H. Moser & Cie. Swiss Mad

The watch you are admiring is made with cheese, Swiss cheese: Vacherin Mont d’Or médaille d’or. Well, not the entire watch “only” the case. This is not the first time that the Swiss independent watch manufacturer, H. Moser & Cie. use their craft to poke fun of and raise awareness about issues that impact the watchmaking industry. You might recall the Swiss Alp Watch, their response to the rush of Swiss watchmakers to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon. This time, they attack the changes in the requirements of the Swiss Made label for watchmaking. As of January 1st, 2017, only 60% of the components have to be of Swiss origin in order for the watch to qualify as Swiss Made. Here is what Edouard Meylan, the big cheese at H. Moser & Cie. had to say about the new requirements:

“Our Swiss Mad Watch sends a clear message to the Swiss watchmaking industry, the authorities and watch enthusiasts: the Swiss Made label is meaningless. Worse than this, it gives credibility to the worst abuses in our industry. Our response to this lax and insufficient label is derision. At H. Moser & Cie., we produce watches that are truly Swiss, watches that are steeped in watchmaking tradition and centuries of experience. The quality of these pieces speaks for itself and dispenses with the need for a label. We are no longer “Swiss Made”, but we are Swiss. 100% Swiss, in the case of the Swiss Mad Watch, and over 95% Swiss for all of our other models…”

H. Moser & Cie. Swiss Mad

Everyone has this stereotypical image of Switzerland, with its Alpine scenery, William Tell, the endless representations of Heidi, and of course cows. For the Swiss Mad, cheese was used as a base material, added to itr² — innovant technique résine révolutionnaire — an innovative composite material developed by a Swiss company, Injector S.A. that can be worked the same way as stainless steel, while being eight times lighter.

The red fumé dial has bold white indexes at 12, 3, 6 and 9, alluding to the Swiss flag. The strap is made of cowhide, what else?

H. Moser & Cie. Swiss Mad is powered by the hand-wound HMC 327

The unique Swiss Mad Watch will be presented during SIHH, and its price is fixed at 1,081,291 CHF. This sounds like a lot of dough for a piece of cheese, but the price is actually a reference to the signing of the Swiss Federal Charter on August 1^st, 1291, and all proceeds from the sale will be used to create a fund to support independent Swiss watchmaking suppliers, currently suffering under the difficult economic situation and outsourcing to Asia.

Technical specifications

Reference 8327-1400

Case
Cheese integrated with itr2 © composite material
Diameter: 42.0 mm, height: 9.4 mm
Sapphire crystal
See-through sapphire crystal case-back
Crown adorned with an “M”

Dial
Red fumé with sunburst pattern
White lacquered applique indexes and hour and minute hands in the shape of a swallow’s tail

Movement
In-house, hand-wound, mechanical HMC 327 calibre
Dimensions: 32.0 mm or 14 ¼ lignes, height: 4.5 mm
Frequency: 18,000 Vib/h
29 jewels
Power reserve: minimum 3 days
Moser teeth for all wheels and pinions
Original Straumann Hairspring® with stabilised Breguet overcoil

Functions
Hours and minutes
Power reserve indicator on movement side

Strap
Hand-stitched cowhide leather strap
Steel pin buckle, engraved with the Moser logo