Independents

I had the pleasure to meet Mr Daniel Zimmerman from Moser (Director sales & marketing) a couple of weeks ago in their London dealer's showroom. It was a fantastic opportunity to chat with him, hear a little about Moser and see some wonderful watches.

The first thing I noticed was that Daniel was wearing a platinum Henry with a lovely greyish ruthenium dial which he happily took off for me to look at. This watch definately looks much better in the metal than it does in pictures. The display back glass is beautifully concave so it sits very well on the wrist and through it can be seen the double hairspring or, more properly the 'Straumann Double Hairspring Escapement Module' which is a fascinating bit of horology. This is exactly what it says, an escapement with two counter-acting hairsprings but if you think about this it's an amazing achievement as the springs have to be exactly matched. There was an article in a recent edition of QP which looked at this.

This double hairspring escapement will only feature in two Moser watches for the present, the Henry and the new Mayu model in Palladium which was the next watch Daniel showed me. This has a most captivating dial, described perfectly in it's name - 'fume'. It's a sort of graduated sunburst smokey colour. Their supplier apparently calls it degrade (french for uneven - sorry the accents are missing!) but this doesn't translate well, hence 'fume' which I think is a perfect description.

The palladium Mayu was originally to have a different dial and be a limited production watch but this is now to be part of their regular line. I think this is also a good example of Moser's passion - they wouldn't release this watch until they were happy they had got the dial right - they have! Daniel also had a new version of the white gold Mayu to show me which now has a rhodie dial. I think this looked absolutley fantastic! I have an early Mayu with the white lacquer dial which I love - but this new dial is superb on this watch. The quality is excellent and whilst clean and classical in it's design this gives it a sort of 'engineered' aspect too. There were also jewelled versions of the Mayu with mother of pearl dials - called 'Black Pearl' and 'White Pearl'.

Then the main event as Daniel produced a tray with the now almost legendary Moser Perpetual 1. I have to stress that only one of these watches is an actual working example though! Daniel demonstrated the 'flash' calendar whereby the date changes instantly and directly from the last day of the month (be it 28th, 29th, 30th or 31st) DIRECTLY to the 1st without showing the invalid dates in between. If that is'nt enough, Daniel demonstrated that it also works backwards too - Amazing!!! This really is an amazing watch - the simplicity of the Strehler design belies what complication lies within! The case is beautiful too. It maintains the same basic design features as my more humble Mayu but introduces a wonderful third dimension of complex curves making this larger watch still sits extremely well on the wrist. This too has a convex display back helping it to curve round the wrist.

First deliveries of the Perpetual 1 should commence in October but I know that Moser want to get this very complicated watch right. They're never going to be mass production I guess! Moser are taking on more watch makers to steadily increase production and ensure they maintain the quality they want. They now have a total staff of 50 and growing. I have to note that I believe the quality and finishing of the watches I saw recently is definately better than the early production examples I saw last year - not to give †he impression they were'nt pretty good too though, they're just getting even better!

As you can probably tell, I'm entusiatic about Moser. I've had my Mayu for a year now and had no problems at all. I think this is a brand worth following - they have some wonderful watches with unique movements and some great innovations, offer good value, excellent customer service and they care about what they do and about getting it right! What's more, they're nice people. Good luck to them.

 

[Edited for paragraphs]

This message has been edited by MTF on 2008-07-11 12:04:48

Sorry if it's a bit difficult to read - don't know what happened!

nt

Best,

Vernon

I always think this Moser perpetual is one interesting watch but too bad that know it might be still at proto stage. Thanks for sharing. It is very nice to read this thread.

Terence,

I hope I did'nt give the wrong impression!

It's beyond proto stage! It's production ready and they will be delivering the first one's in October.

Vernon.

Thanks for your clarification

one has been delivered months ago to a very well-known collector. He likes Blancpain as well...

Cheers,
Magnus

It is good to to see developments like the double hairspring that may at least theoretically better the timekeeping.
Thanks for your report.
Don

To all,
you can edit your posts for about 30 minutes after posting if you see that there are errors.
Go to your "My Posts" and you will see an edit link next to the post. 
This goes away after about 30 minutes, but it is just for such kinds of problems.

..for taking the time to post this - much appreciated.

regards

Mark

I remember seeing these (probably at the same place) and was very impressed with the simplicity of the dials and the finishing. I'm not sure if I like the arrow pointer for the perpetual month indication, but the date change mechanism is a great innovation.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Simon

The good point is that the finishings are improving.

I must confess, if I found Moser watches very nive (I like the case), with a very interesting caliber architecture (for me the best point of this brand), with this stunning date system (a great innovation), I was a bit disappointed by the finishings of several Mayu / Monard I saw :

- several screws badly put
- anglages far from Patek or Lange standards
- some stains on the plate of the caliber

etc...

So if they can improve this with an homogeneous production, it could be great.

It's a brand which needs to find its correct speed and the fine tuning between production / finishings.

Fr.Xavier

I finally had the first Moser in the hands couple of weeks ago. It was a Mayu.

Those watches (Monard/Mayu), it was love at frist sight when the first pictures came on the internet. At that time, I was considering the classical 1815, but found it a little bit to small, so Moser was a real alternative. As they were not available in Paris, I did put all this on hold.

So, there we are, and this Mayu in my hands. Well, the dream got broken as fast as the love for it got build. The finishing of this watch was definitely unworthy. One deep scratch on the wheels bridge, little scracthes on the balance wheel (as if the screw had take time to find it's hole), and couple of stuffs there and there (screw heads, ...). And about the dial side ? Well, again one piece of dust there, another one here and s O-ring apparently pinched. I had to ask confirmation if the watch was second hand as it could have look as opened by a watchmaker apprentice. Well it was brand new, bought with a big discount, but  that wouldn't make it for me.
Ho, I have to mention, that i didn't have any magnify unit, just my eyes. No hunderhand mode as I was excited to finally discover everything about a watch I had dream about. I'll be doublechecking when these watch will be available in Paris (very soon) just to confirm if I had the unlucky pick. But as I discovered the day after, I was not the first one reaching this conclusion.

Christian

Hi Vernon

Thanks for sharing your experience with the new Mosers. I acquired a pink gold Mayu just over a week ago. The finish is good and I did not notice the flaws pointed out by others in later posts on this thread.

Just a few questions: firstly, I find the winding crown to be stiff and it takes some effort to wind the watch up fully. Will this loosen up in time?  I see that your Mau has a clasp attached to the alligator strap, whereas mine has only a buckle. Was yours an additional attachment? Lastly, what has been your experience of the power reserve? The Moser specs shown to me at the dealership states 80 hours, but I am getting like 86 hours from full UP to DOWN, making it possible to wind the watch twice a week (Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for me).

TIA.

 

So I hope you see this! I've replied to a couple of points by others too here.

The crown on my watch has loosened up nicely over the year or so I've owned it. It's still very smooth though!

The folding buckle was an extra - they are available from Moser and very nicely made. I posted some photos on a previous post. They are on the Moser price list which your dealer should have.

I have seen a few Moser watches and none have the problems reported by some. All brands have the odd rogue and the odd problem. I could list a few very bad quality control problems I've experienced with Patek too - but it does'nt make them a bad brand.

As for the finish - I agree they are'nt finished to Patek or Lange standards - but they're no where near the cost either!

Hope thats tidied up a few points.

Best,

vernon.