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First Look: The Independents | Watches & Wonders 2021

Published on Mon, 12 Apr 2021 17:41:14 +0000

We wrap up our W&W pods with highlights from Oris, Nomos, Ressence, and Moser.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent is joined by colleagues John (who appears briefly) and James Stacey for their final "live" Watches and Wonders 2021 coverage podcast. The trio discusses independent watchmaking brands and their releases for the virtual trade show, conducted remotely from three different cities due to pandemic restrictions. They reflect on how different the experience is without the in-person atmosphere, late-night work sessions, and social aspects like the "kebab spot."

The discussion covers four independent brands: Oris, Nomos, Ressence, and H. Moser & Cie. For Oris, they're excited about the bronze Divers Sixty-Five models in cotton candy colors (sky blue, mint green, and pink) at \(2,500-\)2,750, noting how the bronze will patina interestingly against the vibrant dials. They also discuss the technical Aquis Pro Date Caliber 400 (a 49.5mm professional diver) and a limited edition Aquis supporting the Wadden Sea conservation.

The Nomos coverage focuses on the Tangente neomatik with peripheral date in midnight blue (\(4,100), and particularly the Club Campus models in orange and gray (\)1,500). The hosts emphasize an underrated feature: the closed case back perfect for engraving, making these ideal gift watches. They suggest more brands should offer this option to create emotional connection and reduce resale likelihood.

For Ressence, they examine the Type 2N in night blue, featuring the innovative e-Crown winding system. H. Moser & Cie. rounds out the discussion with the turquoise "Pioneer Mega Cool" and striking Endeavour Concept Tourbillons with tiger's eye dials. The hosts praise Moser's marketing savvy and creativity, defending the brand against critics who dismiss their attention-getting tactics, arguing that Moser helps raise awareness of independent watchmaking to mainstream audiences. They close with nostalgic reflections on Basel World's "Palace" tent for independent brands, expressing hope that something similar returns post-pandemic.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Not only does this make the watch more interesting, but it makes your boutique a more interesting thing. And also when you engrave a watch, you make it a lot harder for the person to sell it. You change the way that that the emotional connection with the watch. And that's not something you can buy as a brand
Stephen Pulvirent hey everybody I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinky Radio. We're here with our last special kind of like quote unquote live watches and wonders podcast. Got John and James here, and we're gonna talk about independent watchmaking. What's going on, guys? Hey, hey man, how you doing? We're uh we're doing the trade show thing, man. Yeah, weird remote trade sho
James Stacey w. We're doing the trade show thing from uh three different cities. I'm in the office actually right now for the trade show. Yeah, it's weirdly comforting to see that but that zoom background you have. So weird. You could be like Cole, you could be on the other side of the world. It's just a good background, but I like to think that you're in the exact
Stephen Pulvirent ly yeah. James, I gotta say, trade shows way less exciting without the kebab sp
James Stacey ot. Oh yeah. No, I mean the the the whole scene is, you know, padded. No kebab spots, no late night, you know, working on three posts at once while everybody tries to decide like how late can I stay up where it doesn't totally destroy tomorrow, but would maximize how much I could get done before I go to bed. Yeah, all of that is gone. So the uh uh thankfully this year, you know, the the pace has been nice 'cause the team has been yep you know firing on all cylinders. Everybody's got the bases covered. We got we hit all the big brands. I think the stories look really good. I think there's a a lot of interesting watches this year, but you can tell it's still a year where brands are trying to like make something happen so that they don't have another of last year. And I like that. I like like brands are getting kind of scrappy. They're playing to the fringe. We're we're seeing niche options. We're seeing some surprises, you know, from brands that have all largely already been covered for uh Hodenkey Radio. But we've got some some really good ones on here today as well. Yeah, and I would just add to that and to your point that like the the experimentation that you see from these brands that we're going to talk about today in particular, they, you know, they I think have license to go even a bit further because we're talking about independence. You know, these aren't brands that are associated with a group that are uh in many cases responsible uh to shareh
Stephen Pulvirent olders. These are uh in some cases even family owned brands. Yeah true. Yeah, totally. And and they're also not, you know, some seem to be and some don't seem to be subject to the same sort of like market research and strategy that uh the bigger group brands. So like, you know, by the time this comes out, people will have seen, you know, green dials are a huge trend this year, you know, all this stuff. It's very clear that like some market research was done and everybody is taking advantage of the same study. Yeah. But the brands we're going to cover today largely aren't. They're kind of like doing their own things. And and I think that's, you know, for those of us who cover this for a living and are like really deep in watches all day, every day, it's kind of refreshing. Like it's a breath of fresh air to to see something different and to see somebody just like kind of going with their gut or trying something different. For sure. Yeah. So let's let's just get into it. We got we got four brands we're gonna cover today. It's not everybody, but I think these are four independent brands that that give us kind of a good survey. So it's uh we're gonna talk about Oris, we're gonna talk about Gnomos, we're gonna talk about uh resence, and we're gonna talk about H Moser. It's a pretty good spread. Yeah, it's I I can honestly say like these are four brands who I am excited to see and visit when there are like real trade shows. So uh happy, happy to chat about them here. All right, let's let's just dive in. Let's go to Aurus. Let's start there. And I apologize that I just accidentally made an awful pun. But um we got a bunch of dive watches from Aura's as as expected. We can talk through them in any order. Maybe James, since you're our kind of resonant dive watch expert, and I know you've already, you know, talked about these on TGN, which we'll we'll link up in the notes. Which watch kind of excites you the most from Oris this year?
James Stacey Oh um I mean, of these three, it's probably this uh full bronze thirty-eight millimeter. It's it's kind of like their their take on on like the colorful Stella OP dial sort of thing, but with it just being very aurus. So to diver sixty five at thirty eight millimeters. I think it's basically a perfect size for that case, which works fine at forty, and obviously we've seen it at thirty six as well. I believe the absolute original, I could be off on this, but I think the originals were in this range as well, thirty-eight to forty when they first started the sixty five, you know, five, six years ago. But now, you know, following the Holstein Limited Edition, which was the the bigger chrono with the bronze case, the bronze bezel, and the bronze bracelet. N weow're getting that, but they're just time and date gold tone markers and hands and then these cotton candy colors. So it's uh like a really bright sky blue or very like rich, almost like that Cobassier color they did a few years ago in the green. This is just a little bit less dusty and maybe more mint, but it's like a greenish color. Not at all the same sorts of greens we're seeing from everyone else. Oris did that, say, two or three years ago with their pointer edition. They did the kind of dark rich green. And then they have this really killer uh like cotton candy pink. I think of the kind of three announcements that they made specific for Watches and Wonders, and they have a staged rollout. So they did some stuff in January. They've got some stuff for this and they've got more later in the year, like a lot of brands. But for this, I think uh I think these ones are the ones where like I could actually see that light blue with the sort of gold tone of the bronze. It's is just looks like a lot of fun. And then there being that they're still Salida based, these aren't caliber 400 movements. So we're we're still seeing a pretty attractive price point. They're 2500 bucks on a strap, 2750 for the full bronze bracelet. And I I just think like it's a distinctive appeal. It's not really like what what else you're gonna find out there. And I think if they'd just done it in steel, it would have been one thing, but the bronze takes it to a kind of a different point. Yeah, these are so cool and obviously what do they remind you of? They remind me of, you know, Rolex and the the OPs that we saw, right? With the with their colorful dials uh a year ago. And then also a a little bit of that like Richard Mill vibe, right? With the remember the Bon Bon collection? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I hadn't thought about that. That's a good point. Not at all. That's a good poll, Jim. Maybe yeah, well maybe it's the name more than anything that that made it click, but um the cotton candy name. But um yeah that's they're just a lot of fun. I'm really interested to see what they're gonna like because these are bronze right so they're gonna they're gonna patina like crazy, right? They're gonna patent it. And I would love to know what these vibrant colors are gonna look like. I'm one that's allowed to just really, really uh fully patent it, including the bracelet. Yeah, I mean, if if you live near the coast and you've got that green one, there's gonna be some eventually you'll get some some matchy matchy with the salt in the air as you get that kind of green, that bright because there is that kind of like highlighty color in the in that patina that can form. I know when we did uh the you know, Oris used to do their kind of annual release at a little event in uh Colorado in January, and you know, delayed due to the current scenarios or postponed for a couple of years. But uh a few years back, I remember Rolf, you know, CEO of the brand, co-CEO of the brand. Uh, he had uh uh an earlier bronze 65, one of the uh Carl Brashier ones that he'd been wearing just as his like day-to-day watch through anything that he does. He's a pretty active guy. He gets around. He likes to do a lot of stuff. And it was just, it had this like it was alive. The surface of this watch had like looked like something you pulled out of an aquarium. That's awesome. Uh I loved it. Yeah. They they look really good, brand new. And that, you know, I had very briefly on loan that Holstein and and the weight and the color feels very gold to me. But of course, you're not spending twelve or thirteen thousand dollars, you're spending aurus prices for just kind of a nice simple watch. And I think like for a weekend thing or maybe maybe your fun vacation watch it can kind of develop patina based on where you take it. Those sorts of things I think it's a a a pretty pretty cool thing and I I I like the price point. I like I like and I like that it it just it's another iteration of of the the 65, which has just proven to be such a strong kind of footing for them.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah, I I totally agree. I think like the the they nailed the details on these watches, which like I think, you know, the idea of like, oh, let's do a sport watch with colorful dials. Like, okay, like Rolex did it. So now everybody clearly is gonna want to do it, especially with all the kind of like attention that those watches are getting. But I like that Oris didn't do that. They weren't like, oh yeah, we're gonna make steel with like super saturated dials. They were like, let's make them bronze, let's make the dials like cotton candy colors, let's let the watches patentate, let's use kind of a matching metal bezel, like really make this about those dial colors and i don't know i think those like relief engraved bezels framing the dials are nice i think the the choice of the gilt accents like everything is is spot on and for a hair under three thousand bucks like these are extremely fun. I mean, that's obviously not, you know, these these aren't cheap or inexpensive watches, but I think for that money, I think you get a lot of look. And I think it's gonna still feel kind of like fresh and fun a year, two years, five years from now. You're not kind of buying a a novelty that's gonna get old or or feel out of date. You know, James's earlier point about the the green one and and
James Stacey it kind of you know matching out like that that I would really like to to get a chance to to see what see if somebody buys one of those and then really lets it go, like please like you know send a picture
Stephen Pulvirent like you know at me on Instagram or whatever. Like I'd love to see it. Yeah. Yeah. The other watches we got from Aura are's are much more kind of like technical watches, right? Like these we have the cotton candy on one side, and then you know, on the other side, we've got an Aquas Pro with a caliber 400, and we've also got an Aquas L E for the Wadden C, maybe let's talk about the new Aquas Pro Date Caliber 400 first. This is a pretty like techie looking diver, isn't it, James
James Stacey ? Yeah, so uh for people who maybe don't follow the brand really carefully, then maybe the you know the 65 and the pointer dates and that sort of thing. They've always had this sort of range above the Aquas, which is your pro diver. And it's where they used to pack in dive chronographs and and watches with uh you know really interesting tide complications and and larger watches that are meant to go over a wetsuit and be worn as a dive watch. And they really are uh commercial products, but they're offered at a size that makes them very like almost specifically two-ish. This is a forty-nine point five millimeter watch. And the big move here is that they've now equipped their five day four hundred series movement. So that means you get the huge warranty and and the huge service interval. And obviously it's a it's a five-day movement. It's with largely in the name. And I I think that's a good plus. I I I see this as sort of the brand's Ploprof. It's a commercial product that they do want to sell to people, but I think they they're making a 49.5 millimeter dive watch, knowing that it's kind of a niche offering. And it's an Aquus style case, so it's very short lug. So it's not going to feel like a 50 millimeter in a standard case. It's going to wear a little bit smaller than I've had some experience with these and with like 47 millimeter Aquases. They don't wear as big as you'd expect, but it's still a huge watch. And I like it because uh it it does carry over some of the styling that we saw on the the dive watches at the brand made pre-Aquas. So the the T T series that they used to have with the wave dial and the applied markers and the kind of captive bezel systems and stuff like that. And I think on a rubber strap, you know, we've got pictures on uh, you know, I I know I know whose wrist is in this photo, and it's not like a the world's biggest wrist on this model. And I think they look really good. It it fills the wrist. And if you like a big watch, I think this is one with now a really great movement. And you're certainly not going to worry about whether or not you can go in the pool or whatever. Yeah. I totally ag
Stephen Pulvirent ree. And it's got this like cool like bezel locking system. And like if you're if you're like a techie dive watch person, I think this is definitely like a compelling uh offering. And again, like you're paying Aurus prices, so it's forty six hundred dollars and it's available this month. Like they're like around and in theory gettable. So I don't know. I think it's a it's a compelling offering. Yeah, for sure. I was just gonna say James, you made a good point kind of
James Stacey about how Aurus swims in these two lanes. Um, I think a lot of people, and I think a lot of the you know, the brand's recent popularity is probably tied to like the diver 65, and as you'd mentioned, the pointer date, which are more recent things. But I the more technical stuff is actually kind of precedes it, right? Like the diver sixty five and the pointer date are probably more recent things at Oris.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting stuff. Totally agree. All right. Let's get to the last Oris here real quick. It's a limited edition Aquis, the dot Wat, I think is how it's pronounced. And it is to save the Wadden Sea. It's another one of these kind of like environmentally conscious watches produced by Auris. And this one has a date complication that also has a diagram on the dial that lets you use it as kind of like a rough tide indicator. Did I get that right? Am I am I totally bot
James Stacey ching this? Uh no, that's yeah, it's a tide graph based on on a lunar cycle. So we've seen this on on a couple models in the past. Certainly there's one tied to a free diver, say five, six years ago. I can't quite remember if it was a Carlos Costa Ellie or you know, they do they do these almost every year, maybe even more than once a year, where they they have a model that is tied with uh ecological concern and it helps fund that and and raise awareness and the rest of it. And you know, I think they do that a fair bit. What what I think is actually kind of more interesting about this watch specifically is just the overall aesthetic that brushed gray bezel insert is really, really beautiful on this watch design. And then to match it with it is a gradient dial, but it's not gradient in the normal fashion. It's a like a bar gradient. Yeah. So it actually gets kind of darker through the center, but it it's almost like like the way light and shadows hit things. Yeah. Where it's not an even gradient that passes. It's cool. I it's worth looking at the images, you know, r uh radio being what it is. But I like it. I mean, these are kind of aesthetically the the dial design is complicated because of that tide graph. So I think that would have to be in your wheelhouse. But other than that, I mean I I like these. I I I'm a huge fan of the Aquas. I think they're really, really great dive watches. And I've I've dove quite a bit with them in the past. But uh yeah, I I I like these and I like that it's yet another, you know, something in support of a of a of a good cause. So you're not just buying a watch, you get that extra little bit. And it's a very aurus thing at this point. I think we'd expect to see these for several more
Stephen Pulvirent years. Yeah, I I completely agree. You know what? Let's move on. I think we could probably talk about Aurus for for quite a while, but let's go to gnomos. Uh let's go from like German Switzerland over to Germany. Gnomos didn't release any like crazy new models. They just kind of released some like updates to existing models, but they are I think compelling ones. You know, the Tangenta pneumatic with this kind of peripheral date display uh that debuted a couple years ago. You know, we now have this in in this sort of like really beautiful dark blue iteration, like midnight blue iteration. You know, it's 41 millimeters, which to me is like kind of big for this watch. Like I own a 38mm Tangenta and because of the like basically non-existent bezel. It wears pretty large. Like it's 38, but it looks probably closer to like a 39 or a 40. It wears comfortably like a 38, but yeah, I've always thought these these larger gnomos are maybe a little too large for me personally, but of the ones I've seen so far, I think this one is is pretty beautiful, at least in in pictures from what I can see
James Stacey . Yeah. Great look and watch. It's interesting that they didn't go with the Atlantic naming, but I guess maybe that is in some way has been limited to the Ahoy. Oh yeah. But this is similar. I don't think it's always hard to tell from the photos whether or not this is as dark as what we seen on like the Atlantic Ahoy. I like that they went with white markings rather than a gold or something like that. The blue or the white on blue is is is nice. And and I do think this uh the date display, while certainly esoteric, is super functional and kind of a neat thing and and and it does uh a very German thing of taking something that a lot of us have done one way for a while and just kind of making it a little bit faster to read, may maybe a little bit more complicated, but also a little bit more elegant. Yeah. And one one other interesting thing to point out is, you know, it's a it's a big watch as we or a a bigger watch uh than some other gnomoses that we that we all know. But uh the you know I'm looking at a case back shot and the movement like fits it really well. It's uh I guess it's a 35.2 millimeter movement, but that's big for an automatic movement generally, speaking, I think. And um it
Stephen Pulvirent it it looks great. I think true. Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, when you look at an a gnomos these days, I think, you know, at one point gnomos was maybe the only people kind of offering movements at this quality at this price range. Uh, and there are definitely now more competitors. But I think you look at this movement and you look at like the finishing on the dial and how nicely the case is uh machined, I'll just say as an owner of a Tangenta, like these cases are extremely sharp and architectural and they're really nicely made. They're like they're very crisp. They don't feel like they're just like, you know, kind of stamped out as of a blank. You know, they they feel like a quality watch case. And I think to get all of that, to get this in-house movement with this special date complication, nice finishing. I mean, it's not incredible hand finishing, but it's it's very nice finishing for forty,1 one0 hund0red doll. I thinkars is pretty great. And yeah, I think this is one I I think it's probably gonna end up being too big for me, but it's one I would definitely wanna see in the metal and and try on. For me,
James Stacey the the one I'd like to see in the metal and try on are the new campus. If I if I could be uh so bold as to advance the conversation and and not my own podcast. Please do. So this is my favorite watch that they make is the club campus. Um I love that it it's very reflective of, you know, sort of pre-in-house gnomos before they went through all all of the various phases uh and and were still relying pretty heavily on the alpha which of course is is informed by previous movements they make it but the the the architecture and such is is more of a long-standing design that was in lots of watches for you know since the 60s and even before. But I I just I love the Kali dial. I really like these two iterations. And yet again, it's an almost thing. I don't know which one I would pick. The orange dial is way more fun, but the gray is so chill. But I know I want to wear it on a gray stra a gray strap or a gray NATO, and it would be very gray at that point. I I really like these watches a lot. I think that that it's a huge value for money here in getting into a gnomos for fifteen hundred dollars. Yeah. Like let's not let's not overstay it. This is be one of the least expensive watches we're gonna talk about in all of Watches and Wonders. And I don't think it lacks in appeal at all. You it's got room for an engraving, which I think is something so many brands ignore. And I know that's like the point of calling it the campus and and and stuff. And then not only is this thing not massive, they give you two kind of smaller sizes to pick from. You can go 38 or 36. I w I
Stephen Pulvirent want to seize on the the case backing engraving th. I think that's an underrated thing for watches these days. Ben brought this up when we were talking Rolex the other day as being like extremely engravable. And we we were talking about it in the context of like tutor adding the sapphire case backs, right? I'm helping a friend of a friend buy a watch for our mutual friend to celebrate something. And this person wants to get a really nice engraving put on the back. And all of the watches I'm coming up with as options that are like in the right price point and that I think this person will enjoy, like none of them have any room for an engraving. Like you could maybe get a like from initials to initials, kind of on the periphery. But like it's it's a shame, you know? And I I I agree with you. I think this watch, the the fact that having a closed case back A means they can keep the price down, and B makes it like a perfect watch to give to somebody really makes these compelling. Like I really I've always liked this model, but I think that is kind of an unsung or undersung part of their appeal. Yeah. I mean,
James Stacey pro tip to any brand that happens to be listening to this: do yourself a favor and any watch that you think is kind of a mass market consumer watch, something middle of the road for your brand, make it so that if you buy the watch from the boutique, you have the option of getting a blank case back. If Omega did this with the Speedmaster with just a few watches, so that if you were you could you could check a box and say for fifty dollars or the same money, who cared? How much could it cost? You could make it a gift option. Not only does this make the watch more interesting, but it makes your boutique a more interesting thing? And also when you engrave a watch, you make it a lot harder for the person to sell it. You change the way that that the emotional connection with the watch. And that's not something you can buy as a brand. That's something that that people typically do on their own. And they do it with a lot with Rolexes because Rolexes have blank case backs. So you you feel like, well, I should put something there. I got it for this birthday. I'll put that birthday on it. I got it from this person. I'll put that like and and making that possible, especially on even just a few things where Apple knew this. You could you could get an engraving on your iPod. And it just meant that you were probably going to hold onto the iPod until you bought a new one because it had your engraving on it. It makes the product more sticky. It's a bit of a hook. So I highly recommend. I'm not saying that every watch needs a case back, but a lot of the really the stuff that people would buy as a gift or or to celebrate a a chapter in their life, just make it the option. You know, think think about how much people walk into a build-a-bear and they tell both their kids like we're only gonna get I'm I'm the only one on this call with kids, but uh we're only gonna do you know the basic bear and fill it up and you get there to the part where you make a little recording and it goes into a little heart thing so you can and it says something every time you squeeze the bear's paw or whatever. Who's saying no to that? Yeah. Right? Like like just make it a basket item. Increase your gr
Stephen Pulvirent oss margin. Yeah, I I totally agree with that. Let's go to resence next. Resence dropped one watch, which for resence is completely normal. Um, you know, they're they're a pretty small outfit doing extremely complex things. And it's a new version of the type 2. It's the type 2N in night blue. The type 2 is a controversial watch. It's the one with the E crown winding system. It's the like kind of hybrid, it's a mechanical watch, but it almost has like a smart watch winder built into the watch. We've done some really great coverage of it in the past. We'll link all that up in the show notes. An interview with Tony Fidel and Benoit, the founder of Resence. You know, there there were some issues with these when they first debuted. Uh they you just flat out like didn't work. It was a new technology, it was a concept, it was tough. And they stuck it out and apparently now the the watches work pretty pretty well. Uh I haven't seen one in met in the metal in in some time. But I think this iteration is really good looking and I think it does an amazing job making a complex thing feel like very wearable and appealing.
James Stacey I agree. You know, it's uh there's something about resence that I, you know, it's just like it's such a wonderful, if you think about like brands that are like really wonderful design products, like resin's just comes top of mind, you know. And it's funny, it's like, you know, when I I interviewed Alan Silberstein recently and like when I asked him what brand is doing something that you find interesting, resins. Yeah. I mean it's it's a really beautiful thing what they do with color. And um then of course the mechanism is just like it's the ultimate kind of thing for a lover of mechanical watches to geek out on. Yeah, no, I agree. And I I look at this and i I I feel very similar to that gnomos we just chatted about. It's a good design and and that has a blue dial. Like I I get it. I I see the appeal in these things. They're very tech forward. They're very kind of like a Silicon Valley expression of avant-garde, like eau de Rallerie. I think all of that is is uh is great. I I think I would still, you know, that white one from the last SIHH we went to? Yeah. 2019. The 1H or WH1 or something like that. That one was uh was still the the one that I can't get out of my mind. It's just super cool in white with the orange. I I agree. I
Stephen Pulvirent I really like what Residence has done the last couple of years with their cases. You know, they were for a little while, they were like they had these steep sides and the lug, they were like kind of they tried a couple different things, I'll put it that way. And I think this almost kind of like helmet architecture, you know, where they they're really domed, they're really curved, they almost have no lugs, uh, to speak of, is a really smart case shape. And especially for what they do, it maximizes dial space and it maximizes the kind of visual impact while also making the watches really comfortable. Uh and I I think that's, you know, it's a refinement, it's a tweak, it's an adjustment. And I think it's one that's been wildly successful. Uh, and and I think they deserve some some credit there for that. Yeah, no. Handsome thing. Yeah, 100%. All right, let's let's take ourselves home here with H. Moser. Moser kind of preempted uh Watches and Wonders on April 1st by dropping this thing with uh Second Second, which is this this kind of watch with an eraser on it, which we'll link up to. It's not Watches and Wonders proper, so we don't need to go crazy with it here, but uh they did drop that last week. And then we got kind of two new things from Moser. One on the more accessible end for Moser and one kind of not one that's more of like a Halo product, I would say. The one that's a little more accessible is the Pioneer Mega Cool, which I'm not sure I love that name. Uh sorry, Edward. It's a little maybe maybe a little much, but uh I I applaud the effort. It's a Pioneer center seconds, uh, which is their sort of sport watch center seconds with a turquoise dial and an engraved logo. I think this watch is pretty hot. I'm not sure I would have pinned myself as a turquoise sport watch guy. But I don't know. Living in LA now, I think uh maybe maybe this is what I need. Absolutely. Yeah. I
James Stacey mean and also just because it's a Moser, it's it's bound to be the kind of watch that you have to see in person, right? I've always always felt that way about their dials in particular. Yeah. So even though they have they have good supply photography in the story, you know, you you you need live picks and even more than that, you
Stephen Pulvirent need to you need to see them in person to uh to really know what they're all about. Yeah. So the mega cool for the record comes as a center seconds. It also comes as a flying turbion, which segues us to the other release, which are uh Endeavor concept turbions with tiger's eye dials, both kind of the traditional amber tiger's eye and then a blue tiger's eye. These are are pretty wild. I'm not sure what I would. I mean, typically when you see a stone dial, they tend to be like smaller dials. They have some printing on them, some inlays, applied markers, whatever. These don't like it's basically a giant sheet of mineral with a hole cut out for the turbion and really shows the stone off. I'm I'm I'm really excited to see these in person mostly just because I think they're gonna be really strange and like kind of striking. Yeah. Yeah. I mean working these di
James Stacey als must not have been I not that I'm uh an expert in dial making, but like making these must not have been easy. I can't imagine it was. Yeah. I also think that you look at these and and it's almost like you know that it's a Moser, right? Yeah. Because of the hands, but if you if it wasn't for the hands, or if I only glanced, they remind me, Steven, you remember that thing we did with Cara for the Vasharon art series that they were gonna do where you get some art put on them? And we did the Photoshops for the various art. You know, I picked a Vermeer. Yeah. Um they're they're right in that wheelhouse where they've removed all the extraneous anything. It's hands, and in this case, what looks like a pretty big, pretty open turbine view, and it's something that Moser does really well, being able to see the complications. They're never too small or so deep in the movement that they're under a shadow. I think these are really, really pretty and and I mean only as a compliment. If you're close to VC when they do, you know, really high-end stuff, uh you gotta feel good about that, certainly. I think I think these look really, really cool. I'm not a huge turbion fan. I think they look pretty, pretty neat without just the hands, which would feel even more Mosery, I guess. But I think these are cool for sure. Yeah. And then just before we stop on Moser, one other thing they did even before the the watch in early April was they, you know, they finally did the last uh Swiss Alp watch. They did, yeah. That was back in February, right? In February, yeah. So that I mean that's a that's a little bit outside of Watches and Wonders world, but I mean that's a major watch for them and they and they ended it, you know. I'm willing to bet if you're like, you know, maybe maybe it's the cheese watch, maybe it's Swiss Alp watch, but if you want to think about like a watch that got a lot of press that put Moser into people's minds who otherwise wouldn't have no idea about like this you know relatively small independent Swiss watchmaker. It's those two
Stephen Pulvirent and the Swiss Alp watch is done. Yeah, I think some people in the watch world knock Moser for the amount of attention they get, saying that like, oh, it's all flash, it's all marketing, it's whatever. How is that a knock? But like if you're a small Swiss watch brand making great products at like a high level with like creativity and you can somehow manage to get people excited about it. Like good for you. Everybody else can shut up. You know, like doesn't feel like a knock at all. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's about suc succeeding in business. You know what I mean? It's true. I mean there',s a lot of intelligent intelligent thinking behind what's happening there, I think. I think it's a good thing for watches, like as a category. You know, if Moser is getting headlines in major newspapers and kind of like general interest magazines and from the tech press with the Swiss Alp Watch. Like these are all people who may not even know that you can buy a like fine handmade Swiss watch from not, you know, Rolex or Paddock, you know, right? And those people all of a sudden understand that like, oh, A, watchmaking is a thing, and B, like cool offbeat independent watchmaking is a thing. So I I I don't know, like, not to overstate it, but like I think watches like like the Swiss Alp Watch and even like the concept pieces and things that get kind of more mainstream attention. I think those are good for watchmaking. Like I think Moser's kind of helping helping everybody out. Rising tides raise all boats, right? I couldn't agree more. I see them almost as a doorway into
James Stacey the palace, you know, that kind of watchmaking as as it was once celebrated at Basel World. You know, and I think you were making that point. Um so I'm I'm really just echo
Stephen Pulvirent echoing it. I think you it was well put. Man, our RIP the palace. Yeah. Oh maybe. I think James and I maybe the first place we met might have been the palace. Yeah, that sounds about right. It was such a nice place. It was just such a cool place. You could talk with anyone within like 30 feet of each other. For the people who don't know what we're talking about, the palace was the building at Basel World for independent watchmaking. So you had the big main I mean to be fair, it was a fancy. So you had the big build buildings a strong case. I think it was intended to be temporary, right? Oh yeah, absolutely. It's in a parking lot. You had the big main building where like Rolex has their like three-story booth and Longine has like literally like marble floors and a fountain, like a working fountain on the second floor of their booth. Like insane. Yeah, you gotta for sure. You have to. And then you go across the street, literally across the tram tracks, and there's a field. And in this field, they've put up like it an elevated floor that's like you know two inches off the ground, and then it's a big white tent. And everybody in this tent are like the H-Mosers, the MBFs, the Urworks, the you know, the independent watchmakers, the Viani Halters, those those kinds of folks. And this is where you go to like instead of meeting with a marketing team in a conference room, like you go and sit down and have a coffee with the person whose name is on the dial of the watch you're holding. Uh, and they tell you why they made it. Yeah,
James Stacey you want to meet Christophe Clare, he's there. He'll offer you a coffee and a little, a little tiny toberon. And and if he and if you want to listen, you can learn a lot about watches. It's where I first saw Braymont. You know, that's where they exhibited before. I've dran
Stephen Pulvirent k many beers with the Gromfeld brothers in uh in the palace. Like it was always my favorite place to go. And I I think you're right, John. Like Moser in a funny way reminds me of like what that place was all about, that spirit. Yeah. Uh and that's that's a fun thing to think about. And also, you know, and what an ironic name too
James Stacey for a tent that goes up, you know, in a parking lot, the palace. Hey, uh you know, we're we're also we're also professionals, so it's gotta you gotta be clear, working professionals had the nicest bathrooms. Oh true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very true. True. You didn't have to deal with the giant lineups, you didn't deal with the uh the three flights of stairs into some basement. Man. Oh gosh. All the world. All right. I remember that. Yeah, for sure. I I you know, I hope we see that come back some something like it come back in a few years. You and me both. Um I don't think we need to be in a rush, but I think these digital ones are less exciting. Yeah. It's less of an event. Agree. What's going on this week? And and I think what that means is more and more brands are gonna start to ignore it and do their own thing. Uh you know, I think uh uh I mentioned Braymont previously they used to show in the palace when the palace started. The werey roughly around the same age. So they came into the palace when it was new and then they left kind of before Basel disintegrated in some respect and started to do their own thing. And I think we're going to see that from more and more brands because I don't know, like if if I'm a mo use Moser as an example, I'm sure that it makes sense for them to have some alignment with Watches and Wonders. But if I'm Moser, like wouldn't I rather just have a week to myself in May or June or August or September where I could and and that's probably w you we'll see another round of of less organized stuff happening in the fall in time for uh the you know, the big the big buying season. But it's interesting because we're we're seeing we're these are still early days in the new format for the Swiss watch industry. I totally agree. And some people have a leg up.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I think that's actually probably a pretty good place to wrap up here. I mean, this is our last of our our kind of in the trenches uh watches and wonders episodes uh of Hodinki Radio for the year. Next week, we're gonna have some wrap-up coverage, some uh kind of looking back coverage right here. So stay tuned next uh next week for that. And uh thank you guys for joining. This is great. And uh let's let's see what else we get over the next couple days. Super. Thanks for having us on. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks, guys