To celebrate this Golden Jubilee, H Moser & Cie. have designed a watch that exemplifies the partnerships that the Lim and Meylan families have had over their years in the watch industry – resulting in the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton in a highly limited dial and case execution.

The Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton first made its appearance at Watches and Wonders 2022, featuring a steel case, and a modern looking dial, with its baton shaped markers and hands, and housed in the sporty Pioneer case. Setting it apart from the main collection, the same movement is housed in the more classic Endeavour case to celebrate the Cortina Watch Golden Jubilee.

The watch is housed in decadent 18 carat red gold with a domed sapphire crystal, and is delivered on a brown alligator leather strap fastened by an 18 carat red gold red folding clasp engraved with the Moser logo. The dial is off-centred, executed in a Funky Blue fume dial with Roman numerals and feuille hands in red gold. At 6 o’clock is the distinctive tourbillon cage rotating once per minute, with its two-armed swooping bridge on the tourbillon cage. 

Interestingly, the tourbillon houses a hairspring from Precision Engineering, a sister company to H Moser & Cie, as well as sister brand Hautlence. Precision Engineering manufactures all of the group’s hairsprings, and enables H Moser & Cie to explore novel shapes, like cylindrical hairsprings.

Theoretically, the cylindrical hairspring exhibits a ‘breathing’ motion that is more concentric than typical flat hairsprings, which gives more consistent isochronism in the beating of the balance wheel. In the case of the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton for Cortina Watch, the cylindrical hairspring also exhibits two Breguet overcoils, which further assist in even oscillations of the balance wheel. Ultimately, the shape of the balance spring and it’s Breguet overcoils are designed to assist in consistent timekeeping, the goal of any watch designed for precision.

The HMC811 calibre housed within the 18 carat gold case is beautifully skeletonised, exhibiting great symmetry and balance in the way that it has been executed. Parts of the movement such as the jewels and keyless works of the crown look to be integrated into the anthracite PVD coated bridges and plates, and do not appear to throw off the balance of the dial. The movement features a minimum of 74 hours of power reserve, with its oscillator beating at 21,600 vph, enabling the wearer to enjoy the slower beat of the tourbillon cage. The edges of the bridges and plates have been diamond bevelled to accentuate the shape of those components, further enhanced by the way they play with the light.

Turning the watch over, we see a fully skeletonised rotor in 18 carat gold, and the words “Cortina Watch 50th Anniversary Since 1972” etched onto the sapphire crystal caseback. 

A Golden Watch for a Golden Jubilee, the H Moser & Cie. Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton for Cortina Watch is a watch that celebrates the Lim and Meylan families, culminating in a watch that is technically brilliant. The watch brings the traditional watchmaking craft, seen in the tourbillon and the cylindrical hairspring, and is fused with the modernity of 20th Century Asia. There is no doubt that this is a fitting tribute to two companies that have bright futures ahead of them. The watch is limited to 10 pieces, exclusively available at Cortina Watch boutiques – this will be a rare bird for H Moser & Cie enthusiasts.

Technical Specifications

CORTINA 50TH  ANNIVERSARY ENDEAVOUR CYLINDRICAL TOURBILLON SKELETON

Reference 1811-0400, red gold model, Funky Blue fumé domed sub-dial, brown alligator leather strap, limited edition of 10 pieces

Case

18-carat red gold topped by a slightly domed sapphire crystal Diameter: 42.0 mm

Height without sapphire crystal: 11.6 mm

Height with sapphire crystal: 13.8 mm

Crown adorned with an engraved “M”

See-through case back with the inscription “Cortina Watch 50th Anniversary Since 1972”

Dial

Funky Blue fumé domed sub-dial with sunburst pattern at 12 o’clock Skeletonised dial

Roman numerals

Red gold leaf-shape hour and minute hands

Movement

Fully skeletonised HMC 811, self-winding, three-dimensional Manufacture calibre Diameter: 34.0 mm or 15 lignes/height: 5.5 mm (without hands or tourbillon) Frequency: 21,600 Vib/h

28 jewels

171 components

Automatic bi-directional pawl winding system

Gold, fully skeletonised oscillating weight

Power reserve: minimum 74 hours

Cylindrical hairspring with 2 Breguet curves

One-minute flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock with skeletonised bridge; hand-bevelled balance bridge Diamond bevelling

Main plate and bridges with anthracite PVD finish

Functions

Hours and minutes

Strap

Brown alligator leather strap, hand-stitched

18-carat red gold folding clasp, engraved with the Moser logo

Originally launched in 2020, the Streamliner collection was H.Moser & Cie’s take on a watch with an integrated bracelet. Inspired by 1920s and 30s locomotives with its curved shape, the watch was known for its distinctive design combined with fine watchmaking from the town of Schaffhausen.

The new Streamliner Perpetual Calendar brings the best of H.Moser & Cie. – a distinctive fume dial, a soft, curved case with an integrated bracelet, and its superb perpetual calendar movement, all in one watch. Starting with a 42.3mm stainless steel case, the top of the case is radially satin brushed, while the bracelet (operated by a push button triple folding clasp) takes on a vertical satin brushing that gives continuity to the finishing.

The case flanks feature a mix of polished and brushed surfaces, whilst the back is mirror polished, with a sapphire crystal display caseback. The crown is positioned at 4 o’clock, an unusual position for the crown, but matches well with the industrial nature of the Streamliner design. The dial is black with a fume effect, lighter at its centre, and fading to black towards its periphery. A power reserve indicator is positioned at 10 o’clock, and the large date window is featured at 4 o’clock, which is in line with the crown. The date is shown through two superimposed discs that operate one after another, from 1-15 and then from 16-31.

Interestingly, the numerals for the date also feature a luminescent material, providing low-light visibility, as well as visual interest to the dial. The minutes markers evoke precision timing instruments such as stopwatches, with its staggered fraction-of-a-second positioning.

The hour and minute hands are baton shaped, and are fitted with a Globolight insert – a ceramic material that H.Moser & Cie often utilises on its dials and hands, that is infused with SuperLuminova for a long lasting glow in low light conditions. A central seconds hand in white runs around the dial, and the month indicator is coloured red, and also comes out through the centre of the dial.

The hour markers are applied indices, and the H.Moser logo is executed in a clear lacquer, disappearing and reappearing depending on the angle.

Setting this watch apart is its movement – the Calibre HMC 812. Very similar to its predecessor, the Calibre HMC 341, the new calibre featured in the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar features a direct drive central seconds hand, as opposed to a subsidiary seconds hand – this is because the Streamliner collection has a central seconds hand as part of its design. This direct drive central seconds hand also decreases friction within the movement, making it more efficient. The power reserve of this watch is very impressive – 7 days of power reserve. Furthermore, the leap year indicator for the perpetual calendar is moved to the back, which cleans up the dial considerably. All of the date indications change at midnight, through the “Flash Calendar” instantaneous date changing mechanism, and can also be changed forwards and backwards – great for user experience. 

In typical H.Moser & Cie style, the watch features a Straumann hairspring from its sister company, Precision Engineering AG. Finishing-wise, the watch features the signature Moser double horizontal stripes, with an anthracite grey colouring achieved through PVD – on the barrel bridge, escapement plate and the train bridges. Interestingly, the barrels are secured with gold screwed chatons that add a lot of visual interest to the movement, as well as a nod to some of the brand’s Teutonic origins. 

Overall, the H.Moser & Cie Streamliner Perpetual Calendar is a logical evolution of this collection, that remains true to its distinctive design – not only through its aesthetics, but also its movement design and function. H.Moser & Cie always manage to make watches that are aesthetically pleasing, with clever functionality, and the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar is certainly no exception.

Check out our video on the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar below:

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS – STREAMLINER PERPETUAL CALENDAR

Reference 6812-1200, steel model, fumé dial, integrated steel bracelet

Case

Steel topped by a gently domed sapphire crystal
Diameter: 42.3 mm
Height without sapphire crystal: 11.0 mm
Screw-in crown at 4 o’clock adorned with an engraved “M” See-through case-back

Water-resistant to 12 ATM

Bracelet

Integrated steel bracelet
Folding clasp with three steel blades, engraved with the Moser logo Half-links available

Dial

Blackor fumé with sunburst pattern
H. Moser & Cie. logo in transparent lacquer
Hour and minute hands with Globolight® inserts
Central seconds, power reserve hand and months hand with white decal Minute track for seconds and minutes
Applique indices

Movement

Hand-wound HMC 812 Manufacture calibre Diameter: 34.0 mm or 15 lignes
Height: 6.3 mm
Frequency: 18,000 Vib/h

33 jewels
Power reserve: minimum 168 hours
Hacking seconds
Double barrel
Moser teeth for all wheels and pinions
Modular interchangeable Moser escapement
Original Straumann® hairspring
Gold escapement wheel and pallet fork
Screwed gold mounts
Balance bridge, train wheel bridge, barrel bridge, and escapement plate with anthracite PVD finish
Main plate, stop lever, and week wheel bridge with microblasted laser finish and anthracite rhodium plating

Functions

Hours and minutes
Direct-drive central seconds
Perpetual calendar with date and month Big date at 4 o’clock, numerals tilted to 26° Month indicator via red central hand
Power reserve indicator
Leap year cycle indicator on movement side

Facing a potential enemy

Back in the days in 2015 when the prevailing conversation was how the smartwatch was the possible harbinger of the next existential threat (à la the quartz crisis) to the watch industry, I remember attending panel conferences at Baselworld where experts were mapping out the possible Swiss response. 

This was a time when fitness trackers were becoming sophisticated enough to be useful and when even some Swiss brands were breaking from tradition by adding Android powered smartwatches to their offering, with some less courageous ones offering the option of some kind of smart module on a strap that would be worn with a mechanical watch. 

The biggest perceived threat to the wrist space of potential watch buyers then, as it still might be now, was of course the Apple Watch.

While it’s hard to know what the long term future will look like, the heightened state of concern of that time has settled down, and most watch collectors, having experienced smartwatches for themselves, have come to realise that a luxury mechanical watch and a smartwatch are totally different things, each having its own purpose, with the former having to do with tradition and craftsmanship, and the latter being about cutting edge functionality and planned obsolescence. 

This realization though, came early for H Moser & Cie though, who went on to create what is arguably the most memorable product family in recent times with the original Swiss Alp watch in 2016. Surrounding a traditionally made and designed Calibre HMC 324, was a case that was made to look exactly the same as the Apple Watch, the brand’s message was clear – smartwatches were no threat because they could not replace the emotional appeal of fine watchmaking. 

Helping along the concept behind the Swiss Alp watch was a self aware marketing campaign that made sure to play up what the watch was about, done in a provocative enough way without stepping over the line. It was cool, but what might have been even cooler was the underlying motivation that caused the Swiss Alp watch to be conceived in the first place. 

How do you make use of a stockpile of 500 tourneau shaped movements, made for the “Henry* watch before the brand was acquired by current owner, MELB Holding, in a world where the round case is king? Well the Swiss Alp watch was the solution from that perspective, and a genius level one at that, showing the appeal of a watch can come from a good story, especially one that mixes in a topical concern with a strong position from the brand.

Since that time, Swiss Alp series has spawned several notable iterations, such as the Alp Watch Zzzz, the Concept Black Minute Repeater Tourbillon with no hands and others, all embodying the brand’s no holds barred irreverence, rooted in the passion for tradition. 

The Final Edition watch 

With the context of how the Swiss Alp Watch was conceived, we come, after a successful run, to the Swiss Alp Final Upgrade, the last of the series.

The specs are familiar, it is the same calibre HMC 324 as the first Swiss Alp watch, a 4 day power reserve manual winding movement with time and small seconds. The case is in stainless steel but coated in black DLC and the dial is covered with Vantablack (the blackest black) that gives the impression of the unlit standby screen of an Apple watch. Aside from the hour and minute hands that serve to tell the time, the running small seconds is probably the biggest aesthetic highlight.  

While the brand states in its press release that it is “a shaded disc made up of openings… Evoking the constant passing of time,” we all know what it really is. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll know that it’s the grey spinning wheel that appears when your computer is engaging in a task that will take some time. 

In this watch, it is repurposed to indicate the running seconds, making the watch look like it is booting up or upgrading its firmware, which might explain its name. 

It’s quirky and fun as we’d expect, and the text on the caseback with the words “Last Edition” engraved does definitively convey the fact that this watch will represent the end of the line. 

Collectors will appreciate that, and with this collection ceasing production after this limited edition of 50 pieces is sold, it’s no surprise that quite a few have already been spoken for in my local market of Singapore.

With this being said, the one element that has been the talk of our industry, especially in the first half of 2020, was that of the tradeshow. Adi Soon, our editor has written extensively about his opinions on the demise of Baselworld (see his article: The Golden Goose (Baselworld) is Finally Dead), as well as the writer of this article (see Martin Goh’s article: Opinion – Baselworld’s Demise and the Meaning of Privilege).

The future of the watch industry tradeshow seemed very much in doubt last year, with cancellations and “postponements” being a result of the global health crisis – however, one tradeshow went ahead, and showed the possibility that brands bring the impetus needed to a digital version of a tradeshow, and this was Watches and Wonders, formerly the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH).

Four brands that arguably have the largest pull factor to the show – Chanel, Chopard, Patek Philippe and Rolex effectively heralded the death of Baselworld, with many of their executives expressing their dismay at the fair. In particular, Thierry Stern of Patek Philippe summed up their feeling as such: “Today Patek Philippe is not in line with Baselworld’s vision anymore, there have been too many discussions and unsolved problems, trust is no longer present”. As Wined Dined and Timed has written, much of the industry is based on gentlemen’s agreements, agreements that were very much violated during the “postponement” phase of Baselworld during the pandemic.

However, the 2020 edition of Watches and Wonders proved that a digital watch tradeshow can exist, and be successful. Furthermore, a press release dated in November 2020 from the organising committee of Watches and Wonders also shows the future of the watch tradeshow – with the continued pandemic raging in Europe, a digital version of the show was a no-brainer. Curiously, the 4 brands that were supposed to have a show concurrent to Watches and Wonders have now signed on to exhibit at Watches and Wonders – Chanel, Chopard, Patek Philippe and Rolex. This not only demonstrates the viability of the digital tradeshow, but also the level of trust between the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the 4 brands that left Baselworld. There is also no doubt that these brands will bring many more visitors to the digital tradeshow, given that their presence at Baselworld drew most of the crowds for watches.

There is no doubt that brands have changed their ways of communication during the pandemic, and rightfully so. However, I do not believe that a digital-only tradeshow or unveiling will be the way of the future. There will always be a place in the luxury industry for physical gatherings, and where possible, these will occur so that journalists and enthusiasts can touch, feel and experience the product. Watches are a part of the luxury industry that still needs physical presence for the watch to have an effect on the viewer, and so I believe that tradeshows will go back to being physical tradeshows when possible, but include much more digital interactivity than ever before. Unveilings may be made live, like with the recent Hublot x Murakami piece that was released at LVMH Watch Week in 2021, and keynote speakers may feature again, like at SIHH 2019 (recommended viewing: https://youtu.be/M9Pqi-QMoQw – Max Busser’s Keynote at SIHH 2019). 

The operation of a simultaneous digital and physical tradeshow will bring much more attendance through the following means – journalists and enthusiasts are brought together in one place to broadcast the new releases, and watch connoisseurs on far-flung sides of the Earth can enjoy the media and created content at their convenience. In this way, it is really a win-win situation for all parties involved – even the brands get more impressions on their pieces. Now, it just comes down to how much the brands are willing to invest into such an omni-channel experience. We can only hope that the brands see the value in this omni-channel method, from first viewing (online through watch media or through advertising) all the way to final purchase that can occur months or years down the line.

Because of this, I’ll be focusing on the H. Moser side of the collaboration in this article and leave the other watch from MB&F for another time.

Now this is a watch that definitely makes a dramatic first impression since the first thing that grabs you is the bulbous and tall sapphire crystal. Then when you look closer, you see the two main elements of the watch against the Moser fumé background – the 40°inclined dial and the tourbillon just behind it.

The layout of the watch is familiar, and that’s because its main design ideas come from the MB&F Legacy Machine FlyingT, which was a stunning vision of a ladies watch from the brand’s founder, Maximilian Büsser.

The Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon is different though, and not for the obvious reason of being housed in an Endeavour case, but for the thing that is in its name, the cylindrical tourbillon.

Here it is, visibly beating away. As its name implies, it’s not flat, like most hairsprings are, rather its shaped like a cylinder, which makes the most of the height of the sapphire crystal since it is visible from all sides. The cylindrical hairspring was invented in the 18th Century and was used mainly in marine chronometers due to its performance advantage.Over a traditional hairspring, it breathes concentrically and therefore geometrically, without being affected at the attachment points (pivots) of a traditional flat hairspring. In fact, the Phillips terminal curve and Breguet overcoil were invented to counteract these excessive forces on normal hairsprings since they move the point where the hairspring starts its concentric movement a little further down away from the pivot.

This cylindrical hairspring is attached via a Breguet overcoil at each end, which isolates its concentric movement, and allows it to breathe optimally.

It’s not widely known, but H. Moser and Cie is one of the few brands that make their own hairsprings, which is why they were able to make the one that appears in this watch themselves. In fact, they have been supplying hairsprings to other watch brands like MB&F for many years.The 40° inclined dial is yet another interesting detail to look at on the watch. The hands make their movement around a clear sapphire dial with the H. Moser & Cie logo and the hour indices printed on it.The clear dial set at an angle allows the wearer of the watch to look at the time when it is on the wrist, as well as allowing a clear view from all angles of the conical gear train just behind it, that transmits the torque from the mainspring from the plane of the movement to the plane of the sapphire dial.On the wrist, the watch with its 42mm wide case wears well, but the only thing which might be a little nerve-wracking is its 19mm height, which makes this a watch that one wears rather carefully. Still, this is a watch that is more an art-piece than an everyday one, and so this can be forgiven.I’m genuinely pleased that this watch was created, and that’s because H. Moser & Cie has really come a long way since its relaunch. In 2013, when Edouard Meylan took the helm as CEO, I asked him what his vision of the brand could be, given that they had been until that time relentlessly classical in their watchmaking. He told me then with a straight face that he did not know.Well, he obviously worked it out.

H Moser & Cie Streamliner Flyback Chronograph

Yes, while H. Moser & Cie still makes classical dress watches on leather straps, the brand is becoming more multi-faceted, with water-resistant watches that you can swim with and the surprising and amazing bracelet-ed Streamliner this year, he has steered the brand to encompass more than its initial classical genre, to embrace more of watchmaking’s possibilities as a whole, while keeping a clear brand and design identity all the way.Now, with the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon, and some magic dust from MB&F, H. Moser & Cie has a new possibility in front of them, to go into the sort of declarative watchmaking that is all about pure creativity. What will come from this in the future? Well, I’ll be excited to see. With Edouard, there’s no point predicting what he will do since you’ll probably guess wrong.The H. Moser & Cie Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon H. Moser X MB&F comes in five separate 15 piece limited edition runs per dial colour (Funky Blue fumé, Burgundy fumé, Cosmic Green fumé, Off-White fumé or Ice Blue fumé with sunburst pattern) and all in stainless steel.

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The Streamliner is significant of course in the grand scheme of things, as it marks the fullest expression of a sports watch from the brand.

The basic ingredients are all there, a stainless steel case with integrated bracelet, flyback chronograph function, and 120 metre water resistance with pushers usable underwater.

So far so good. But how does the watch manage to transcend these things that might look good on a spec sheet, making itself elicit desire from those who see and interact with it?

Well you make it look good, feel good, and then you put what is probably the best and most innovative chronograph movement today inside.

That in a nutshell is what the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph is about, and the sum total goes beyond just considering it a me too effort from a brand that might seem to be hopping on the bandwagon of the integrated bracelet trend. That would be far too easy a way to think about this watch. Instead it goes further, with the sum total expressing the brands ascendancy rather than merely following the crowd.

Design – case, dial, bracelet

The Streamliner has an obvious 70’s inspired aesthetic, pulling together elements seen before in watch design from that era, but without looking like anything in particular. The case is a squarish cushion shape that measures 42.3mm by 14.2mm. It is a lugless design that manages to make the watch feel comfortable on the wrist, because it wears smaller than it looks.

The pushers continue the 1970’s theme, and are arranged in a “bullhead” chronograph style at 10 and 2 o’clock on the case, with a time adjustment crown at 4 o’clock on the case. The dial is relatively clean as well for a chronograph – carrying no sub-dials – and that is accounted for by the use of the Agenhor developed HMC 902 movement, a variant of the same that has been used before by Singer Reimagined and Fabergé. Because of this, the chronograph seconds and chronograph minutes hands emerge from the center of the dial, sitting just above the time-telling hour and minute hands.

The dial itself is in Moser’s fumé style, starting light in the centre and darkening towards the edge, sitting atop a vertically brushed texture. Completing the look is the chequerboard minute track on its outer edge, which essentially makes the entire watch look like a big stopwatch, since there are no hour markers, with only a large “60” index at the 12 o’clock position, showing how the chronograph can time intervals of up to an hour.

It’s nice to see that the movement has been used in this way, keeping to the Moser signature of keeping the dial as clean as possible, a tendency that had been expressed before in their Perpetual Calendar, Minute Repeater Concept and so on.

When you consider how the Track 1 from Singer Reimagined, and the Fabergé Visionnaire Chronograph can both time more than 12 hours (24 hours for the latter), with three centrally mounted chronograph hands, and the relegation of time telling duties to the edge of the dial via concentric rings (former), and a tightly packed chronograph scales in the centre of the dial (latter) you find that the overall aesthetics of these watches are much busier. H Moser & Cie might have been tempted to make a watch that was essentially the same complication wise and with just a different style of case and a new bracelet. That they chose not to, and in fact reduced functionality – by removing the hours chronograph hand – and moving the time-telling hands to the centre, does indicate a strong sense of self identity, which ultimately makes the Streamliner, theirs and theirs alone.

All these details apply to the watch head of course, which is nicely integrated to the other big highlight of the Streamliner – the bracelet.

If anything, the name of the watch probably applies most to the bracelet, being the same term used to describe high speed trains from the 1930’s to the 1950’s that were designed in such a way as to reduce air resistance, or that were “streamlined”.

This might be the case, but the first thing that the shape reminded me of was the abdominal piece of Robocop from 2014.

From a watch perspective, there is quite a bit of the feeling of the iconic integrated bracelet chronographs of Porsche Design, though some have suggested the bracelet from the 1970’s Ebel Sport Classic as being closer to the look. Both are period correct watches for sure, and while the lines are not a perfect match, the bracelet is definitely very well made, retaining a soft, slinky and tactile feeling that is such a pleasure to handle and wear.

Not only does the bracelet integrate well visually with the watch head, it shows that the Streamliner has succeeded by looking like nothing else. Something else I’ve been told, it was designed not to pull hairs, which is great, although it cannot be micro-adjusted since the intervals are links apart.

Conclusion

This first edition of the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph will be introduced in a limited run of 100 pieces. Despite some negativity surrounding its release during the Dubai Watch Fair in January 2020, it was clear that such opinions came mainly from people who had not seen the watch in person before. I was not of such an opinion myself, and when I finally was able to see it in reality, I realised what the fuss was about, and what an achievement it really is.The watch is charming, idiosyncratic and with a pleasing personality and it seems that collectors agree, with the earlier pieces that have emerged all spoken for, and with the number of pieces left out of the 100 that were planned running dangerously low.

That’s a good start of the year for H Moser & Cie, and I’ve no doubt that the inevitable variations to the Streamliner will do just as well.

Find out more at H Moser & Cie.

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It’s a few days before SIHH once again, and it’s time for yet another statement piece from H Moser and Cie, this time coming in the form of the Moser Nature watch. Yes, you’re looking at a Moser watch with live plants growing out of it and it’s a unique piece in steel adorned with “succulents, moss, mini Echeveria, cress, spiderwort and onion sets, with a dial in natural mineral stone and lichen from the Swiss Alps, and a strap made from grass.”So we’re all familiar with the drill – the Moser campaigns that are launched during this period, have all garnered attention, and have mostly been about important issues of the day. There was the Alp watch, which was a dig against the smart watch trend, the Swiss Icons Watch that paid “homage” to the established brands of the watch industry, and the Swiss Mad Watch. The last one, I felt, was the best campaign so far, since it chose to spotlight an important issue that the Swiss watch industry had been evasive about, taking a principled stand on the need for correct labeling on the watches that people pay good money for, with the “Swiss Made” label. So far so good.

The Moser Nature Watch however is, from the press release, “ a symbol of vulnerability reflecting the fragility of our Ecosystem”. The watch itself, in this context does make sense, and makes its point with a wicked sense of humour. My issue however is the associated hashtag with the campaign – #MakeSwissMadeGreenAgain.

So, the association with the Trump campaign, during the time of the Swiss Mad watch might have been controversial, but it was easy to appreciate how it took from a current event, co-opting the form of the campaign slogan, and the famous red cap, and then modifying the message in a way that would garner attention. And it was an important enough message to make the means of its delivery palatable.
Yet the #MakeSwissMadeGreenAgain is more of a head-scratcher, since it’s easy to realize that while Swiss watches should be 100% Swiss Made, it is not just Switzerland that has a monopoly on needing to be “green again”. Surely this is more of a global concern. There’s something happening right now that we all know about – climate change – and it is related to what the Moser Nature Watch represents. We’ve seen the effects recently, in the wildfires in Sweden and California, and the floods in Kerala, India, all natural disasters that have been attributed to climate change.

My conclusion therefore –  leave the Trump association behind, because it is not necessary. The Moser Nature Watch has the potential to mean much more, and the basic ingredients are already there to make an important stand on something that the entire human race should do something about.

What do you think Edourd?

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