It has become something of a ritual. Every year, H. Moser & Cie. presents a disruptive, irreverent initiative to raise awareness on different topics… and generate buzz. This year, the topic of this communication/buzz project will be sustainable development, as the brand wants to #MakeSwissMadeGreenAgain. In 2018, H. Moser & Cie. presented the Swiss Icons Watch. […]
On the occasion of the launch of H. Moser & Cie. X Bucherer Blue Editions in Schaffhausen, we had the opportunity to sit down with Edouard Meylan, the brand CEO. The Meylan family-owned company makes about 1,500 watches per year with Moser and manufactures over 50,000 hairsprings/assortments per year with Precision Engineering AG (for H. Moser & Cie. and for third-parties). It was time for us to sit and talk with Edouard and to have answers to certain questions we had about the brand, its unique communication strategy and its products.
Bucherer certainly has some impact on brands and is powerful enough to have them creating some purpose-designed watches, exclusive to its stores. These watches are named the “Bucherer Blue Editions” and many watch brands already participated (Tudor, IWC, Blancpain and more). All of them share a unique colour for the dial; blue. While H. Moser already participated in this concept, this time the brand decided to go in a different direction. Not only these 2 new “Moser x Bucherer Blue Editions” aren’t blue (at least for their dials) but Moser also introduces a brand new watch, totally different from the brand’s previous creations; the Heritage – a surprising retro-styled pilot’s watch.
Creative, daring, highly technical or crafted to a level that you simply cannot achieve in mass production – there are many reasons why independent watchmaking has been on the rise over the past twenty years. “Indies” are passionate about watchmaking and are often just a little bit crazy. Without massive marketing budgets or product committees, their creations are simply born from dreams, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit. Their ingenuity, vision, diversity or simply their smaller size give watchmaking fans a wealth of unique creations. Today, we take a look at some of the best 2018 creations of the independent watchmaking scene.
H. Moser & Cie. unveils its latest take on the flying tourbillon complication housed in a stainless steel Pioneer case ready to battle the elements. This is not Moser’s first tourbillon – it has already appeared in the upmarket Endeavour, Venturer and Swiss Alp Watch collections – nor is it the first complication to reach the Pioneer family, which hosts a QP complication. The novelty here is the combination of a one-minute flying tourbillon and its corresponding automatic movement inside the sportier case of the Pioneer. Forming part of Moser’s SIHH 2019 novelties, the brand that likes to row against the tide of convention has decided to beat the flurry of pre-SIHH teasers and puts the Pioneer Tourbillon for sale on the market today. Shielded by its beefy 42.8mm steel case that is water-resistant to 120m, this is Moser’s concept of an ATV tourbillon that can take on the challenges of everyday wear and tear – and also the brand’s most accessible tourbi ever.
The Endeavour Perpetual Moon Concept consolidates superlatives as one of the most precise, one of the most spartan, and certainly the darkest moon phase watch on the market today. Presented in two versions – one in red gold with a signature Moser fumé dial and another in steel with a pitch-black dial – the steel model is the talking piece. With a dial made from Vantablack – the darkest, blackest synthetic substance on our planet – a dramatic black hole canvas serves as a stage for the Moon to perform its orbit. Alluring and mysterious, Vantablack brings the alien sensation of a black hole one step closer to earthlings.
It’s always a little daunting to review a simple 3-hand dress watch because, on the whole, they tend to steer on the side of ‘conservative, classic, understated elegance’ and can have you thumbing through your Thesaurus in search of yet another way to express ‘conservative, classic, understated elegance’. Luckily, when it comes to H.Moser & Cie., things are different. Although the Endeavour Centre Seconds Automatic is Moser’s simplest 3-hand dress watch and is the brand’s interpretation of a ‘classic in the making’, it speaks a far more contemporary language than many of its peers, more in-tune with the times and the brand’s pervasive philosophy. The two watches we are looking at today – one in red gold and the other in white gold – might be related but the attitude they transmit couldn’t be more different.
Following the now well-known “purity” strategy of the brand – and that certain sense for anti-conformism that can make us laugh or make us think – H. Moser & Cie. continues to deploy the cleaned look of their watches over the collection, by now refining the Venturer Big Date. Less is more and if the focus is on legibility, it is done without losing the basics of the brand. Cleaner but still bold, meet the H. Moser & Cie. Venturer Big Date Purity.
Moser is probably not the first brand you would turn to for a sports watch, but there was a gap in the collection for something more robust, more masculine, more casual and more suitable for everyday wear and tear. Moser’s answer is the stainless steel 3-hand Pioneer Centre Seconds, the brand’s entry-level ‘sports’ watch, which is revisited with a cool Cosmic Green fumé dial. At 42.8mm in diameter and 15mm thick, it is the largest Moser on the block and features luminescence, 120m water-resistance and an efficient automatic movement with a 3-day power reserve.
The Tourbillon is often presented as the king of complications. Originally invented to combat the negative effect of earth attraction (a.k.a gravity), it remains today an inevitable feature for all high-end brands – as a demonstration of watchmakers’ capabilities to manufacture such small mechanisms. As for each edition of Baselworld, 2018 has brought its share of new Tourbillon watches. We have put together 10 highlights watches, all featuring such a regulating organ (and more).