Lord Fan said: Rare and hard to find
When it comes to Switzerland, in addition to the natural scenery of washing the mind, the first thing that comes to mind may be the watch.
A while ago, the 2023 Watches & Wonders Haute Horlogerie exhibition was held in Geneva, and business fans also went to the scene, and came to this country famous for watches again after a long absence.
Whether you're looking at the snow-capped mountains opposite the pavilion or walking on the sparkling shores of Lake Geneva, you'll feel like it's all about watches.
Watchmaking is not only a proud industry of Switzerland, but also subtly integrated into the atmosphere of the city, where time seems to become concrete, and this collision of calm and accumulation, tradition and modernity, can always trigger infinite reverie.
However, Switzerland's watch city is far more than Geneva, and he has previously visited important watchmaking towns such as the Valley of Joo and La Chaux-de-Fonds, as well as another pilgrimage site that watch fans cannot miss, that is, Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland.
A four-hour drive from Geneva is Schaffhausen in German-speaking Switzerland, which offers a different landscape and people. The town has a long history, and there is a railway running through it, and walking here is like traveling back to medieval Europe, and the pace and mood slow down.
Europe's largest waterfall, the Rhine Falls, is also located in Schaffhausen, near which an ancient dam was built to power the industrial development of the Schaffhausen region.
It is a place of natural beauty and modern vitality, and one of the region's brightest core industries is watchmaking. H. Moser & Cie., a brand unique in the entire watch industry, originated in Schaffhausen.
In fact, H. Moser & Cie. has a very deep relationship with Schaffhausen, the famous dam on the Rhine was built by Heinrich Moser, the founder of Henri-Moser & Cie, and directly named the Moser Dam, which played a crucial role in the industrialization of the entire city, and many large enterprises in Schaffhausen benefited from the shade of H. Moser & Cie.
As a relatively low-key independent watchmaking brand, H. Moser & Cie. not only has a long history and important status, but is now increasingly well-known and favored by watch-savvy and collectors.
Olympic champion Wang Shun wears Henry Moser & Cie
Fans who pay attention to watches should know that his family's design can be called whimsical and shocking, and there are often works that are out of the circle, triggering a wave of discussion.
For example, the previous high-profile "Infinite Restart Apple Watch", the surface is no different from the Apple Watch, but it is actually a real mechanical watch, the anxious restart sign at 6 o'clock, in fact, is a white gradient small seconds dial, constantly rotating as if to remind people to cherish every moment, bringing infinite reverie.
Such a brain-opening humorous concept and philosophical temperament brushed the screen on various watches and technology forums, and Fan found it difficult to define whether it was a mechanical watch or contemporary art.
The Pioneer Big Three Needles GENESIS concept work launched at the beginning of this year was also eye-opening again.
The microsandblasted steel case with Vantablack® dial, 3D printed titanium crown and bezel, and the HMC 200 automatic mechanical movement inside, has a sci-fi "QR code" appearance that is unique in the entire Haute Fine Watchmaking bezel.
And this QR code can really be scanned, the brand breakthrough through the blockchain watch certification, digital assets and exclusive meta-universe space, as long as you use a mobile phone to scan, you can seamlessly connect the reality, digital and virtual world, simply not too cool ~
Not only is innovation playing6, but H. Moser & Cie. Cie. is also quite powerful. For example, last year's blockbuster piece: Pioneer Trailblazer cylindrical tourbillon skeleton, won the watch industry Oscar GPHG Best Tourbillon Award, which was highly praised in the industry.
The previous few years when he saw H. &Moser &Cie's work at the W&W watch exhibition, he was completely unforgettable, and this trip to Switzerland, after an in-depth visit to the Moser Museum and the watch factory in Schaffhausen, gave him a new understanding of this treasure brand.
A few days ago, Business Fan also participated in the H. Moser & Cie. new product preview in Beijing, and also appreciated a lot of bright new works up close, feeling like the brand's slogan, H. Moser & Cie. really did Very Rare, each watch is different, very rare, unique charm makes people head.
Today, let's talk about what kind of unusual brand H. Moser & Cie. is, and why is the bezel unique?
Unique brand DNA
Interesting, loving, and informative
The founder went to Russia alone, and the "second generation of cousins" returned home
The history of the H. Moser & Cie. brand is engraved with unusual genes. In 1805, the founder Mr. Heinrich Moser was born in Schaffhausen into a watchmaking family, he studied watchmaking with his family, and in his 20s, he chose to go north to Russia to develop his watch business.
He founded the brand H. Moser & Cie. in St. Petersburg in 1828, and with his excellent watchmaking skills, he quickly became famous in Tsarist Russia, and many royals and aristocrats were his customers, even the revolutionary leader Lenin had a Moser watch. The poet Mayakovsky also wrote an advertising slogan for Henri Moser & Cie: "A man must have a watch, and if he wants to buy a watch he buys!" , exported to many countries in the world, it can be seen that the popularity is high~
After a successful career, Henri Moser & Cie. returned to his hometown of Schaffhausen at the end of 1848. As a successful businessman and watch manufacturer, he built his own watch factory here with a pioneering spirit, invested in water companies, freight mills, regional railways, etc., and built Switzerland's first dam with hydromechanical turbines to generate electricity, which made a great contribution to the local economy and culture.
Between 1850 and 1854, he built the Charlottenfels estate for his family in the suburbs of Schaffhausen, which is now open to the public as the Moser Family Museum and is a great place to learn about the brand's history and the story behind it.
This on-site visit also left a deep impression on Lord Fan. The building has a grand and elegant exterior, a quiet location and a quiet surround, with panoramic views of the town of Schaffhausen from the path at the entrance of the estate.
Step inside and feel the avant-garde aesthetic and interesting soul of H. Moser & Cie. The walls hang the loot of the founder's son hunting, full of a strange sense of order.
Through the arched windows, you can see the beautifully manicured lawn, and the natural life is fascinating.
The chandeliers of different shapes are still fashionable and artistic even today, highlighting the advanced aesthetic taste.
Climb the old wooden staircase and feel transported back in time. You will discover that Mr. Moser is not only a talented and visionary watchmaker, but also a romantic and loving person.
The estate is named after his first wife, Charlotte Mayu, and although Charlotte later died unexpectedly and did not see the completion of the estate, leaving Mr. Moser with eternal regret, his memory of his wife and his love for his family can be seen everywhere in this villa.
Photo of Mr. Henri Moser & Cie. with his wife and daughters
After his success, he did not forget to build his hometown, investing a lot of effort in the design and construction of dams and the development of Schaffhausen's industrial industry. In the museum, many scenes of work and life in those years have been restored, and even the pictures of Mr. Moser working in the brain can be made up, and through various exquisite drawings and manuscripts, you can fully feel his deep love for this land.
More important is, of course, the persistence and love of fine watchmaking, in the era of underdeveloped technology, Mr. Moser would gather sunlight through the water in the glass and concentrate on watchmaking in front of the window.
You can also see many valuable brand archives here, such as minute minute repeaters with perpetual calendar and moon phase functions from the 1870s, patent documents for the manufacture of Straumann hairspring material, wall clocks that still run to this day.
After this journey back to its roots, you can feel the deep watchmaking heritage and unique aesthetic style of H. Moser & Cie.
Join forces to return to the "top stream"
In its long history of more than 200 years, H. Moser & Cie. has experienced ups and downs and was acquired by the Swiss MELB holding group in 2012.
The Meylan family behind the group can be said to have a good background in the watch industry, the founder worked for Audemars Piguet for more than 20 years in the early years, and later founded his own business, with a keen appreciation of fine watchmaking and business foresight, and discovered the great potential and charm of H. Moser & Cie.
Now helmed by brothers Edouard Meylan and Bertrand Meylan, H. Moser & Cie. has taken H. & Cie. to new heights by retaining and building on the brand's strengths, incorporating a unique and distinctive contemporary personality, respecting tradition while skillfully infusing the brand with a rebellious spirit.
Especially Edouard Meylan, often praised by domestic media as the CEO of Little Fresh Meat, is indeed very good-looking, and a pair of azure eyes always look wise and gentle.
He can be said to be a proper marketing genius, from the first Swiss Alp Watch that caused a sensation in 2016, to the Swiss Mad Watch with a case made of Swiss cheese, and the brand's main de-logo design in recent years, all of which are inseparable from his strategizing behind the scenes.
The Swiss Mad Watch with Swiss cheese as the case is used to ridicule the overly loose "Swiss Made" standard
Such a bold concept is unprecedented in the entire fine watchmaking industry, and it can become the top topic every time, reflecting the interesting core of brand rebellion and banter, and also highlighting the unique value of mechanical watchmaking from another direction, bringing more inspiration and reflection to the industry.
Streamliner Blacker than Black Ultra Black watch, made of extremely special and difficult-to-process Vantablack® material, absorbance as high as 99.965%, feeling that it is darker than a black hole "dark matter", has become the focus of conversation at the watch exhibition
And the rare point is that these out-of-the-loop masterpieces are not just gimmicks, but also mechanical watches with excellent performance and craftsmanship while the topic is full. This also conveys the H. Moser & Cie. brand spirit: true luxury lies in individual expression, which in turn leads people to pay attention to the product itself, and every time they say it, they can think of how different his watches are.
The commercialization has also been very successful, and the one-piece metal strap launched in 2020 and the new Streamliner speedster series with a chic and smooth shape have been well received and popularized after their launch, becoming a well-deserved new classic of the brand.
In short, when the interesting and loving Henrymu meets the discerning Merang family, this wave of cooperation can be said to be a high fit and strong cooperation, giving this historic brand a new life~
Outstanding watchmaking skills
Independent innovation, unconventional path
As an independent watchmaking brand, the reason why it can quickly rise in the Swiss high-end watchmaking industry must rely on excellent watchmaking technology. This visit to the H. Moser & Cie. watchmaking factory was a testament to how a "Very Rare" watch was born.
H. Moser & Cie. has a comprehensive range of in-house R&D production capacity, with independent departments from design and development, parts manufacturing to assembly, ensuring that most movements are manufactured by the watch factory, and the quality of production is firmly in the hands of the brand itself.
After more than a decade of rapid development, the brand now has nearly 30 original in-house movements, both technical and creative to achieve surprises, and is constantly innovating, harnessing difficult complications while making exclusive features.
Thanks to the support of sister company Precision Engineering AG, the most core and difficult hairspring manufacturing technology in watchmaking can also be easily mastered by H. Moser & Cie.
All of the brand's watches are made of its own Straumann hairspring, made of special alloy materials, which ensure the highest level of precision and accuracy, and the manufacturing process is extremely complex and precise.
In the watch factory, you can see how the alloy rods are gradually pulled down to a very fine degree, rolled and cut at high temperatures, and then manually coiled by watchmakers.
In addition, in the innovation of complex technology, H. Moser & Cie. is also the first, such as the brand's first Flash Calendar flash perpetual calendar, through the unique way of double-layer date digital disk to achieve date instantaneous jump, but also at any time of the day forward or backward adjustment, complex at the same time to achieve clear and easy to read, convenient operation, very rare.
Rare to find, design pioneering
Each piece is rare enough
After talking about history and technology, we have to say that H. Moser & Cie. has a unique design~
As mentioned earlier, it goes the other way around, directly removing the logo (or using a transparent logo to reduce the sense of existence), such a reverse operation is very avant-garde in the entire bezel, making the appearance more simple and pure, and can highlight the beauty of the disk to the greatest extent.
And anyone who knows Moser knows that his smoker plate is a unique, unique watchmaking language, even if it does not rely on logos, it has a high degree of recognition at a glance. Moreover, the dials are made of precious materials and exquisite craftsmanship, and the delicate sense of nobility visible to the naked eye, connoisseurs can know that they are worth a lot at a glance, and wear them out to show their unique taste in minutes.
The "eraser" watch, which was very popular at the watch fair before
Although production has gradually increased in recent years, it is still a "limited" supply with an annual output of a few thousand pieces, and it can be said that each H. Moser & Cie. is rare enough to be eye-catching without bumping the watch.
Fan Lord also helped everyone preview the new products in advance, now let's see which models are the most wanted to have~
The Speedman Big Three Needle Smoked Salmon Watch
This Speedster Big Three Needle Smoked Salmon watch is a new work just released this month, and I was lucky to see it for the first time in Beijing.
Named after the earliest high-speed trains of the 1920s and 1930s, the 40mm cushion stainless-steel case combines vintage elegance with sporty curves in a 40mm cushion steel case.
The highlight is the dial, the first time H. Moser & Cie. has brought a smoky salmon-colored dial, with a unique vertical brushed pattern, which is quite rare in terms of color and craftsmanship. With the movement of the wrist, the surface of the disk will change from chocolate to gold, and the black part will also become a subtle mirror effect, which becomes more charming the more you look at it~
Interestingly, it is very different from the salmon plate we usually remember, for which H. Moser & Cie. CEO Edouard Meylan said that the dial inspiration is indeed not from the traditional Atlantic salmon, but a very rare silver salmon, this special fish after the secret recipe made of Scotch whisky, will show a similar special color, Very Rare is really a masterpiece.
Powered by Moser's in-house development, design and manufacture of the HMC 200 automatic calibre, the back-through design allows a clear view of the famous H. Moser & Cie. double stripe and large engraved solid 18K gold rotor. The movement offers at least three days of dynamic storage and is full of sincerity from the inside out.
The one-piece stainless steel strap combines ergonomics with a streamlined curve along the wrist line for a particularly comfortable fit. Waterproof up to 120 meters, meet the needs of a variety of occasions. This special edition watch is sold for a limited time for one year, not limited than limited, it is said that there has been a long queue, if you are excited, you should hurry up~
Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Tantalum metallic blue enamel watch
Known for its most legible and easy-to-use perpetual calendar on the market, H. Moser & Cie. Maximor's new Endeavour Perpetual Calendar is innovative in materials, appearance and technology.
For the first time, the case is made of the rare tantalum metal, a rare and valuable material with a bluish color in deep gray that complements the brightly coloured enamel dial.
Because tantalum is dense and extremely hard, it is difficult to process, and when other cases are rarely used in tantalum, only sandblasting or frosting treatment is usually performed. H. Moser & Cie. insisted on polishing the surface of the case, and after more than two years of repeated attempts, it was finally successful, which was also a major innovation in the field of new materials.
The "Abyss Blue" dial is a stunning face, with its distinctive three-dimensional texture and vibrant colours that cannot be found on any other brand, and is the result of countless painstaking efforts and intricate craftsmanship: it begins with a hammering on a gold chassis, where four different pigments are finely ground into powder, diluted with water and coloured to create a seamless gradient effect.
This is a test of the enamel master's skill and patience, which must be carefully colored, fired 12 times, and without any particle phenomenon, and there is no room for a little difference. The large flame enamel dial also appears translucent, and the texture and color of each dial is unique.
The layout of the plate is also refreshing, with only the 12 and 6 o'clock hour markers retained, and the minimalist design shows the beauty of the plate to the fullest. The small central hand indicates the month, the large calendar window at 3 o'clock combined with the "flash calendar" function can change the date at midnight, and the 7-day dynamic storage display at 9 o'clock.
As one of the three complications, this perpetual calendar is incredibly easy to teach: the date and time can be easily adjusted at any time of the day through the crown alone, simplifying the perpetual calendar road, completely subverting the traditional definition of perpetual calendar, from beauty, craftsmanship to innovation.
At first glance, it is even difficult to imagine that it is a perpetual calendar, which can be said to be truly hidden and inside.
Under the minimalist shape, it contains high complex functions, with quiet power, here silence is better than sound, probably this is the supreme realm of high-end watchmaking~
The Trailblazer series Arctic Blue tourbillon and the Big Three Hands watch
This year, H. Moser & Cie. also launched two new Arctic Blue watches from the Trailblazer series, the Arctic Blue color of the dial is impressive, but also injects a breath of freshness into the watch, and the brand logo of transparent lacquer color looms, making the entire dial as clear and pure as the Arctic sky.
The gauge diameter has been updated from the previous 42.8mm to 40mm, and the proportions are more balanced and delicate. Not only is it suitable for everyday wear, but it is also surprisingly water-resistant up to 120 meters deep, and with leather and rubber straps, it can be used in any environment.
The complex model is equipped with the HMC 804 flying tourbillon calibre in-house calibre, double-layered flat hairspring for improved precision, and the tourbillon is assembled and adjusted independently of the movement for easy maintenance.
The big three-needle style is simple and atmospheric, equipped with the classic HMC 200 self-winding self-produced movement, and the hand-to-hand value is very high. A touch of Arctic blue balances restrained and ostentatious just right, and it can attract attention as soon as it is shot.
In addition to the models introduced above, H. Moser & Cie. has many amazing pieces worth savoring.
But for independent watchmaking brands, the biggest concern is where to try on and buy, here to share the good news, just recently, H. Moser & Cie. Chinese mainland the grand opening of the first brand boutique, the new store opened in Nanjing West Road, where watch stores are lined with famous watch stores, in Shanghai fans must visit.
High-end watches often only require simple display, and the interior of the boutique continues the brand's usual minimalist style, and the combination of blue and gray is elegant and stylish, showing H. Moser & Cie's long history and unique insight into Haute Horlogerie.
The brand's four collections: Streamliner Speedster, Endeavour Pioneer, Pioneer Trailblazer and Heritage Inheritor, are all available, and many treasures are waiting for you to discover.
The specific store information is attached below, so if you want to feel the unique charm of H. Moser & Cie, please go to the store to taste it up close↓
H. Moser & Cie
Address: No. 1079, Nanjing West Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai
Finally, I want to say that Henri Moser & Cie. is like the Dalí of independent watchmaking, equally deviant, subversive, unwilling to be mediocre, extremely rare, and has a unique sense of ironic humor and surrealism, which makes people want to explore.
At the same time, despite its avant-garde ideas and anti-bone soul, it has never abandoned tradition: Yudalí is painting, and Henri Moser & Cie. is the pure DNA of Swiss Haute Horlogerie. And Dali is an artist who has done both artistry and commercialization well, and I expect Moser to have more surprising performances in the future.
Accustomed to seeing the same watch, such a rare work can always make people's eyes shine, and people who really understand watches and pursue difference deserve to have~