1972 appeared to be a great year for watches, arguably a golden age of watch design. Several icons made their debut, as well as watches that pushed the boundaries of design (and arguably, taste). This year is also the year that Cortina Watch was founded by Anthony Lim, growing from its humble beginnings in Colombo Shopping Centre, to the publicly traded company it is today. Cortina Watch currently operates boutiques in South-East Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, from multi-brand boutiques showcasing the best of every brand, to the luxurious mono-brand boutiques enabling complete immersion in their worlds.
To celebrate this Golden Jubilee, H Moser & Cie. have designed a watch that exemplifies the partnerships that the Lim and Meylan families have had over their years in the watch industry – resulting in the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton in a highly limited dial and case execution.
The Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton first made its appearance at Watches and Wonders 2022, featuring a steel case, and a modern looking dial, with its baton shaped markers and hands, and housed in the sporty Pioneer case. Setting it apart from the main collection, the same movement is housed in the more classic Endeavour case to celebrate the Cortina Watch Golden Jubilee.
The watch is housed in decadent 18 carat red gold with a domed sapphire crystal, and is delivered on a brown alligator leather strap fastened by an 18 carat red gold red folding clasp engraved with the Moser logo. The dial is off-centred, executed in a Funky Blue fume dial with Roman numerals and feuille hands in red gold. At 6 o’clock is the distinctive tourbillon cage rotating once per minute, with its two-armed swooping bridge on the tourbillon cage.
Interestingly, the tourbillon houses a hairspring from Precision Engineering, a sister company to H Moser & Cie, as well as sister brand Hautlence. Precision Engineering manufactures all of the group’s hairsprings, and enables H Moser & Cie to explore novel shapes, like cylindrical hairsprings.
Theoretically, the cylindrical hairspring exhibits a ‘breathing’ motion that is more concentric than typical flat hairsprings, which gives more consistent isochronism in the beating of the balance wheel. In the case of the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton for Cortina Watch, the cylindrical hairspring also exhibits two Breguet overcoils, which further assist in even oscillations of the balance wheel. Ultimately, the shape of the balance spring and it’s Breguet overcoils are designed to assist in consistent timekeeping, the goal of any watch designed for precision.
The HMC811 calibre housed within the 18 carat gold case is beautifully skeletonised, exhibiting great symmetry and balance in the way that it has been executed. Parts of the movement such as the jewels and keyless works of the crown look to be integrated into the anthracite PVD coated bridges and plates, and do not appear to throw off the balance of the dial. The movement features a minimum of 74 hours of power reserve, with its oscillator beating at 21,600 vph, enabling the wearer to enjoy the slower beat of the tourbillon cage. The edges of the bridges and plates have been diamond bevelled to accentuate the shape of those components, further enhanced by the way they play with the light.
Turning the watch over, we see a fully skeletonised rotor in 18 carat gold, and the words “Cortina Watch 50th Anniversary Since 1972” etched onto the sapphire crystal caseback.
A Golden Watch for a Golden Jubilee, the H Moser & Cie. Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton for Cortina Watch is a watch that celebrates the Lim and Meylan families, culminating in a watch that is technically brilliant. The watch brings the traditional watchmaking craft, seen in the tourbillon and the cylindrical hairspring, and is fused with the modernity of 20th Century Asia. There is no doubt that this is a fitting tribute to two companies that have bright futures ahead of them. The watch is limited to 10 pieces, exclusively available at Cortina Watch boutiques – this will be a rare bird for H Moser & Cie enthusiasts.
Technical Specifications
CORTINA 50TH ANNIVERSARY ENDEAVOUR CYLINDRICAL TOURBILLON SKELETON
Reference 1811-0400, red gold model, Funky Blue fumé domed sub-dial, brown alligator leather strap, limited edition of 10 pieces
Case
18-carat red gold topped by a slightly domed sapphire crystal Diameter: 42.0 mm
Height without sapphire crystal: 11.6 mm
Height with sapphire crystal: 13.8 mm
Crown adorned with an engraved “M”
See-through case back with the inscription “Cortina Watch 50th Anniversary Since 1972”
Dial
Funky Blue fumé domed sub-dial with sunburst pattern at 12 o’clock Skeletonised dial
Roman numerals
Red gold leaf-shape hour and minute hands
Movement
Fully skeletonised HMC 811, self-winding, three-dimensional Manufacture calibre Diameter: 34.0 mm or 15 lignes/height: 5.5 mm (without hands or tourbillon) Frequency: 21,600 Vib/h
28 jewels
171 components
Automatic bi-directional pawl winding system
Gold, fully skeletonised oscillating weight
Power reserve: minimum 74 hours
Cylindrical hairspring with 2 Breguet curves
One-minute flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock with skeletonised bridge; hand-bevelled balance bridge Diamond bevelling
Main plate and bridges with anthracite PVD finish
Functions
Hours and minutes
Strap
Brown alligator leather strap, hand-stitched
18-carat red gold folding clasp, engraved with the Moser logo