Endeavour Flying Hours by H.Moser & Cie. – First Look
H.Moser & Cie. tapped into yet another territory with the – new – Endeavour Flying Hours
In case you follow the brand closely, you might have seen this watch already. Moser released the Endeavour Flying Hours in 2018. At the time, only one version was available; with a “Funky blue fumé” dial. Fans of the model did not have to wait too long for the new releases. At Baselworld 2019 Moser introduced two new variations to the Flying Hours, one in green and one in a blue/grey combo. All three colours can be familiar with Moser fans, and the Swiss brand often uses them with their creations. Over the years they developed these tones to perfection. So, the new Endeavour Flying Hours is not only extremely pleasing from a horological point of view. They are also beautifully created with fantastic green and grey fume dials. Something that, without a doubt, is Moser’s trademark since the beginning. Won’t you agree?
Endeavour Flying Hours
At first glance, the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Flying Hours looks a bit complicated, a dial which does not read easily. It is, however, not the case, once you know how to read it, it becomes ridiculously simple. Bear with me. You see the three hour discs, at 12, at 4 and 8. The sapphire main disc, above them in the center, displays the minutes. They are around this plate on a 240-degree sector. Any given time you’ll see five hour numerals, but only one is bright, the rest is dark. The bright one is the actual hour, while the hour disc clockwise form it will have the next hour (in black) and the disc counterclockwise will have the hour before the current one (also in black). As you can see in the image the 12 at the 4 o’clock subdial is bright indicating that it’s 12:XX.
The 8 o’clock hour disc shows 11 (as the elapsed hour) and the 12 o’clock disc has 1 on it (the hour after 12). The sapphire minute disc in the middle rotates next to the hour. You can see a small triangle above the hour numeral pointing at the minute track. This triangle shows the exact minute. So again, on the above image, you can see the triangle pointing at the 30. Meaning, the watch shows 12:30. If you see the watch in motion (check YouTube for videos on how the Endeavour Flying Hours runs, there’s plenty) you can realise that as soon as the minute disc reaches 60, the hour disc flips from bright to dark. Then the next disc (going clockwise) will flip to bright and the minute disc’s “00” are already at the new hour. Simple as that.
The focus is on the H. Moser & Cie. manufacture movement. And boy what a beautiful caliber that is.
White gold
So much for displaying the time. Now let’s look at the hardware a bit. The Endeavour Flying Hours’ case shape is very Moser. The brand uses this case with many of their out models. Relatively thin bezel and short but thick lugs characterise it. As far as measurement we’re looking at 42mm in width and 12.3mm in height. Not crazy huge, the size is rather modern I’d say. Using a Speedy term, the Flying Hours is a “sapphire sandwich” where both the crystal and the display back is made of sapphire. Speaking of which, the back – aside from the huge display window – has very few information. It tells us the name and the limited-edition number and shows the four prominent screws that hold the back to the case. The focus is on the H. Moser & Cie. manufacture movement. And boy what a beautiful caliber that is.
HMC 806
Most of you are probably familiar with Moser’s manufacture movement, the HMC 200. We are talking about a time-only, center second, automatic caliber that you can find in the Pioneer Centre Seconds Automatic, for example from 2017. Moser took the HMC 200 and modified it to create a new in-house caliber, the heart, and soul of the Endeavour Flying Hours, the HMC 806. Again, this is a self-winding, time-only movement with 35 jewels and 21,600 vph. The power reserve is a minimum of 72 hours. The HMC 806 is also equipped with a bi-directional winding system. The oscillating weight is solid red gold, that adds a beautiful contrast above the movement, which is decorated with Moser Stripes. This decoration technique that is patent protected. Similar to Geneva stripes, Moser Stripes are straight parallel decoration were thicker and thinner lines alternate.
Fumé
Lastly, let’s look at something we have talked about already, and that would be the dial. As I previously mentioned above, the Moser Endeavour Flying Hours originally came out in 2018. That model had a blue fumé dial and blue hour discs. The two new models that we are discussing today are similar to that one with a bit of a twist. Firstly, we have the cosmic green dial with sunburst pattern. Here the outside, as well as the hour discs both, have this beautiful, deep “Moser-green”. The second watch has a fumé dial, which is a transition from dark to a light greyish/brownish tone. The hour discs are the same “funky blue” as the 2018 model. As you’d have with most Moser timepieces, the dial has no name, logo or any other branding. It’s probably the only watch where everybody knows the company even without text. Smart move.
What’s left to say?
Hand-stitched alligator leather strap completes the look of the new Moser Endeavour Flying Hours timepieces. Black alligator for the green watch and dark grey for the fume/blue dial version. 18K white gold pin buckle is on both straps with the Moser logo on them. Both green and fumé/blue Endeavour Flying Hours are limited to 100 pieces each. You can see the limited-edition number on the case back. As far as price is concerned, we are looking at 35.000 CHF. That is a lot of money for most of us. However, if you consider that you are getting a white gold Haute Horlogerie timepiece with a completely in-house made (developed, manufactured, assembled) movement that puts the watch into a different perspective. Not to mention that albeit is a time-only piece, the planetary display of hours and minutes is not you see every day.
If you would like to visit Moser’s site, please click here.
