A balance of form and function

H. Moser & Cie. has earned a reputation over the decades for crafting not just intricate mechanisms and beautiful dials but also for producing some of the most elegant and interesting cases in watchmaking. Finding a balance between form and function isn’t easy, yet time and again, Moser has found a way.

For its most formal watch, the Endeavour, there are sculpted channels. For the sporting Pioneer, there are hollowed gills. For the range-topping Streamliner, there is an artful blend of case and bracelet. Drawing inspiration from the aerodynamic elegance of the 1930s, the Streamliner glides through the air with ease.

A minute repeater like no other

So, we’ve got Moser’s most popular design as the foundation for this watch. Next comes the impressive calibre HMC 904, which starts with a tourbillon. Moser first mastered the tourbillon in 2014, and since then, it has recreated it in a flying arrangement, where support comes only from the rear. This opens up the front view to fully enjoy the twirling wonder.

The intricate complication has been created in partnership with minute repeater specialists Timeless SA. What makes a minute repeater so hard to make? Well, it’s basically a mechanical calculator that tallies the passing hours, quarter-hours, and minutes before ringing out the time on demand with a slide of the side-mounted lever. To do this, the watch has to accurately determine the time, and that’s done with three cams shaped for every hour, every quarter, and every minute within those quarters.

Unlike a lot of modern watchmaking, which relies on highly precise and repeatable production methods, the minute repeater remains one of the few complications that still requires hand-refinement from a master watchmaker to get it working perfectly. It’s as much an instrument as it is an art form, and so it must be fine-tuned.

Not only must the mechanics get a tune-up, but so must the chime. If the hammers and gongs that produce the chime had the wrong pitch and tone, it wouldn’t matter how intricate the complication was—no one would want to listen to it. That’s why these musical components must also be hand-tuned to achieve their full potential.

Most minute repeaters remain hidden. The hammers and gongs are often positioned around the back, where they can’t be seen. Not only does this obscure them from view, but it also causes the wearer’s wrist to dampen the tone. Surely a magical complication such as the minute repeater doesn’t deserve that sort of treatment?

So, for this Concept Minute Repeater, the action has been moved to the front. It’s like lifting the lid on a Steinway, getting golden circle tickets right at the front, and there’s been no expense spared in putting on a show. Both hammers—one for the hours, one for the minutes, both for the quarters—sit top left, sweeping the dial away like a little steel snow angel.

Moser even separated out the gongs side by side instead of one on top of the other. Not only does it look more elegant—with both being on display—but it also gives the gongs more room to resonate and create a better, forward-firing sound.

A fiery dial

At the centre of all this watchmaking mastery is the Aqua Blue Fumé dial in Grand Feu enamel. It’s got a gold base with a hammered texture, layered with finely ground glass, transitioning from dark to light, and fired in an oven at almost 1,500 degrees to melt into a smooth, translucent coating again. This process is repeated several times to build the colour, which is then polished to an incredibly high shine. The result? Simply breathtaking.

Encore

The calibre HMC 904 can be easily admired from the back. It’s manually wound, with no rotor weight blocking the cascade of immaculately hand-finished gears down to the tourbillon and the spinning governors that regulate the speed of the minute repeater’s chime. It’ll run for 90 hours before you need to wind it back up again. Once you own a watch like the Streamliner Concept Minute Repeater, it might be hard to find anything else you want more. And really, it begs the question: why wear something boring when you could be wearing this instead?