Musical Whirlwind: Introducing The Moser Concept Streamliner Tourbillon Minute Repeater
Can the minute repeater be cool?
To start on a personal note, there is no complication I admire more than the minute repeater. This is in general, as there are particular instances of other complications which in their specifics, are more enticing than repeaters as a class. In general, though, the repeater is the top gun of traditional high complications. It has everything – repeaters are very complicated, they take a lot of skill to adjust, they have a centuries long history of jealously guarded trade secrets (one of which is that it was thought that quenching the steel gongs in horse urine gave a better sound. Up in the Valée de Joux it’s always waste not, want not). They also, alone among complications, have defied industrialization.
There are very expensive, painstakingly crafted, and magnificently finished split seconds chronographs, and perpetual calendars, but both of those complications can be produced on a more industrial basis. This takes away nothing from the high end, haute horlogerie versions, but there is still something attractive about the fact that repeaters have so far proven resistant to efforts to economize their production. The closest thing to an affordable repeater are the small number of five minute repeaters that have occasionally been produced (Nivrel, Kelek, Chronoswiss, and Habring have made them) and ironically, five minute repeaters are actually much less common than minute repeaters; none of the aforementioned firms have them in their current catalogs (Kelek no longer exists as an independent brand, having been acquired in 1997 by Breitling).
The one drawback to the repeater, which you may or may not feel is a drawback depending on your age and other demographics, is that it is not exactly what anybody would call an inherently cool complication. If you close your eyes and imagine a repeater owner, you’re apt to think of someone a little along in years, maybe a little bit of a dandy, probably old money, and possibly with some harmless eccentricities, like refusing to eat their boiled eggs if they’re not exactly the same size, or insisting on a particular brand of mustache wax – the sort of person who has a decades-long dysfunctional relationship with their private chef, and raises orchids, and who has never really been the same since that unfortunate business in Montenegro in ’86.
The new Moser Streamliner Tourbillon Minute Repeater offers the fan of high complications who have shall we say, fewer idiosyncratic propensities, a rare example of a repeater with a certain amount of dash – in other words, some cool factor.
Moser’s minute repeaters appeared in 2019 in the Endeavour Concept Minute Repeater Tourbillon, which was also the same year Moser released the very enigmatic Swiss Alp Concept Black, which had no hands at all.
This is the first time that Moser has used its repeater movement, caliber HMC 904, in a Streamliner case – the version of the movement in the Streamliner Minute Repeater Tourbillon is caliber HMC 905, which is identical in specs to its predecessors, but with a different finish.
Having just said that this is the first time Moser has built a repeater into a Streamliner case, I now feel obliged to point out that there was a unique piece Streamliner minute repeater that preceded it – this was the Streamliner Pandamonium.
As you can see the architecture is essentially identical; the movement in both the Pandamonium and in the new Streamliner Minute Repeater Tourbillon has been given an anthracite finish, the better to harmonize with the design of the Streamliner case and integrated bracelet. The movement architecture is very attractive; the entire train from the mainspring barrel to the tourbillon cage is visible, and there are several well executed sharp inner angles on the bevels of the bridges. Normally, the governor controlling the speed at which the hammers strike is on the same side of a repeater movement as the hammers and gongs. In the HMC 90x calibers, the governor is on the back of the movement, in its usual position, but the hammers and gongs are up front.
This means the activity of the governor is not visible if you are wearing the watch and activate the repeater; however the positive upshot is that the dial side has the clean, uncluttered aesthetic you expect from a Moser Streamliner watch. Sometimes, watchmakers really like to lean into the complexity of minute repeaters and open dial repeaters show you all the components in action – racks, snails, and parts with exotic names like all-or-nothing piece, and surprise piece; the Streamliner Minute Repeater Tourbillon opts, appropriately for the model family, to emphasize the essentials.
Placing the hammers and gongs on the dial side also gives the sound generated by the gongs a less obstructed pathway, than they would have muffled against the wrist (although acoustics can be odd; I’ve tried repeaters which actually sounded better on the wrist, for reasons perhaps better understood by someone with a PhD in acoustics).
The dial is fired enamel, in a color that Moser calls Aqua Blue – this looks very similar, if not identical, to the hammered-texture blue enamel dial on the Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel. The Streamliner case and bracelet are among the best examples of the integrated bracelet, stainless steel sports watch in the business, but the design presents some challenges to Moser specifically, thanks to the brand’s commitment to a pretty minimalist design language. (This is also one of Moser’s “Concept” watches, so there’s no logo or other branding on the dial at all). Keeping the number of design elements on the dial side to a minimum is one of the key features of Moser’s identity, but the risk is always that a large watch with a minimalist design language will come across looking a bit too spare for its own good. Moser generally addresses this through the use of colored, gradient, and textured dials, which actually read better with more surface area. The fired enamel dial’s color gradient and texture also help visually integrate the tourbillon, hammers, and gongs into the overall design. Moser says that the dial requires four different colored pigments, and twelve separate firings.
It’s a large watch, though no larger than any of the other Streamliner complications. Moser’s Streamliners come in two case sizes – 40mm and 42.3mm, for complications. Having worn both, I’ve found the larger case size slightly more assertive but I think that when it comes to Moser’s complications, this is a feature, not a bug.
So is this a cool minute repeater? I think so. The complication is well integrated into the Streamliner case and bracelet, helped quite a lot by Moser’s restraint in deploying visible parts of the mechanism on the dial. This is also a minute repeater (and tourbillon!) with a very high instant recognition factor – now, being able to identify a watch brand and model instantly isn’t the be-all and end-all of cool but there is something to be said for having an unmistakable visual identity if cool is what you’re after (just ask the Royal Oak).
This is a repeater that immediately impresses visually, and without close examination; it’s also one that rewards closer examination and exploration. Sports watch versions of the repeater can be tough to pull off – I can’t think of any brand besides Moser, other than Audemars Piguet, that does one (though I suppose you could try and make a case for the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater).
And the Moser Streamliner Tourbillon Minute Repeater is also water resistant to 50M, which gives it a little extra sports watch cred – thanks to the slide, most repeaters are intolerant of anything more moist than a thin morning fog. It’s as if that eccentric dandy with the orchid fetish suddenly hit the gym, and traded in the ’54 Bentley and le smoking for a Barbour jacket, three days of scruff, and a sharp little Ducati café racer – but who can still regale spellbound listeners with fascinating granular details about their orchid collection.
The Moser Streamliner concept Minute Repeater Tourbillon Blue Enamel, Ref. 6905-1200: Case, stainless steel with domed sapphire crystal, and sapphire caseback; 42.3mm x 12.2mm; height with domed crystal, 14.4mm. Sliding bolt for repeater with Teflon runner; water resistance, 50M. Dial, “Aqua Blue” fumé fired enamel with hammered texture, with visible flying tourbillon, repeater hammers, and gongs; Globolight inserts on the hour and minute hands. Movement, caliber HMC 905, hand wound, one minute flying tourbillon and minute repeater with anthracite finish; hand-finished and decorated movement plates and bridges. Integrated steel bracelet. Limited edition of 50 pieces worldwide; price on request. Find out more at H-Moser.com.