When it comes to making their own way, or taking their own approach, Moser is definitely at the head of the pack. They’re not doing things with crazy timekeeping methods or that, but they just take what’s known, what’s high end, and then put their own particular spin on it. Take, for instance, the H. Moser Heritage Perpetual Calendar Midnight Blue Enamel.
Now, you know by the ‘Enamel’ in there that this watch features a fumé dial, in a lovely deep, dark blue that I, for one, cannot help but to notice. I’ve not actually seen one of their dials in person, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it from afar. That, and I’ve experienced true enamel dials in the past, so it’s not a stretch to imagine that here.
The H. Moser Heritage Perpetual Calendar Midnight Blue Enamel is also part of their heritage collection, which means they’ve looked back at watches from their past to see what they wanted to leverage here. To my eyes, this is most evident in the wire lugs, slender polished handset, and slim Roman numerals. All of this screams “this is how we used to do it”. The small seconds sort of steps a little forward from that, and then the oversized date window just says “welcome to the future, bub”. Not done properly, that large date window could be absolutely jarring, between it’s size and the font there. But, here, well, it just looks right, and it’s lovely.
The date window in the H. Moser Heritage Perpetual Calendar Midnight Blue Enamel is really the star of the show, albeit one you may not notice. Here, we’ve got a perpetual calendar movement. The small central hand indicates what month you’re in (convenient, 12 months and 12 hours), which means the date display (well, the movement) can take into account how many days there are in the month, and actually get itself adjusted correctly. And even if this is a “safe queen” that you only take out on the weekends, you should be good, as the movement actually manages a 7-day power reserve, so things will stay on track.
Now, for the bad news. The H. Moser Heritage Perpetual Calendar Midnight Blue Enamel, given all the work that’s done in the movement and the fact that the case is made of 18-carat white gold – oh, and that they’re only making 20 of them – means that the $110,000 is actually fitting to the watch. Eye-watering, I will admit the price tag is. However, if I was the sort to land into some walking away money one day, it’s a watch like this that I could see ending up in the collection. It’s the very overlap of the Venn diagram between haute horlogerie and If You Know You Know. Which means, well, it’d be me and like 3 of my friends who knew, but that’s ok. If you’re picking up a Moser, you’re doing it for you, and no one else. And in the meantime, perhaps an Endeavor Center Seconds would be an ideal stepping stone. Check out the full range at h-moser.com
Tech Specs from H. Moser
- Reference 8800-0203, 18-carat white gold model, Midnight Blue fumé enamel dial, blue alligator leather strap, limited edition of 20 pieces
- Case
- 18K white gold
- Blue enamel inserts on the case sides, engraving
- Diameter: 42.0 mm
- Height: 12,6 mm / 10,8 mm without sapphire crystal
- Sapphire crystal
- See-through sapphire crystal case back
- Crown adorned with an “M”
- Dial
- Midnight Blue fumé Grand Feu enamel
- Roman numerals
- Swallow-tail hands
- Movement
- HMC 800 hand-wound calibre
- Diameter: 34.0 mm or 15 lignes
- Height: 6.3 mm
- Frequency: 18,000 Vib/h
- 32 jewels
- Power reserve: minimum 7 days
- Hacking seconds
- Double barrel
- Interchangeable Moser escapement
- Original Straumann® hairspring
- Pallet fork and escapement wheel made from gold
- Movement and components hand-finished and decorated
- Functions
- Hours and minutes
- Small Seconds
- Perpetual calendar with date and month
- Big date display
- Month indicator via central hand
- Power reserve indicator
- Leap year cycle indicator on movement side
- Bracelet
- Hand-stitched midnight blue alligator leather
- 18K white gold pin buckle engraved with the Moser logo
