Defakto’s ‘Stille Nacht’ watch is a limited edition of galactic proportions

Independent watchmaker Defakto creates some stunning timepieces via its regular collection, but it has a new limited series that is particularly eye-catching. The new Defakto Stille Nacht is a collaboration with artist Friederike Bellman, and it uses a hand-painted star field to brighten and distinguish each watface for the 50-piece limited edition run.

The Stille Nacht (‘Silent Night,’ in English) arrives just in time for the holidays, appropriately, and it offers no traditional time indices, but instead shows a dense surface of points that also feature lime so that they glow in the dark. The hands (or hand, if you prefer the single-hand configuration also available) aren’t coated with lume, so the star field will stand out on its own when in dim lightning conditions.

As mentioned, that star scape is hand painted, airbrushed to make each of the 50-piece series totally unique. The watch features a 40mm face, a matte finish night-blue backdrop for the dial, a sapphire crystal and a Swiss-made Ronda 712 Quartz movement. It retails for around $320 US after conversion from EUR, without import duties.

The watch can also be custom-built...