BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
H. Moser & Cie. has become renowned for its sophisticated and high-quality watches that have a modern flair to them. They’re also known for their zany approach to marketing themselves such as making a watch out of cheese and making one that’s a mishmash of loads of watch design elements and almost getting themselves sued because of it. I don’t find their marketing approach particularly funny, but maybe I’m just having one of my trademark “lack of humour” moods when I see them at it. Either way, I’m in the minority as H. Moser & Cie. is a big success, and I can barely motivate myself to keep my room tidy.
H. Moser & Cie.’s watches can be found in many dealerships, including Bucherer, which means that a percentage of the profits made from the watch’s sales goes to Rolex, which owns Bucherer. Bucherer’s special edition watches are renowned, and H. Moser & Cie. has created three new pleasing (and pricey) models.
Pioneer Tourbillon Concept Aventurine
The Pioneer is H. Moser & Cie.’s sort-of sports watch. When it first came out it was the most rugged of the lineup, but the Streamliner has taken over that mantle now, leaving the Pioneer to be a more smart/casual sports watch which actually leans towards the sporty side. This one, with its perforated rubber strap, does this too, although it’s restrained somewhat by the movement. Behind that polished aventurine dial is the self-winding calibre HMC 804, which has a 72-hour power reserve and a flying tourbillon to add to the drama the aventurine brings. The case is 42.8mm and is made of 18k rose gold and DLC-coated titanium. These watches are limited to 18 examples worldwide and retail for €75,000.
Endeavour Concept Minute Repeater Tourbillon Aventurine & Aventurine with Diamonds
The Endeavour line is probably H. Moser & Cie.’s most well-known line of watches and has been the basis for their experimental creativity for years. The Endeavour Concept Minute Repeater Tourbillon Aventurine is one of their most pleasing models thanks to its almost brutally simplistic design. As per their usual mantra, there’s no brand name on this one or any real indications of anything except the time, and I’ll bet if H. Moser & Cie. had a mechanical watch that could beam the time into your head and thus avoid hands, they’d try it.
I love how the aventurine has been cut away for this model’s minute repeater to be visible, and a dial-side minute repeater is always a plus. Around the back of both watches is the manually-wound HMC 904 calibre, which has a 90-hour power reserve. If you buy one of the two “regular” aventurine models that are available you get an 18k red gold case measuring 40mm across. For the piece-unique Aventurine with Diamonds model, the white gold case is bigger at 43mm. Presumably, that’s so it can comfortably fit the 85 baguette-cut diamonds. The price is €381,000 for the minute repeater, jumping to €448,000 for the one with diamonds.
All three watches were at some point available through Bucherer, although I wrote that in the past tense, as I expect they’ve all sold now.
