H. Moser & Cie, the indie brand from Schaffhausen, introduced the Pioneer Centre Seconds in 2019 as part of its “everyday wear” collection. Meant to be a hard-wearing watch with a water-resistance of 120 meters, this was the sportiest Moser watch until the Streamliner came along this year. For 2020, Moser now introduces the Pioneer Centre Seconds with a new face it calls the Swiss Mad Red fumé dial.
Those familiar with Moser’s 2017 protest watch, the Swiss Mad Watch, will find this red vignette dial familiar. In a satirical move to express displeasure at how loosely the norms for “Swiss-Made” watches were regulated, Moser created a watch with a case that was made entirely of Swiss cheese.
Yes, Swiss cheese – a Vacherin Mont d’Or médaille d’or – was mixed with a composite material, machined and polished to create a unique case. This original “Swiss Mad watch” was paired with a strap made from Swiss cowhide and sported a striking red fumé dial and doubled indices at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, subtly reminiscent of the Swiss flag.
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The Pioneer Centre Seconds uses a 42.8 mm-wide stainless steel case with a curved sapphire crystal over the red fumé dial. As mentioned earlier, the case is water-resistant to 120 meters and is 10.6 mm thick and sports those distinct lugs.
Two partially skeletonized, leaf-shaped hands indicate the hour and minute on applied steel indices; both the hands and hour markers are treated with Super-LumiNova. A central seconds (hence the name of the watch) sweeps across the striking red dial.
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Caliber HMC 200, visible through another sapphire window in the back, bears the stylistic hallmarks of Moser movements, including the emblematic double stripes on the bridges and mainplate. A large, engraved bidirectional rotor transfers energy to the barrel through a pawl winding system, reducing the amount of time required to wind the movement up to its full three days’ worth of power reserve. The Pioneer Centre Seconds comes on a sporty, perforated black rubber strap with a pin buckle, and retails for $12,900.
A version of this article first appeared on our sister website, WatchTime Middle East.