Dubai Watch Week just closed the sun-soaked doors of its 2016 edition during which much of the watch world (either vicariously or personally) enjoyed discovering new watches, interesting opinions, the culture of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ fastest growing city, and the immense hospitality of Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, who staged the incredible show.
Striking and particularly photogenic, H. Moser & Cie.‘s Concept watches are ruthlessly pared down but always vividly coloured. Now the concept (no pun intended) takes an unusual twist with a nine-piece limited edition made for Dubai retailer Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons.
Just unveiled at Dubai Watch Week 2017, the Venturer XL Concept Dubai Edition features a baby blue fumé dial. Characteristic of the fumé finish that’s a Moser favourite, the dial colour starts out extremely pale in the centre, so light as to be almost silver, gradually darkening towards the edge of the dial.
Discrete, elegant styling is an agreeable trait evinced by many of the timepieces in the H. Moser & Cie. catalogue. The Swiss brand has recently produced ‘concept’ watches, including the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Concept Funky Blue launched earlier this year. This new timepiece eschews indices, some functions and branding to deliver a minimalist aesthetic.
We should start with Moser in the present day, because for a long time people didn’t seem to think that Moser was the kind of watch for the person who is all about the now. I used to think that too; I first encountered H Moser & Cie in my twenties, and I made superficial decisions about things, as people in their twenties typically do.
Last week at SIHH, independent watch brand H. Moser & Cie. debuted a unique dual-cover wristwatch inspired by a late 19th-century pocketwatch from its archives. The timepiece marks the brand’s 10th anniversary.
The Perpetual Calendar Heritage Limited Edition case is a pocketwatch-type case crafted in 5N rose gold, measuring 46 mm x 13.6 mm. It is diamond-set (28 diamonds, 0.31 carat) and enamelled. Uniquely, there are pocketwatch-style “cloisonné” enamel and guilloché covers, front and back. The wire lugs offer a nod to the past without interfering with the case’s aesthetic. (The vintage pocketwatch that inspired it did not, of course, have lugs.)
