In a world saturated with luxury timepieces, it's rare for a watch to genuinely excite a seasoned collector. sham1, a long-time forum member and connoisseur, shares his unexpected delight after encountering the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton. His initial skepticism about Moser's signature fume dials and the proliferation of sports watches gives way to profound admiration for this particular reference, prompting a deep dive into its design, wearability, and value proposition.
My wife and I were invited to a Moser event last night where a couple of the novelties were being presented. I had not expected much simply because although I like the movements of Moser and the energy of the Meylan brothers, I have been less convinced by their fume dials which I feel are terribly attractive when one first sets eyes on it but over time, the novelty of a fume dial tends to wear out. Well it did for me anyway which is why I tend to stick to more classic dials. As for the much sought after Streamliner range, I just feel that too many companies are making sports watches because that is what the market demands and it helps the bottom line rather than the brand focusing on what it had set out to do. I say this despite knowing that Eduoard Meylan, CEO of H Moser does follow our forum (I found this out 5 years ago when I sold by Moser fume dial on the forum and Eduoard emailed me on the following day!)
It was therefore a most pleasant surprise and a privilege for me to see and try on the new Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton - quite a mouthful but what a watch! I think perhaps I have come across too many watches over the decades and very few excite me these days. But last night I was genuinely excited and blown away when I examined this little gem from H Moser. When I say little, the watch is 42.8mm in diameter but it wrapped around my 16cm wrist as if it was custom made. As I always say, it is not the diameter but the lugs that matter. And unlike the Legacy machines from MB&F, the height of the watch at 15mm made the watch a lot more wearable.
I know I have fallen for a watch when I leave an event and then ponder, what I need to sell to finance a timepiece. This watch is not just about a fume dial - yes it has a small legible luminous dial at 12 o'clock but it is about the case construction, the beauty and finishing of the movement and needless to say the gorgeous tourbillon which looks so much better than Moser's previous offerings where a tourbillon disrupts the beauty of the fume dial by appearing at 6 o'clock.
So will this be my next purchase? To be honest, I am not sure but only because of the financing of the watch but in my mind, this is one of the most beautiful and best value for money tourbillons in the market currently.
Five years ago, Moser produced just over 1000 watch a year. Now they are producing 2000 watches per annum. I sincerely hope that Eduoard and his team do not increase this number any further to keep the brand exclusive, or in its own motto - Very Rare!
