H. Moser & Cie. Embraces Darkness With The Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack

The market for the luxury sports watch with integrated bracelets has changed drastically over the past few years, with many new players entering the race, and in all segments of the industry. Even indie watchmakers are now present and with their usual original take on things. H. Moser & Cie. was there already in 2020, with a watch named the Streamliner. And it lived up to its name, with a fluid, smooth design and a distinct personality. Following a chronograph version, an automatic 3-hander and a deceptively simple perpetual calendar, it’s now time for a tourbillon to join the family. And since it’s dressed in black and gold and has a hole in its dial, the Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack isn’t that streamlined anymore. But still very much in line with its brothers. 

This new luxurious and complicated take on the Streamliner is somehow the “best of the brand,” gathering in one watch one of its movements, its boldest yet simplest dial, its unique take on not printing the logo and its coolest design to date. Minimalist in its shape and design, yet not so simple in terms of execution and mechanics, this new Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack gets rid of some of the elements of previous editions, replacing them with new ones.

One of the most important evolutions in this new Streamliner is its departure from the all-steel construction found in all previous versions. Even the complex QP was stainless steel. Now, it’s both more complex but also more luxurious, with a full-gold look, from head to bracelet. The case retains the same design as before but is now made of 18k 5N red gold. Finishing is still using a distinctive radial-brushed technique on the top, with polished bevels on the sides and a brushed band in the middle. The signature “lobster-tail” bracelet, one of the most differentiating elements of the Streamliner, is also made of gold and still mostly brushed. But the change of material will mean a heavier watch and also a less discreet look.

The other thing to make the Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack unique is its dial. Black to the max, with no logo, it is coated in an innovative material created in 2012 and reputed to be the darkest substance in existence. Composed of juxtaposed carbon nanostructures, it absorbs 99.965% of the light and is regularly used in astrophysics for telescopes and by the military as thermal camouflage. Here, in the context of a watch, it creates a sort of absence of matter, a negative hole in the middle of the watch… and the actual hole to host the tourbillon actually becomes the only thing that is really palpable. The dial has a sandwich construction, with the markers secured from the back of the dial using a plate, and the hands have luminous Globolight inserts.

Inside the case is a movement that we’ve seen already in the past, in the Endeavour and Pioneer collections. The in-house calibre HMC 804 is an automatic movement with bi-directional pawl winding system, storing up to 3 days of power reserve. It is wound by a solid gold central rotor. Interestingly, the one-minute tourbillon is equipped with a double-hairspring, produced in-house by H. Moser & Cie.’s sister company Precision Engineering AG. Thanks to this solution, the movement of the point of gravity on each spring when it expands is corrected and the effect of friction reduced, significantly improving accuracy and isochronism.

The H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Vantablack is released as part of the permanent collection and isn’t limited. It is priced at CHF 109,000 (incl. taxes). For more details, please visit www.h-moser.com.