09 May 2015 | Moser & Cie , 5 minutes on the wrist , Baselworld 2015

H.Moser & Cie is like a tailoring shop of haute horologerie. As with a high-end tailor's shop, its timepieces are aimed at an audience of pure connoisseurs, for whom understatement and superb quality are the purchase’s real motive, and who have an intimate relationship with their watches and do not buy one to simply show it off or re-sell it, but to keep it for life. This small manufacture from Schaffausen produces just 1000 pieces each year and is (I hope it will remain so in future) absolutely independent and a family operated business. These two aspects allow the Meylan family absolute independence in managing the brand, and give it that authenticity that some brands have lost as they've stepped into big industrial groups, and have allowed themselves to be driven mainly by business' logics, thus confusing the purists who have then found their new reference point in brands such as Moser . This year, among new models and variations of existing ones, the manufacture has presented several novelties (four of which mentioned in this post), appointing it as a point of reference for those who consider sobriety and class two mandatory requirements.

If we are to begin with new product variations, first place goes to the H.Moser & Cie Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Funky Blue , the “mysterious” and ingenious perpetual calendar (indexes are also used to indicate months). It can be set backwards and forwards without damaging the mechanism, one of the main issues one has to live with when buying a perpetual calendar. The match between the blue dial and the kudu leather strap is spot on and gives this watch a warm vintage appeal that is unknown even to other watches from the Endeavour collection, absolutely unique among today's perpetual calendars. This is by far the coolest vintage classic perpetual calendar to date.

If you're asking yourself how the H.Moser & Cie Concept Watch looks “in the flesh”, that I previewed in a brief post before Basel , judge for yourself. H.Moser & Cie has taken the concept of understatement to the extreme, by removing everything from the dial (indexes included), and associating for the very first time the idea of having no logo with luxury , in fine watchmaking.

The 40,8mm white gold case houses the manual wind HMC 343 caliber, with the Power Reserve indication on the movement side. On the black smoked dial, we find only the three hands for hour , minutes and seconds . It is captivating at first sight, but one needs to get used to it as the total absence of indications on the dial is a bit confusing at first. This is just a Concept Watch at the moment, and produced on request.

Moving a step forward towards complications, the white gold H.Moser & Cie Venturer Small Seconds features for the very first time a white dial and Roman numerals . A clear improvement in my opinion over the standard collection, in which the big arabic “12” index makes this Moser a bit too similar to other models from other brands. This is a nice proposal for those looking for a classic three-hands timepiece with Roman numerals, and until now was only looking within the Blancpain Villeret collection.

The 39mm wide and 12,5mm thick case is unchanged, as is the manual wind HMC 327 caliber beating at 18000 vph, and a 3 days power reserve visible on the back. The H.Moser & Cie Venturer Small Seconds is esthetically coherent with other collections, a more luminous dial and a width to the dial (also thanks to the slightly curved hands) that is somehow missing from the present collection.

The fourth and last in a row novelty of this selection is the blue smoked dial version of the Tourbillon . Blue is again associated with white gold as it is with the Funky Blue , it seems H.Moser & Cie is willing to attire new customers, those who are not buying a watch to wear it just in formal occasions, as it is minly with a yellow or rose gold case.

The fourth and last novelty of this selection is the blue smoked dial version of the Tourbillon . Blue is again associated with white gold , like in the Funky Blue ; it looks like this year H.Moser & Cie wishes to attract a clientele different from those who only buy a watch to wear it for formal occasions, as it is often the case with a yellow or rose gold case. The blue smoked dial is therefore the fourth chromatic variation of a complicated that is mostly famous for the adoption of an original one-minute Tourbillon assembly, that is interchangeable (to ease servicing and assembly by master watchmakers) and moreover adopts a Straumann double hairspring , a Moser 's patent, that would deserve a dedicated in-depth article. Suffice it to know that such a solution allows for the combined center of gravity of the springs to be aligned to the tourbillon rotation axis, a feat difficult to achieve with a traditional tourbillon, that results therefore as being less precise than this option. If you're looking for a true luxury timepiece, with superior quality, fully conceived and made in-house, H.Moser & Cie is a brand to take seriously into consideration. Pricing is not yet available but as soon as I will get them, so will you.

(Horbiter's proprietary photo-shooting)

Gaetano C. @Horbiter - Watches & Luxury

TWITTER @Gaetano Cimmino

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