At this year's Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve (GPHG), H. Moser & Cie picked up the Tourbillon Watch Prize for the Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton, adding to its tally of wins at the prestigious watch industry awards. These include the double wins in 2020 for the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon H. Moser & Cie x MB&F (Audacity Prize), and the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic (Chronograph Watch Prize). And these are just the most recent achievements for the Schaffhausen-based watchmaker, which was established in 1828, 40 years before its neighbour, IWC started up. In fact, H. Moser & Cie was making watches some 11 years before the brand that would become Patek Philippe was founded, and close to 50 years before Audemars Piguet got its start. Despite this, it may surprise you to learn that in 2012, the firm was staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.
If you are a regular reader of this magazine, or just a person familiar with H. Moser & Cie CEO Edouard Meylan, then you know that we speak with him quite a lot. Obviously, the brand's story did not end in 2012! Anyway, it will not surprise you to learn that we did catch up with Edouard during Watches & Wonders Geneva. As fate would have it, he swung by Singapore a couple of times after so that earlier chat has been largely supplanted with this story. This year also happens to be the 10th anniversary of a remarkable turnaround in H. Moser & Cie's fortunes, and we thought we would spend a little time going over that before leaping into our conversation.
This story is from the Issue 67 edition of WOW Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 67 edition of WOW Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Unusual Suspects
With reality setting in for hype watches, we present our annual look at potential trendsetters of the (near) future. These also represent some of our forgotten favourites of 2023
The Conversation: Window Dressing
The editors of Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia discuss the virtues and drawbacks of the exhibition caseback. In this 14th instalment of The Conversation, they have finally found something worth really disagreeing about
THE LAST LAP
Will the trend of vintage remakes get a boost from current tastes for more reasonably sized watches?
CROWNING GLORY
Franck Muller takes another step in cementing themselves in Asia with the launch of their flagship boutique in Kuala Lumpur. CEO Nicholas Rudaz elaborates
NARRATIVE ARCS
Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni talks about the importance of watch fairs, the multibrand retail experience and the feeling of wearing an excellent timepiece
SHINE ON
Gem-set complicated watches are no longer overlooked or spurned. High watchmaking with a generous serving of precious stones is all the rage...
SHINING STAR
With the DiaStar Original Skeleton, Rado challenges the wearer to be go forth and be bold
HEIGHTS OF ADVENTURE
Luminox celebrates Bear Grylls' first ascent of Everest with a limited edition 3730 series watch
CENTRALISED POWER
Longines presents a unique take on the humble power reserve indicator with its Conquest Central Power Reserve model
FOUR POINTS
The tourbillon comes to the Defy Skyline collection in an entirely new reference with a strong visual presence