What’s one purported to make of H. Moser & Cie.? Ask a room stuffed with collectors to explain the model, and there are a handful of responses you’re certain to get: thrilling, trendy, and enjoyable being foremost amongst them. Moser, underneath the watchful eyes of the Meylan household, has cultivated a singular providing, one characterised by a recent, streamlined (pun regrettably supposed) catalog and a watch towards collaboration.
Whether or not you’re questioning at one of many model’s newest high-complication items or throwing on any of their impeccable time-only sports activities watches, it’s exhausting to disclaim that few manufacturers handle to stability an urge for food for stable, wearable, on a regular basis watches with elegantly applied issues, so nimbly as Moser. Even fewer handle to perform this whereas navigating the self-serious world of watches with the identical humorousness and vitality that H. Moser & Cie. has underneath the stewardship of the Meylan household.
I used to be fortunate sufficient to spend an hour with Edouard Meylan, the CEO of H. Moser & Cie., to speak about all the pieces Moser, and proper off the bat, he acknowledged this tightrope. “I feel we went additional into this concept of bringing these two worlds collectively [the traditional and the modern]. Staying very conventional, just like the actions and people sorts of issues,” he defined, “however on the similar time bringing a contact of extra trendy, extra us. I couldn’t image it again then I knew I needed to deliver that.”
“I bear in mind the primary Baselworld, it was like the primary months after I began, the reward we delivered to our friends was a inexperienced apple. We didn’t have a finances, so we gave them a inexperienced apple with our emblem on it. And I used to be like, that is the contemporary style that we need to deliver. And the inexperienced — like this vibrant inexperienced apple is what I need to challenge for our model. I had an image of a Porsche 360 in vibrant inexperienced, the identical coloration as that apple. And I used to be attempting to say, you will be this classic automotive, however on the similar time, as a result of it’s inexperienced, it’s tremendous cool. That’s what I need to do with Moser. So I didn’t know in what type, however there was this concept of being this type of bridge between conventional and trendy watchmaking.”
In case you’ve discovered your self being attentive to Moser at any level over the past dozen or so years, it’s exhausting to disclaim that Moser has turned this bridge idea into a strong model id, to the purpose that it’s exhausting to foretell what turns the model would possibly make. In any case, whereas Moser could also be a model you may simply flip to for a good-looking perpetual calendar or high-end chronograph, they’re the identical model that makes watches out of cheese and reimagines the Apple Watch as a Vantablack-dialed minute-repeater with no discernible show of time. “I feel when you have got a large assortment, typically you want these sorts of outlier watches,” Meylan advised me.
“I feel it’s a bit little bit of who we’re, and on the similar time, I’d wish to say, Moser, at the moment, we have been form of youngsters as a model. It was a teenage model, within the sense that that you must emancipate. You want to specific your opinions and play a bit bit — elbow in opposition to the adults. There’s this wrestle of exhibiting who you’re and the place you stand as a result of the large query was why do you want one other model like this one?”
Touchdown on the fitting strategy was a course of. “Instantly we struck a method that labored for us,” Meylan defined, “which was to make use of symbolism to precise our opinions — it’s form of activism for us. And once we realized that labored for us, then we mentioned, okay, let’s use the identical method time and again. And that meant discovering the fitting message, making a loopy product, utilizing humor and provocation, and doing it in January yearly, just about. That was the method, and that’s what we did till we burnt a bit bit our fingers.”
“I feel we proceed to attempt issues, to discover, to do issues a bit bit in another way from the others. It’s a part of what Moser stands for at present. I feel it really works as a result of it’s fairly constant throughout the merchandise and the communication and likewise a bit little bit of who we’re as folks.”
In fact, none of that is to say that the profound sense of irreverence that winds its method by the model comes on the value of the watches themselves. Quite the opposite, the watches Moser is placing out into the world are among the many finest you’ll discover at present. And no watch is a greater instance of this actuality than the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Tantalum, which I used to be lucky to spend a while with within the days after my sit-down with Ed Meylan.
A Distinctive Tackle the Perpetual Calendar
If I requested you to conjure up a picture of a perpetual calendar in your thoughts, what would you think about? Regardless of the reply, my guess is {that a} near-sterile dial tantalum watch with a violently blue dial isn’t what you imagined. Within the hundred or so years since Patek Philippe produced the primary perpetual calendar wristwatch, the method for a perpetual calendar has been comparatively set, with subdials aplenty and an inclination to skew in direction of the classical.
Even probably the most trendy perpetual calendars, like Patek’s in-line 5236P, default to presenting you with as a lot data as they’ll. Not so with Moser’s Perpetual Calendars. As an alternative of rubbing your nostril within the sheer complexity of a watch that may theoretically maintain time and date for the remainder of our lives, Moser’s tackle the long-lasting complication strips away the element, making use of the model’s signature minimalist strategy to an in any other case crowded complication.
The result’s one thing immensely particular, and in contrast to the rest you’ll discover available on the market — even when some would possibly mistake it for a easy time and date watch (not less than in the event that they don’t know higher). “The philosophy of the model when it comes to merchandise,” in response to Meylan, is “minimalism, understated [watches] with very ingenious actions.”
However the actual magic of the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Tantalum is simply how simply it may very well be confused for any variety of different watches from the model’s catalog. On its floor, the minimal structure of the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar appears to depart loads to the creativeness, and with out the everyday subdials and pointer arms discovered on different perpetual calendars, it may be simple to really feel a bit misplaced, however the watch’s perceived sterility and ease belies a world of labor, thought, and real-world practicality.
Small technical particulars can simply be forgotten within the face of a watch as lovely because the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar, however they aren’t secondary to Moser. Delicate particulars, like the flexibility to set the calendar ahead or again at any time of day, could seem trivial, however within the historical past of perpetual calendar watches (which have typically demanded a delicate hand even when performing the only changes), it’s an enormous step ahead.
This deal with even the smallest particulars, each technical and aesthetic, is an indication not simply of Moser’s dedication to creating nice watches, but in addition of the model’s consciousness that the goalposts are at all times transferring, particularly as different manufacturers attempt to play catch-up with Moser — particularly in terms of dials.
“Now we see increasingly more folks copying the Moser dials,” says Meylan. “And so they actually go to the suppliers [saying] can I’ve a Moser dial? In order that’s why we began doing the enamel dials, as a result of I at all times advised the workforce, we have to have probably the most lovely dials. We should be higher. We should be one step forward of the others. In two years’ time, all people may have these, so we have to proceed to push there.”
Black, or Barely Darker Black
Probably the perfect instance of this push towards new and completely different dials comes because of the progressive materials Vantablack, a singular coating that absorbs almost all mild. The completely bonkers materials is as black as you may presumably think about, to the purpose that it barely breaks your mind to see it in particular person. H. Moser & Cie. was the primary (and to date solely, to my information) model to utilize the fabric, and it has, within the area of some years, change into as a lot part of the model as every other visible hallmark.
“The origin is, we’re identified for fumé. So sooner or later, we’re like, black remains to be the colour ceaselessly — just like the little black gown kind of factor — however we can’t do a black fumé, it doesn’t make any sense. So how will we make one thing? As a result of at Moser, the philosophy is it must be completely different from the others. In any other case, folks begin evaluating and so they often purchase probably the most identified model. So we’d like one thing that’s fully completely different. That’s once I got here throughout Vantablack.”
Not everybody was instantly on board with incorporating Vantablack into the lineup, nevertheless. “I talked to the workforce and so they mentioned it’s too sophisticated,” Meylan defined. “It’s too tough. We’re not going to have the ability to use it as a model [but] let’s attempt. It’s not as a result of no person else has accomplished it that we can’t do it. And if it requires particular instruments, it’s manufacturers in our value level that may do that. And to be sincere, I feel we slowly, through the years, managed to construct a model and a workforce that’s open to these sorts of issues. At first, they have been pushing again on something that was barely progressive. It was like, ah, no, we can’t do it. And all of the sudden they realized that it was truly cool. And we give them the liberty and the time to do it.”
In fact, working with a fabric fully new to watchmaking presents its personal set of challenges, particularly one as delicate as Vantablack, which is basically destroyed should you contact it the mistaken method. “To be sincere, with Vantablack, it’s like tremendous sophisticated to set the arms or indexes and stuff, et cetera. So one alternative we had with Moser is that we don’t have a emblem and we don’t have indexes. So we’re like, we simply want a small gap within the center…and be sure that we don’t break the construction once we set the arms.”
“And when Mark [Cho] got here up along with his concepts of getting indexes with small holes, the workforce mentioned, no, it’s inconceivable as a result of we can’t put something on the Vantaback. So I advised the workforce, I mentioned, however we are able to make the outlet for the, for the arms. They’re like, yeah. I mentioned that signifies that if now we have the outlet from the indexes and we put one thing behind, we’ll see it. Yeah. And so they’re like, okay. In order that’s when it began.”
An Eye Towards Collaboration
Moser’s conversations with Mark Cho ultimately led to the Endeavour Small Seconds Whole Eclipse, a refined tackle the Endeavour with clear nods to classical watchmaking. That watch is only one (properly, technically two) of the various collaborations H. Moser & Cie. has participated in throughout Ed Meylan’s tenure on the helm of the model. The truth is, collaboration has been one of many key instruments the model has used to push itself ahead.
In talking with Ed, it shortly turned clear that the model’s inclination towards collaboration isn’t simply purposeful to the model, it’s foundational. “Since day one, I’ve labored loads with impartial manufacturers and I at all times noticed the wrestle. In case you focus in your core circle of collectors, you’re so depending on these guys that yearly that you must strike a novelty, one thing scorching — we realized that collaborations helped increase that circle throughout the watchmaking neighborhood, but in addition past that.”
It’s in that spirit of growth that Moser has appeared past the world of high-end watches to gas their collaborative fireplace. Over the previous few years they’ve labored with everybody from streetwear manufacturers, like Undefeated, to the Alpine F1 workforce, who they started working with as a sponsor at the start of the 2024 season — they managed to deliver the primary of two Alpine version Streamliners to market in simply 4 months, a exceptional timeline for any watch model, however a completely unbelievable achievement for one among Moser’s scale.
That’s to not say that they’ve shied away from working with watch manufacturers — two of their most fun collaborators in recent times have been watch manufacturers at polar reverse ends of the watch world; MB&F and Studio Underd0g — the latter of which yielded probably the most mentioned and thrilling collaborations of 2024. “I like that so many individuals mentioned, ‘Oh, I didn’t see it coming.’”
“After we did one thing with Studio Underd0g, the concept was actually, they [are] very younger and intensely dynamic. [We have] loads of overlaps when it comes to neighborhood, however loads of their folks don’t know us and loads of our folks don’t know them. So we thought by coming collectively we increase, once more, the circle… It’s essential whereas persevering with to be contemporary, completely different, create the surprising.”
So The place Does Moser Go From Right here?
So what is going to the surprising appear to be for Moser transferring ahead? Nicely, from the sound of it, there may be loads of pleasure on the horizon (a lot of which I’ve promised to maintain underneath my hat for now), however one large step will come within the subsequent era of Moser sophisticated watches.
“Proper now with Moser, now we have loads of the issues, however we by no means actually mixed the issues. So now it’s extra the concept of deliver them collectively… My dream is: now we have an incredible repeater, now we have an incredible chronograph, now we have an incredible perpetual calendar. How do you place them collectively?” H. Moser
