Hands-on with the H. Moser & Cie. Perpetual Calendar ‘Black Edition’ – LIVE PHOTOS & PRICING

01/04/2014 | By Brice Goulard | 3 min read |

Usually we’re not the biggest fans of black DLC/OVD coated watches, especially not for dress watches (although we made some exceptions in the past, like this one). Just like the new H. Moser & Cie. Perpetual Calendar ‘Black Edition’ that we introduced a few weeks ago. We really felt that the black and gold really works very well for that piece. Here at Baselworld, we had some hands-on time with it and we are just liking it more and more.

H. Moser & Cie. is not very well known (yet). Hey, they even advertise with the slogan that their watches are very rare. The thing you need to know about Moser, is that they’ve been making very high quality, in-house manufactured, hand-wound ‘classic’ timepieces, since the ‘relaunch’ in 2005. In 2006 their Perpetual Calendar even wins a prize at the Grand Prix de Horlogerie de Genève.

Time to get to know the brand a bit better! Moser is showing a renewed collection and a totally new collection, called the Venturer collection (a dressed small-second watch, again with in-house movement, and we’ll tell you more about it soon!) and… [drum-roll] the Black Edition of their Perpetual Calendar. This perpetual calendar features some very interesting specifications, such as a very simple and clean display (only a big date window and a small arrow to indicate the month on the front dial), and a clever in-house movement, featuring:

the ‘Double Pull Crown’ which allows a correction of the date by pressing the crown (without disturbing the time setting) and set the time precisely by pulling it (with a hack-second system)
an instant jump at 00.00h for the date
an adjustment both forward and backward at any time of the day
7 days of power reserve
the Moser interchangeable escapement beating at 18.000vph

The ‘Black Edition’ from H. Moser & Cie. is one of the few black watches that has been able to catch our attention, both in photos and even more in the flesh. The colour of the DLC coated titanium case that is not black but anthracite and that really works very well. Under certain light conditions, it goes from a very dark tone to a warm grey that presents some metallic reflections.

The black dial has a dark matte finish that contrast with the pink gold polished indexes and hands. The result is a classy but very modern watch that you can easily wear with every outfit, from the formal suit and tie to the casual Sunday wear. The very clean display makes it really discrete and wearable on a daily basis. You’ll find only major indications on it – hours and minutes in the centre, small second at 6, power-reserve at 9, big date at 3 and a small arrow in the centre to indicate the months (pointing to the twelve hour-markers).

Only the initiates will notice the it is a QP, when looking at the movement where the leap year indication is located. The in-house manufactured movement features a very nice finishing, and can be observed through the curved sapphire caseback. Moser applied the movement with a dark finish on all the bridges, and of course with the Moser striping. It is actually pushing the whole idea of a black watch quite far and gives a coherent look. It also emphasises all the mechanical elements as the levers, the very big jewels and gold châtons pop out (visually). The black coating brings some nice reflections on the polished bevelled angles too.

Something that really stands out are the complex shapes of the case, especially the sides of the case that are very lovely curved. The strap has also been changed to fits the whole concept better, as it comes with a sandblasted (and thus matte) black alligator. The 40.8mm case is really easy to wear, especially with the curved caseback that ‘sticks’ the watch on your wrist.

This visit to H. Moser & Cie. has confirmed us that the Perpetual Calendar ‘Black Edition’ is clearly a success and one of our crushes of Baselworld 2014. Production is limited to 50 pieces a year and for a price of CHF 47.000 including Swiss taxes.