[Jean Samuel]

Dear Watchuseek community,

First of all, it's a pleasure to meet you
I'd like to thank the WUS’s team for letting us share this project and supporting the initiative.

If you may, I would like to introduce you to a very unique creative experiment we have been conducting : the Mu:n Projects. Over two years, we gathered 5,500 enthusiasts and industry experts, mainly around France and Europe, around a common goal: to co-create a unique moonphase watch.

We thus founded the Mu:n project on one objective: to offer watchmaking amateurs, experts or enthusiasts, the very means to participate, influence, or simply follow a creative process. During the four chapters that paced this adventure, we offered tools, technical insights and ephemeral creative spaces to the community. The enthusiasm for this creation has exceeded our expectations, and we have not stopped giving the best of ourselves. We want our next projects to be even more immersive, with the launch of new creative spaces, and forever punctuated by the passion of the community that makes them live.

Beyond the collaborative aspect, we wished through these creative experiences to instill a dynamic of transparency. The technical aspects, price or feasibility, accompanied each chapter of the creation. They are still at the very heart of this edition. All the technical details, the origin of our suppliers, the manufacturing processes and even the production costs are freely available to the community on the Mu:n project website.

Without further ado, I am pleased to introduce you to the result of this first collaborative project: an automatic swiss made moonphase watch.

You can already discover all the models on the website - we really hope you’ll enjoy the journey, and we are keen to have your feedback on this creative experience.
But let's get back to the point.



First of all, this first project chose the SW288-1 caliber from the Sellita manufactures

This first edition houses the very new automatic movement SW288-1 from the Sellita factories, founded in 1950 in La-Chaux-de-Fonds. The latter features a superior moon phase complication, with a synodic revolution of exactly 29.50 days. We are therefore working here with a real moon phase, precise to 0.03 days per revolution, i.e. a shift of one day every 3 years.

Regarding the technical aspects, the movement features 26 jewels and a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz). The second hand of the automatic models therefore beats at the rate of an eighth of a second with a power reserve of 38 hours. The movement comes with elaborate settings, with a middle rate +/- 7s/d and an Incabloc ® shock absorber.

For the record, the arrival in the public domain of the ETA 2800 movement allowed Sellita to offer its own range of caliber. The SW288 developed in 2018 is the first public mechanical movement that offers a large moonphase opening. Although prestigious, expensive and only produced on orders, the arrival of this brand-new mechanism offers young brands the very means to democratize this horological complication.

The movement will be proposed in two finishes - Simple decoration (D2 - paper snailing) and Luxurious decoration (D4 - circular-graining and côtes de Genève) which comes with a dedicated Mu:n oscillating weight.

As for the moon disc, a new printing process has been developed.

While the Swiss Made label guarantees the origin of the movement and the place of assembly, we also wanted to call on specialized workshops to develop the other components, namely the moon disc and the oscillating weight. Thus, the moon disc has been realized as part of a partnership between Mu:n Project and the AJS production workshop, based in the region of Porrentruy, Switzerland. Specialized in the modification of movements and the production of miniature parts for major watchmakers, the workshop notably distinguished itself at the 2016 Exhibitors Grand Prix in Geneva for its know-how in miniaturization. They were eager to accompany the project and worked for several month on a new printing process.

The moon disc is designed on a true representation of the moon. The moons are the exact copies of the earth's star and are made with several layers of print. A femto laser then burns away the white paint layers, pixel by pixel, to create the moon craters with a depth and grey effect. This new printing process also makes each disc unique through subtle color variations.


Also developed in Switzerland, the oscillating weight is inspired by the card The Moon XVIII of the Tarot de Marseille drawn by Jean Dodal in the 17th century.

The oscillating weight was designed using the latest technological processes in the AJS Production workshop. It features the allegories of the Moon XVIII card of the Tarot de Marseille, in the form of six laser-engraved coats of arms: a tower, two wolf dogs, a crayfish, the Moon and its rays. Each of these coats of arms has been placed on a decor with a specific finish that evokes the environment of the emblem.


Built in three parts to refine its thickness, the case has been thought around space engineering lines.

The case is made by Perfex, a company specialized in the production of watch parts founded in 1992 by a Frenchman. With a diameter of Ø38 mm and a lug width of 20mm, the latter has been designed as a dress watch. Built in three entirely polished parts, it consists of a slightly sloping upper bezel, opening into a sapphire crystal. The body of the case presents a solid part with a clear break, which visually refines its thickness when worn. The body is attached to a case back in the form of a porthole, made up of two successive slopes hollowed out by four visible screws. This composition is thought of as a tribute to space engineering, through a subtle alliance of flat and curved lines.



For this first edition, 2 series will be proposed for the launch.

The Créateurs Series. This series, as its name suggests, is dedicated to creators who have accompanied us for almost two years now. To thank them, the Mu:n project teams have put together a collection designed around the colors that punctuated this first adventure. In the same spirit that animates each of our project, this series will be ephemeral. It will only be produced upon orders during the launch campaign.

Créateurs Series - Limited edition

Créateurs Series - Make your choice

www.mun-watches.com

The Origine Series. Composed of two automatic and two quartz models, the Origine series is a permanent series of Mu:n collection. It reflects the culmination of this collaborative creation, and will also be available for pre-order on Kickstarter from November.

Series Origine | Mu:n Watches

Origine Series - Make your choice

www.mun-watches.com

Thank you all for your reading. You’ll find more details on Mu:n projects vision on our Manifest.

Also, pre-orders will open on Kickstarter on November 14. To be informed of the exact hour, you can already follow the pre-launch page. Notably and to thank our community, the very first models will be proposed at factory price. We will publish all info regarding the manufacturing costs on the Kickstarter page.

We really hope you’ll appreciate and support the initiative - and hopefully be willing to get on board for the creations to come. We wish through these projects to contribute, at our level, to the diversity and accuracy of the watchmaking world, and thus hope this first edition marks the beginning of many more creative projects.

I wish you and excellent week, and would be please to answer any question you might have 🙂
Yours truly,

Jean-Samuel

-

Mu:n

La montre à moonphase parfaite. Prenez part au projet de création collaborative. On vous donne les outils, et vous créez.

www.mun-watches.com

 

[Jean Samuel]

Dear community,

The campaign was funded in less than 3 minutes, a huge thanks for your support! It seems the Creators Series has generated a great passion. We increased the Early Bird to 140 models to thank the whole community present at the launch. The models will be available for another 25 days, before we close the epilogue of this ephemeral series on December 11th.

You will be able to choose the models at the end of the campaign. The production will be limited to the number of orders. We will give you all news on the Kickstarter Updates section, with a lot to come! Please feel free to reach us on the Kickstarter chat, we'll answer you as soon as possible

Thanks for supporting Mu:n projects,

Jean-Samuel

 

[mlstein]

Absolutely gorgeous watches. The quartz (frankly a lot more sensible for a moonphase IMO) is an extraordinary bargain at the early bird price, and I adore the case back. I really wasn't going to buy any more watches but you've destroyed my will power!

 

[mlstein]

I do have a qualm. There's no information about you or anyone else associated with the project. No last names are given, in fact, and there's no address. The Internet says almost nothing about you and the few mentions are confined to this month. Can you fill in some of these gaps? How do I know I can trust you? I'd like to, but it's odd when you talk so much about transparency that you yourselves are invisible.

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

 

[Jean Samuel]

Hello mlstein !

Indeed, we put the emphasis on the Project values and objectives, more than the people behind it. We hope for the Mu:n Projects to outlive us, as we want to lay the first brick of a new way to design and bring ephemeral watchmaking projects to life. The idea behind this first creation is to incrementaly grow the Mu:n projects, as the success of the previous projects finance the R&D for the next. That's why the financial transparency and project values are key - we hope the creative process is to be pursued for many years, in a associative manner. We'll thus publish the financial result of this first creation, and the allocation of the margin. You can find a first rough estimate on the Kickstarter page, with 50% dedicated to the R&D of the next project, and 30% to stocks for the permanent collection. We'll publish every detail at the end of the campaign. Our two next objectives are the following :

1/ Initiate a new ephemeral creation in 2023/24 around the Vaucher Manufacture VMF 5401/50 movement, or VMF 5401/190.

2/ In the long-term (as the R&D cost is way higher), initiate a creation around a fully modified movement in partneship with Besançon horlogical wokshop, hopefully thought around the synodic revolution of a Mars

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As for this first project, please find hereafter some informations, videos and reviews.

The team is composed of 3 french people in their early 30's : myself (Victor), Thibault & Jean-Samuel.

• We have diverse backgrounds, having supported during several years start-ups in the launch of their projects within different French companies. We came together in 2020 to give life to Mu:n Projects, and to a common passion. I'm in charge of the design, technical drawings and modelling. Thibault is in charge of the community and the conduct of our projects, and Jean-Samuel of the administrative, business plan and suppliers negociations.

• We initiated our first creation in mid-2020, starting to create first prototypes (Quartz) by ourselves, in order to test suppliers and prepare an operational manufacturing process. Those prototypes were done with the PERFEX manufactures, housing a Ronda 708 Normtech movement, and in association with the Reparalux Workshop (the Humbert-Droz family). You can find a few prototypes pictures on our Instagram accout, or in videos of the first chapter of the creation.

• We went on in early 2021 with the first Mu:n project : an automatic moonphase watch. We carried out the creation with a community of passionates, mainly from France and Europe. A dedicated thread was created on < Forum à montre >, the main French watchmaking forum which has been a huge support for this first campaign. The community accompanied us during two years to carry out this creation.

• Our creations are carried on alongside specialized workshops. The Mu:n Projects ambition is thus to highlight the manufacture process, and not only present a design. Microbrands do not have any internal workshop, nor the years of manufacturing experience recquired to carry on a full creation. Instead of hidding it, we thrive to highlight them. Each of our project is thus thought as a parternship with selected workshop. They bring life to our creations, and are the guarantors of the quality and innovation we want to instill in our models. This first creation is carried out with the AJS workshop and the PH Saner family.

• Finally, we think our projects as ephemerals, a creative forward march. Creation is a living art, which evolves with the times and the community that accompanies it. Therefore, the resulting series are also to be ephemerals. That is the main spirit of our creations - we thrive to pursue this path, each creation bringing life to another.

If you would like, you can meet myself (40 min one-shot interview) and Thibault (20 min cut-interview) on the following french YT channels, and check with more details our May-2022 prototypes.

• Victor
• Thibault

As this is a new project, the media coverage is harder to get. We'll however pursue the reviews and interview and keep you abreast =)

Finally, a last batch of prototypes is to come, with the following modifications :

• Enlarge crown, to ease the grasp ;
• Slightly darken moondisc nightsky (blue/black), to perfectly match the N°11/29 dial ;
• +8% size increase of the < Automatique > mark, to balance the composition ;
• Custom-made glass joint with a sligh grey tint (front & back), to match the silver case ;
• Gold finish oscillating weight, as we used for the first review the rose gold prototypes.

We have reach and largly exceed our objectives - we're thus confident to carry on this creation without any issue =) That's the primaly goal for the Mu:n project to be pursued, as we ought this to the community that accompanied us. This creation is the first step of a long road, and is thought to thanks the very people who supported us. Step by step, bringing Mu:n projects to life

As for the planning :

1/ Manufacture (from December 20th) : Sellita SW288 movements are only produced on order, with a 3-4 month production process. The case, dial and components are to be produced in a 2-4 month timelapse. As for the moondiscs and oscillating weight, a 2 month production is to be initiated starting from december.

2/ Assembly (from early to late April) : The PH Saner workshop has a 80/100-models / week assembly time, starting from April 2023. The shipment is done by the workshop on a rolling basis, with a first-come first-served basis.

3/ Delivery (May) : We plan to end the last delivery from ealy to late May.

The series is to be produced in 200-400 exemplaries depending on the number of pledges. We are currently working on a dedicated serial number (000/60-100) for each models (N°11, N°15 or N°29).

I'm sure I forgot a lot of things in this (quite long) summary, but do not hesitate to reach me for any precision


Yours truly,
Victor

 

[mlstein]

That's a lot to take in--thank you! I'll keep my order in and look forward to the watch and your future projects.

 

[Jean Samuel]

Dear all,

Halfway through the campaign, more and more enthusiasts are getting on board the Mu:n adventure every day. We are very happy to count nearly 250 contributors, showing a growing enthusiasm for this very first edition =)

We would like to thank the extremely warm reception of the specialized press which conducted exhaustive reviews of the first prototypes and the project. You can already find their analyses and reviews on a new page of the site : Mu:n in the press or the first videos of the prototypes No. 11, No. 15, No. 29.

In addition, we decided to increase the number of medium birds for a few more days. The goal of 60 mediums has been reached faster than expected, and many people are now discovering the project through press reviews. 30 more mediums were openend yesterday, up to 90, and 20 are still left -

Finally, we are on some nice surprises for the end of the campaign: a more refined setting on the movement (+/- 5sec up to 3 positions), a Christmas gift card, and above all, some (unique) automatic and quartz prototypes offered by a draw among all Kickstarter backers.

Do not hesitate if you have any question, and a nice week to all

Yours truly,
Victor