What We Know
St. Patrick’s Day was last week, but H. Moser & Cie. is teeing up the green quite nicely for next week’s Watches & Wonders fair. The Schaffhausen-based company will exhibit as part of the fair’s Carré des Horlogers hall, which provides a home in Geneva for all sorts of smaller-scale high-end, independent makers. Its presence there does come with a few privileges, including, it appears, the capacity to front-run the big dogs of the show (aka, Rolex, Patek Philippe, TAG Heuer, Chopard, etc.) and release brand-new product days before the entire watch world descends on Geneva’s Palexpo convention center.
That’s how this lovely little green number landed in my inbox this morning. A bold-faced three-hander placed in a compact 40mm × 11.2mm stainless steel case, the new-for-2022 Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept features what the brand is describing as a “Lime Green” dial – and it’s no shrinking violet. Unlike some green dials that lean on a dank Dagobah-esque design, Moser’s latest feels more suited to a sun-drenched summer cocktail, complemented by fizzy Chartreuse-laced drinks in hand and gentle blades of grass underfoot. It’s colorful, texturally interesting, and – as part of the company’s “Concept” line – absent any markers (hour or otherwise), verbiage, or branding on the dial.
Although minimalist in execution, the grand feu enamel dial with Moser’s characteristic fumé color gradation is actually the result of an elaborate multi-stage finishing and decoration process that Moser indicates it is using for the very first time. The dial starts its life as a gold base that’s subsequently hammered to achieve a unique and intricate pattern. After the texture has been completed, an enameler steps up to the plate to wash, crush, and apply three separate green pigments to the dial in order to create the transitional fumé effect of the color; each shade is added one at a time so that the colors can oxidize and blend together seamlessly on the dial once it’s all heated. Moser says each dial must be fired in an enamelers’ furnace up to 12 times to meet the quality standards it holds for its fumé dials. And of course, as a result of the elaborate hammering and enameling process, every lime green dial will be slightly unique.
Beyond the grand feu enamel dial and leaf-style hour and minute hands, Moser opted for an unexpected choice on the central seconds hand. Extending across the dial, the seconds hand has been thermally treated to reach a delicate purple color, a contrast to the typical heat-blued hands we’re used to seeing in watchmaking. This isn’t unheard of – across the border in Germany, Moritz Grossmann has made heat-treated purple hands and screws a core part of its current visual language – but it is uncommon. To achieve the purple shade, the metal components have to remain heat-treated for a slightly longer period of time compared to what’s required to reach the traditional blue hue, thereby increasing the room for error.
Priced at $27,600, the H. Moser Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Lime Green is paired with a hand-stitched leather strap in grey that’s crafted from the hide of kudu, an antelope native to Africa. The new watch will not be limited in production.
What We Think
Skittles – yes, I am talking about the candy; humor me – experienced a bit of an identity crisis back in 2013. That year the Mars, Inc.-owned confectioner swapped the “green” flavor in its edible rainbow from lime (part of the original five colors/flavors that debuted all the way back in 1974) to green apple; it didn’t go over well.
Many candy connoisseurs were distraught by this development – sour-adjacent sweets can be seriously addictive, y’all – and protested via caustic online commentary for years. Skittles finally rectified its mistake last fall when it announced that lime would be rejoining the OG flavorful fivesome and green apple would be going away for good.
I have to think that the Meylan family that owns Moser was (perhaps unintentionally) influenced by all the recent online goodwill that’s been generated by lime lovers and decided to name today’s pre-Watches & Wonders ’22 release after it. (We’d be reading a very different type of introductory article if this was the “Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Green Apple.”)
All kidding aside, I think there’s a lot to like about this latest edition in Moser’s “Concept” dial series. I’ll admit that it took me a bit longer to warm up to Moser’s watches than most – but the Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Lime Green actually strikes at the heart of all the elements that I enjoy most about the company.
First of all, for me, there’s the tremendous dial work to appreciate. I still remember where I was the first time I was legitimately stunned by a Moser dial – it was the blue fumé mosaic dial on a unique Swiss Alp Minute Repeater handed to me by a brand executive inside a hotel outside Baselworld 2018. The Concept dial used on today’s Endeavour Centre Seconds offers a similar bit of textural intrigue on the dial, though it’s been given fresh vibrancy due to the enameling process. Add in the thermally treated purple seconds hand, and there’s a lot of unexpected color to enjoy here.
I also happen to like the case profile of the Endeavour more than any other Moser watch out there. It has quite a curvy, sculptural side profile that’s notably absent of the prominent four “grill”-like indentures found in Moser’s Pioneer line. I haven’t seen this new model in person (yet) but I remember being particularly impressed with the case finish of the Endeavour models I’ve handled in the past, with concave polished surfaces and a vertical satin finish running across the case band for a dynamic wearing experience. The Endeavour is also a touch smaller than the conventional 42mm diameter used in the Pioneer line. And finally, I expect the cool tone inherent to the stainless steel case of the Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Lime Green to provide a nice frame for the hammered fumé dial.
For a watch meant to be on the brand’s more experimental “Concept” side, the Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Lime Green sure has a lot of innate enthusiast appeal packed into it. You have the 40mm stainless steel case, and what appears to be (again, I have yet to see it in person but will be sure to update you once I have) a drop-dead gorgeous lime green dial with a color and texture I haven’t seen elsewhere.
Then there’s also the self-winding HMC 200 caliber ticking inside and visible through a sapphire crystal exhibition back that stretches from edge-to-edge of the case. Although I haven’t focused too much in this story on its technical merits, this in-house movement is a genuinely impressive piece of kit, with its patented Straumann Double Hairspring crafted by Precision Engineering, a sister company of Moser, its rock-solid V-shaped balance bridge, and its bi-directional pawl-based winding system. It was released by Moser in 2017 and has since served as a sort-of foundational three-handed movement that the company is able to build on throughout its various watch collections.
Whether your flavor of watch enthusiasm falls on the aesthetic or technical side of things, the Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Lime Green should have something to focus your attention.
But Moser, if you’re reading this, I’ll leave you with a warning. I have to take this opportunity to remind you of our friends at Skittles and ask that you don’t kill a good thing down the road. Don’t swap the tart and snappy visual flavor of the new Endeavour’s Lime Green dial for the mildness of Green Apple.
Just don’t do it.
The Basics
Brand: H. Moser & Cie
Model: Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Lime Green
Reference Number: 1200-1233
Diameter: 40mm
Thickness: 11.2mm
Case Material: Stainless steel
Dial Color: Grand feu enamel in Lime Green fumé, with a hammered texture
Indexes: Nah
Lume: ^
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Hand-stitched grey kudu leather; steel pin buckle
The Movement
Caliber: HMC 200
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Diameter: 32mm
Thickness: 5.5mm
Power Reserve: Three day minimum
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 21,600 vph / 3 Hz
Jewels: 27
Chronometer Certified: N/A
Additional Details: Automatic bi-directional pawl winding system; Original Straumann Double Hairspring®; finish with Moser stripes; diamond polishing
Pricing & Availability
Price: $27,600
Limited Edition: N/A
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