Pre Baselworld 2015 - H.Moser & Cie Concept Watch

09 March 2015 | H.Moser & Cie.

To introduce the new model that H.Moser & Cie has previewed ahead of Baselworld 2015, I decided to cite the writer Seth Godin and his famous book “Purple Cow”, a sort of mantra for those who have decided to create their own brand and to set up their marketing campaign, in a way that will allow their product or service to really stand out. This result, if applied to high-end watchmaking, is hard to achieve if not impossible, since it's not easy for new luxury brands to stand out and attract customers who are often loyal to a small bunch of strong and renowned brands. H.Moser & Cie, which has a longstanding tradition in watchmaking and was founded in 1828 in Schaffausen, has been very brave (as well as smart) mainly for two reasons: it has given up massive ad campaigns and has followed a path that is opposite to today's trend in fine watchmaking, that is often all about making super-complicated, overdesigned and sometimes bizarre timepieces, just to attract new potential customers. The outcome is a Concept Watch, laconically referred to as Reference 343-0XXX.

H.Moser & Cie has therefore occupied an area that most fine watchmakers have actually abandoned, and has managed to capture the most difficult thing to communicate today: simplicity, a place where many connoisseurs actually live, though taken to the extreme in order to declare its vision: it's the product and the product only to market itself. The H.Moser & Cie Concept Watch is a three hands mechanical timepiece, where the power reserve indicator is placed on the movement side (the brand realizes the neatest and purest timepieces when it comes to design: a few years ago I had to actually read one of their timepieces’ technical sheet, to realize that it was in fact a perpetual calendar). No logo and indexes on its dial because, if a product is recognizable, you need nothing but functionality (you would recognize a 991 from a distance even without its logo or emblem). A clear reference to the brand's design is its fumé dial, a hallmark of any H.Moser & Cie.

The case is white gold and is 40,8mm wide and 10,9mm thick; the movement, caliber HMC 343, is made in-house, in a manufacture that employs just 50 people and produces just 1000 watches a year, made for those who appreciate the core of fine watchmaking and are not buying one after having seen an ad campaign with their favourite sports athlete (I associate the H.Moser & Cie's intimate approach to watchmaking to that used by some fine Japanese watchmakers). While waiting to get my hands on this beauty, here is a live photo of the timepiece which I found on the brand's official Instagram account.