H. Moser & Cie plays it smart with the Swiss Alp Watch
Is there a future for tradition? H. Moser & Cie hits back at the phenomenally successful smartwatch with a disconnected watch, and takes a dig at Apple along the way.
Swiss Alp Watch vs. Apple Watch: both names trip off the tongue, but these watches are coming from very different places. H. Moser & Cie has lost no time in countering the smartwatch market, which sold a whopping six million units in 2015. The independent brand is kicking off 2016 with a watch, made as a limited edition of 50, whose purpose is to reconnect the values of Fine Watchmaking with those of the future. Rather than jump on the smartwatch bandwagon, the Swiss Alp Watch takes its cue from their modern design but differs in that it is entirely mechanical. No email, no phone, no heartbeat monitoring or counting steps. It does, however, give the hours, minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clock and a four-day power reserve, shown through the crystal back, thanks to the hand-wound in-house mechanical HMC 324 calibre. While the shape of the 38.20 x 44 mm white gold case breaks radically with the brand’s habitually round styles, the Swiss Alp Watch retains the classic features of a H. Moser & Cie timepiece, not least the famous fumé dial and leaf-shaped hands. Prolonged by slim lugs and mounted on a brown kudu leather strap with a green leather lining, the Swiss Alp Watch hovers between vintage tradition and contemporary modern. Nothing contradictory there, for a watch designed to prove that traditional mechanical watchmaking is a sure bet for the future.
