of effort on your part you may be able to find one of them fairly close to your targeted spend sum. The Villaret collection does offer pieces having dial details that are similar to the ones you like, but without the moon complication. That will help bring the price down while retaining the details that make the moon phase pieces so lovely. I think if you consider the A&S Royal Watch next to the moon variant, you'll see too what I mean. Often one can find the same thing in other brands.
I know you said seven is your limit, but...(
Luxury Time Watches) this is an excellent price for one. (BTW the A&S models are called True Moon and Perpetual Moon)
Martin Braun (
Martin Braun: Wristwatches | eBay) I'm not sure MB has the look you especially want, but it's a brand well worth consideration. The one pictured is part of the meteorite line. Plenty of MB stuff is in your ideal price range.
Jaquet Droz Eclipse - ~$12K MSRP for SS, so possibly available close to your target
Two versions form Maurice Lacroix ($3500-$4000) not quite the same level of flair, but there is flair there. (Overstock.com)
It's nice to see somone on here looking at classic pieces that yet have some character. Most often folks are just seeking the humdrum classic looks.
I'm surprised you aren't keen on the FC watch. FC are right now a bargain among manufacture pieces (the moon phase is as low as $2500 on the grey market). They are making stuff that's comparable in quality to a great many higher dollar competitors. Indeed, FC's current strategy is targeted to the watch buyer who wants something manufacture, but feels that "the usual" suspects charge too much because of their brand recognition. That strategy is typical when a brand is trying to build its name and customer base up a few notches, but it is only ever temporary. By far, one of the better ways to do that (if one is offering classically styled fare) is to offer comparable products at prices materially lower than comparable quality offerings from the established competitors. Once it's widely recognized as "as good as X-competitor," you can be the price points will leap. They may stay below X's prices, but the difference will be more notional than meaningful. At the moment, it's pretty clear to me that FC has its sights aimed at at least one member of the Richemont group. If I had to guess, not having taken the time to examine every brand's current portfolio of offerings, I'd speculate JLC and IWC, and to a lesser degree B. Mercier, who offer nice stuff, but little to no panache, which is unpardonable in a dress watch in the $5K+ range. That lack of flair is entirely why I didn't suggest the B&M blue moon phase watch. (Google up some B&M moon phase pics and see if you agree.) FWIW, it's <$5K by a tick or two.
One of the good ways to find the brands, especially the top tier ones and aspirants to that league, is to look at the businesses and their strategy before looking at the watches themselves. Right now, the competition between Swatch Group and Richemont group is getting hotter and hotter, in part because analysts are expecting more growth in the high end than in any other watch segment. So the time to buy high end pieces in now, not two or four years from now. Richemont has several more solidly established high-end brands, but Swatch is a larger company and with more ability to diversify the offerings within the brands it has. They piloted that approach with Omega, who offer a huge spectrum of products from below entry level high end prices to a good way into the middle of the high-end. (Keep that $30K MSRP defines the uppermost limit of what one can call high-end from a volume marketing stratgey perspective. Above that, it's a whole different ball game simply because there are no "masses" to which one can market and even with 30% discounts, one is skirting at the edge of what well off non-WIS are willing to spend on a watch.) I think it reasonble that Swatch will follow that approach as they have five popularly accepted brands that are top tier whereas Richemont have nine.
All the best and good luck.
