To Master Its Finest Dials, H. Moser & Cie. Contrasts Light and Darkness

Putting pen to paper (or digits to keys) to reflect on H. Moser & Cie. swiftly turned into an emotional journey of sorts. You see, I remember those early days of the brand’s return to fighting form. A decade ago, at Baselworld — the now-defunct trade show that was once the epicentre of annual horological releases — Moser’s team was relegated to the small pop-up tent full of other smaller independent makers. It was home to the cool kids of fine watchmaking, and Moser came to the party with its first release of its now well-known series of concept watches. No name, logo, dial text, or indices were present, just a vibrant dial under polished hands to hold your attention.

At the time, this wasn’t meant to be a commercial exercise so much as a technical exploration of dial design possibilities. That, and a bit of a subversive middle finger to the return to logomania of big-box luxury brands. Whatever the motivation, the vibe stuck, and Moser became synonymous with bright, bold, and vibrant dials that you can instantly identify from across the room (if you know what you are looking for). Initially focusing on fumé dials that present a charming colour gradient, Moser soon advanced to further techniques to draw more vibrancy into its creations.

To get a true and proper shine out of its latest creations, Moser’s research and development team looked back at traditional techniques as much as they looked forward to new crafts and technologies. The long-standing technique of using translucent lacquer and enamel provides an excellent level of vibrance and sheen; however, that’s only a part of the equation. For pieces like the recently launched Endeavour Tourbillon Concept Turquoise Enamel, Moser uses a hammered white gold base. This, in turn, provides additional dimensionality within the Grand Feu enamel, so much so that we’d forgive you for not paying attention to the one-minute flying tourbillon of its HMC 805 self-winding movement.

While this Endeavour taps the more “traditionally leaning” side of things, the Midnight Blue and Matrix Green Frosted dials seen in the new Moser Streamliner push things into unfamiliar territory. In this case, a combination of stamping and hammering creates the base texture to appear below a translucent lacquer dial surface, creating a frosted effect much like freshly fallen snow. Challenging to photograph, and truly exceptional when seen in person, there’s something to this technique that leaves a subtle gold/silver shimmer within its core colour, as if the layer of lacquer is thin enough that the hammered baseplate can shine through to the dial’s surface.

But Moser’s mastery of contrasts required the brand to not only specialize in radiance, but also darkness. After years of brightness and vibrancy, Moser took a relatively unexpected turn. I say relatively with intent; Moser tends to do the unexpected, to make a splash, and to challenge convention. After all, these are the same folks who modelled their stunning mechanical Swiss Alp watch after the Apple Watch, and who, when playing with the idea of “Swiss Made,” found themselves developing a resin composite case made out of Swiss cheese. But I digress. The unexpected turn in this case was the use of a fascinating material known as Vantablack — the world’s blackest coating, absorbing up to 99.965 percent of light. What smells like a giant gimmick when you first come across it online actually works exceptionally well in a wristwatch. There are no reflections or superfluous details to detract attention from a set of polished watch hands. Being crafted of carbon nanotubes makes the work of Moser’s watchmakers that much more challenging, as a coating that absorbs light in such a manner will, in turn, show the absolute faintest imperfection, but therein lies the beauty and complexity of working with such a niche material.