This article first appeared in Options, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 2, 2019 - September 8, 2019

Cortina Watch Malaysia managing director Tay Liam Khoon and H Moser & Cie CEO Edouard Meylan on a newly signed partnership between the luxury watch distributor and independent watchmaker that celebrates passion, patrimony and truly mouth-watering haute horlogerie

If I had to pick a favourite H Moser & Cie watch, I would be stuck between the Endeavour Concept Tourbillon Minute Repeater, with the gongs on the dial instead of inside the case, and the Concept Venturer Small Seconds, which features a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. I appear to have a type — both watches, unveiled after the Meylan family took over the 191-year-old maison, come with a solid-coloured dial and a noticeable lack of any insignia indicating their provenance. Yet, they are both instantly recognisable as Moser watches, wordlessly speaking a distinct language of design and innovation for which the brand has come to be known.

By detaching itself from the coat-tails of its history and heritage, Moser has eschewed a blind belief in tradition for a more sensible formula that pays homage to the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder. A year after establishing his brand in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1828, young watchmaker and Schaffhausen native Heinrich Moser relocated to Switzerland to ensure the quality of the watches he was making. Fans of his timepieces grew to include Russian nobility, as well as revolutionary and political theorist Vladimir Lenin.

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