HANDS-ON: H. Moser & Cie. step outside their comfort zone with new Endeavour Flying Hours

When you think of H. Moser, a select handful of words come to mind: classic, traditional and, of course, fumé. There’s also the other side of the business that loves taking potshots at the industry with its polarising marketing tactics (as we all saw once again during SIHH), but in the halls of SIHH our focus was set on the brand’s latest creation: the new Endeavour Flying Hours. Looking solely at its sleek case and the blue hue of its dial, the piece still oozes H. Moser design DNA; however, its time indication is something entirely different. Using a unique satellite-style time indication — one very reminiscent of the Urwerk UR-103, to be fair—this latest release came as a bit of a surprise.

From a static first glance, it’s hard not to draw the Urwerk parallel, but seeing the caliber in action reveals a few significant (and needed) differences. Unlike UR calibers where the satellites orbit around the centre of the dial, the satellites of the Endeavour Flying Hours are fixed. Mounted on a round central bridge finished in black DLC, three funky blue discs are used to display the current hour. On a clear sapphire disc resting above its bridge, elapsed minutes pass by the current hour (taking up 240 degrees of the disc’s 360-degree surface), and thanks to a two-layer construction, the current hour is displayed in white, while hours past and future appear in black.

H. Moser have been doing an excellent job delivering on value-for-dollar recently, and the Endeavour Flying Hours is no exception. Limited to 60 pieces worldwide, and cased in white gold, the Endeavour Flying Hours is priced at a modest 32,000 CHF. Its clever new caliber, dubbed the C806, is based on Moser’s HMC 200 self-winding movement and boasts a minimum power reserve of three days. The caliber was developed and produced by Moser in collaboration with their sister company, Hautlence. In speaking with other press at the fair, reception to the new release seemed a bit mixed; however, from a retail perspective it was incredibly well received, with all 60 examples being sold into retail points before the end of the second day of SIHH’s five-day run.