This Space-Themed Sports Watch Claims Over 1,000 Years of Accuracy

The moonphase gets a lot of flak for being a “useless” complication. After all, how many people really need to know the phase of the moon on a given day? Especially when presented in a fairly abstract form on a watch dial?

And yet, a lot of watch enthusiasts love moonphases. I know I do. There’s a certain primeval romanticism that comes with having the nightly movements of our nearest celestial neighbor on one’s wrist. This feeling is only amplified when moonphase watches up the ante in some way to make their complication more impressive.

While basic mechanical moonphase watches require human intervention every 2.5 years to keep accurately tracking the moon’s 29.5-day cycle, “high-precision” moonphase watches have movements that can go over a century before needing any moonphase correction.

While this is already a comically long amount of time — the watch will need to be serviced many, many times before 100 years goes by, so the moonphase will need to be reset anyway — watchmakers remain unsatisfied, creating intervals many times longer just to show what they’re capable of.

H. Moser & Cie.

The newest entry into this delightfully absurd subset of moonphase watches comes from H. Moser & Cie., which has fitted its Streamliner integrated sports watch with a special meteorite dial and a new version of its “Perpetual” moonphase movement that claims an accuracy of an astounding 1,027 years.

Once in a gold moon

The first thing you probably noticed about the new Streamliner Perpetual Moon Concept Meteorite wasn’t Moser’s trademark minimalist moonphase display at 6:00, but rather the bizarre golden, textured dial that serves as its backdrop.

The dial is made of meteorite, which is hardly rare among watches these days, but I’ve never seen a meteorite dial quite like this one before. Made from a slice of the Gibeon meteorite that crashed in Namibia in prehistoric times, the dial exhibits the striations of the Widmanstätten patterns that the space rock is known for. But what’s unique are the treatments Moser has given to the dial.

H. Moser & Cie.

For starters, the meteorite has been colorized in gold, which blends in nicely with the 5N red gold that Moser has used for the watch’s three hands and moon display. After the coloring, the dial was given Moser’s signature fumé treatment for a dramatic smoky effect. I don’t recall ever seeing a fumé meteorite dial before, but its stunning appearance here sure makes a strong use case for it.

As one of Moser’s “Concept” dials, there are no indices and no logo, allowing more room for the smoky gold meteorite dial to shine (literally and figuratively). The hour and minute hands are topped with Globolight solid ceramic lume inserts, with Super-LumiNova on the seconds hand, making the minimalist watch surprisingly legible in the dark.

As I mentioned up top, the movement powering the watch features Moser’s “Perpetual Moon” complication that will remain mechanically accurate for 1,027 years before deviating by a single day. If you happen to be a Highlander, then you can put it in your calendar now to adjust your moonphase in the year 3052.

H. Moser & Cie.

This isn’t the first Moser watch to feature this complication, but all previous iterations used manually wound movements. This marks the first time that the complication has been available in an automatic movement — the new in-house Cal. HMC 270 — which makes a lot more sense. With esoteric complications that are astoundingly accurate, an automatic just gives you more room for error to keep the watch running and avoid having to prematurely adjust your moonphase.

If you do need to adjust the moonphase, however, it’s pretty easy to do. On the left side of the case, there’s a little button that advances the moonphase by single increments. The movement has a power reserve of three days and Moser’s typical ultra-luxury level of decoration.

All of this is packaged in Moser’s flagship integrated sports watch, the Streamliner, which in this case features a 40mm stainless steel cushion case, an integrated steel bracelet, sapphire crystals front and back and a robust 120m of water resistance.

H. Moser & Cie.

Pricing and availability

The Streamliner has proven itself to be one of the most versatile sports watch platforms on the market, and it proves itself again with the Perpetual Moon Concept Meteorite.

The watch has a unique, perfect blend of traditional dressy attributes — like minimalism, gold and its moonphase display — with some sporty bona fides: its fluid steel case and bracelet, high water resistance and Globolight lume. Then there’s the fumé meteorite, which makes everything feel extra special.

The Perpetual Moon Concept Meteorite is not limited — though, as a Moser, it will still be “very rare” — and is priced at $43,700.

H. Moser & Cie.

H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Perpetual Moon Concept Meteorite

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	H. Moser Cal. HMC 270 automatic moonphase
Water Resistance	120m

• $43,700 at H. Moser & Cie.

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