H. Moser & Cie

Independent watchmaking that refuses the superfluous. No Swiss Made label claimed (by choice, not inability). Own manufacture in Schaffhausen and Neuhausen. Movements and components made in-house. A deliberately provocative spirit in an often conformist watch world.

H. Moser & Cie has two lives. The first begins in 1828, when Swiss watchmaker Heinrich Moser opens a business in Saint Petersburg and a manufacture in Le Locle. He becomes a supplier to the Russian imperial court. Returns to Schaffhausen in 1848, fortune made. The brand prospers then declines in the 20th century. By 1988, it is over.

Second life in 2005. Georges-Henri Meylan, former CEO of Audemars Piguet, acquires the brand through MELB Holding, his family company. He is the grandson of Octave Meylan, who had been co-owner of Moser at the start of the 20th century. History comes full circle. His son Edouard takes the helm.

The revival is clever. Moser positions itself as the independent watchmaker that says out loud what others think quietly. In 2017, they voluntarily remove the Swiss Made label from their dials to denounce what they consider a diluted certification. The gesture makes waves. In 2018, they present a cheese watch to mock SIHH conventions. Calculated provocations, but always with a serious product behind them.

The product, precisely. The manufacture produces its own movements, escapements (including the Moser Cylinder), and hairsprings through Precision Engineering AG, their subsidiary. The fume dials, now a brand signature, have a remarkable depth of color. The perpetual calendar is one of the most intuitive on the market.

Roughly 3,000 pieces per year, over 100 employees. This is genuine independent manufacturing, owned by a watchmaking family. The marketing tone can sometimes overshadow the substance, but the substance is very much there.