Introducing – H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Tourbillon Concept, Fighting Gravity in the Purest Way

Creating an object without a single mention of its provenance on the dial yet still remaining recognizable is far, far from easy. Yet, Schaffhausen-based brand H. Moser & Cie., with their pure/nude watches, have achieved this – at least, among an audience of well-educated collectors. Pushing the idea even further are the Concept watches of the brand: no text, no indexes, no Swiss-Made mention… Actually, nothing! A dial and its hands, that’s all. This idea is now applied to another watch in the collection, the most complex of them all, with Endeavour Tourbillon Concept.

At H. Moser & Cie. “Concept” means ultimate simplification of the design. Imagine a watch void of everything except its dial and the hands. You heard correctly: no indexes, no indications, no markers, no Swiss-Made mention, no 4-lines of chronometer certification, not even the name of the brand. A dial and its hands… H. Moser & Cie. are quite provocative and this idea is another demonstration that a design can be stronger than a logo. The idea behind the “Concept Watches” is to accentuate the very essence of the watch, in its purest form. The brand already did it with, for instance, the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Concept, a totally-nude version of an already very clean watch. Now, they have done it again, with a different complication.

With the Endeavour Tourbillon Concept, H. Moser & Cie. takes its signature tourbillon watch and removes everything that they judged non-essential. A very minimalistic approach to the design for sure, but not of the technical part. The idea of this watch is to bring back the main attraction of this watch, meaning the tourbillon, at centre stage. The “standard” version of the Endeavour Tourbillon is an automatic watch, which features in addition to the time, a second time-zone display. Of course, that piece comes with hands, which point to indexes, with a logo on the dial, and that dial is stepped with a recessed area around the tourbillon. Forget about most of these features, because in the Endeavour Tourbillon Concept, they are gone.

The “Concept” version of the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Tourbillon is a time-only version – no more dual-time feature – with only two hands (minutes and hours) and a plain dial without a recessed area anymore. The only additional feature visible on the front is the tourbillon cage, positioned classically at 6. And? Well, no “and”. This is it. But this is good… The most surprising thing is that, even without the name or the logo, this watch is still instantly recognizable as a Moser!

The Endeavour Tourbillon Concept comes in a 42mm white gold case, which uses the signature design of the brand (with concave casebands and straight brushings on the sides). The dial might be nude, it remains fully Moser too, with the use of the fumé style (darker on the edges) and the funky blue colour. Combined to this is a hand-stitched kudu leather strap, again something recurrent for the brand.

The Endeavour Tourbillon Concept might visually minimalistic in its appearance, but it remains a complex watch on the technical side. Inside the case is the in-house calibre HMC 804 – which is an evolution of the HMC 802 found in the regular tourbillon watch of the brand – meaning a 3-day power reserve, automatic movement with one-minute tourbillon. Winding is done via an 18-carat solid red gold bi-directional rotor. More interesting is that this movement is equipped with a double flat hairspring designed and produced in-house. Indeed, two hairsprings are fitted above the balance, which significantly improves accuracy and isochronism, alongside reducing the effect of friction normally experienced with a single hairspring. As usual with Moser, the regulating organ is an interchangeable module, assembled and regulated independently of the movement via a simple plug and play system (easy to remove and to change during services).

The H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Tourbillon Concept will be a limited edition of 20 pieces, priced at CHF 69,000 or EUR 65,800. More details on www.h-moser.com.

Technical Specifications – H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Tourbillon Concept

• Case: 42mm diameter x 11.6mm height – 18k white gold, polished and brushed – sapphire crystal on both sides
• Movement: In-house calibre HMC 804 – automatic – 72h power reserve – 3Hz frequency – hours, minutes and one-minute tourbillon, with double hairspring
• Strap: hand-stitched kudu leather strap, 18k white gold folding clasp
• Limited Edition of 20 pieces
• Reference: 1804-0200
• Price: CHF 69,000 / EUR 65,800