Moser Streamliner Perpetual Calendar Review

It's funny, today I couldn't imagine the watch world without H. Moser & Cie. (Moser from now on) being a very important and often mentioned manufacture. When I started collecting watches and then entered the industry around twenty-five years ago, Moser was never mentioned. Our core business was dealing with watches that are current day peers of Moser, so it's crazy to me how much things have changed in that short period of time.

Since starting Hourstriker I have become very aware of Moser and their amazing collection of timepieces. I got my first taste of the brand in person at an event Claudio and his team from Moser put on here in Austin. For the event Moser brought out pretty much their entire portfolio of watches. The event was very busy and I really didn't get to spend much time with the watches, so I came away impressed but I still really didn't have an intimate understanding of the brand.



With quick hands-on with Moser's collections, the Streamliner instantly stood out to me and is probably the closest to the type of watch I collect personally. This isn't too surprising since the Streamliner was designed by Marcus Eilinger who previously designed some of my favorite watches of all time such as the GST Aquatimer, Pilot's and Portuguese models for IWC. The Streamliner is Moser's take on an integrated sports watch, but it manages to have a completely unique identity and one of the best bracelets I've ever experienced.

Not being too much of a surprise, the model we're going to be taking a closer look at today is a member of the Streamliner collection. Before we get more into that watch, let's first go over the history of Moser.

H. Moser & Cie. was founded in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1828 by Heinrich Moser. Moser was actually born into a family of watchmakers in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. When trying to establish his own watchmaking business, he found Switzerland too restrictive and ended up in Russia. In a very short amount of time, Moser became the go to watchmaker for the Russian upper class and Imperial Court.

Moser found a ton of success in having a vertically integrated watch manufacture. His factory in Le Locle, Switzerland would supply parts to be assembled in his Russian workshops. By the mid-19th century, the name "Moser" was associated with the highest quality watch available in Russia.



By 1848, Heinrich had become a very wealthy man and decided to move back to his hometown on Schaffhausen. Moser could have simply retired and enjoyed his success, but instead he decided to industrialize the region around Schaffhausen. Key to this industrialization was building a huge hydro-mechanical dam on the Rhine River running through Schaffhausen to generate energy for factories. A fun tidbit is that this dam actually attracted American F.A. Jones to Schaffhausen, where he would go on to found IWC.

Heinrich Moser died in 1874 and the company was able to remain successful until 1917. That year the October Revolution swept through Russia and the Bolsheviks seized all of Moser's assets, essentially killing the brand as well as the luxury goods market in Russia. The Swiss arm of Moser continued to limp on, but it never found its former success. By the time the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s occurred, Moser was on its deathbed and in 1979 the H. Moser & Cie. factory in Le Locle was dissolved. With the closing of the factory, the Moser name went dormant for decades.

In 2002, Dr. Jurgen Lange and Roger Nicholas Balsiger (Heinrich's great-grandson) re-registered the brand internationally. For the brand's location, the pair decided on Schaffhausen. In a few short years, Moser made the industry take notice by releasing the Perpetual 1, which was a minimalist perpetual calendar featuring an arrow hand to indicate the months and allowing forward and backwards date adjustments.



Even though the resurrected Moser was finding success in their technical abilities, the brand never broke through to find financial and sales successes. In 2012, Moser was sold to MELB Holding, which is a family group headed by Georges-Henri Meylan, the former CEO of Audemars Piguet. Following the acquisition, Georges-Henri entrusted Moser to his sons Edouard and Bertrand. Under the Meylans, Moser has shifted its focus to go with their tagline of "Very Rare".

Modern Moser watches are probably best known for their stunning dials with minimal branding. Moser watches come in a variety of cases, but their dials can be spotted across the room. Moser uses a signature fume, gradient, dial that really sets its watches apart from other brands. Moser has also developed extremely high end movements containing such complications as perpetual calendars, minute repeaters and tourbillons. Along with having top tier movements, Moser has also developed breathtaking models like the already spoken about Streamliner.

Initial Thoughts

The Streamliner we're going to be looking at today actually harks back to the Perpetual 1, being that it is a perpetual calendar with a very simplified design. When the watch arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was the total lack of displays on the dial. Personally I own a Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar from IWC and the dial contains the following displays: Hour, Minute, Seconds, Moon Phase, Power Reserve, Day of the Week, Month, Date and Year. Dial side the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar displays, Hour, Minute, Seconds, Big Date, Month and Power Reserve. More so, Month and Power Reserve are just displayed by small hands with no markers. For even watch enthusiasts, it would be hard to look at the dial of the Streamliner Perpetual and really tell what's going on. Importantly, the most important data is being displayed with zero clutter.



The next thing I noticed about the Moser Streamliner Perpetual during my initial time with the watch was the stunning bracelet. Before I get into this, let me just foreworn you that I hate bracelets on watches. Throughout my time in watches there are a few that stood out though. The bracelet of the Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet is just a sight to behold and the titanium bracelet on my Ocean 2000 from Porsche Design (by IWC) is iconic. Oddly enough my favorite Royal Oak, the two decade old City of Sails, comes on a rubber strap and I swapped out the bracelet on my Ocean 2000 to the Velcro Bund strap. On the Streamliner I bit the bullet and forced myself to wear the watch on the bracelet, not like I had a choice, and I'm glad that I did. The bracelet is integral to the design of the Streamliner and wears like a dream. I'd be really curious to see how the Streamliner would wear on a strap as well. The bracelet actually reminds me a bit of the one on the Ocean 2000, just heavily modernized from its 1980's design. I'd say the Streamliner might have my favorite bracelet of all time, take with that a grain of salt though, since I'm not a bracelet connoisseur or fan.

The final thing I took note of during my first moments with the Moser Streamliner Perpetual Calendar was the great view of the HMC 812 manually wound in-house movement. Dominating the movement are massive parts of the gear train as well as the fully exposed balance. The bridges are finished with Moser's take on Cotes de Geneve, which are wider stripes. The biggest clue to this Streamliner being a perpetual calendar is the star shaped indicator which is actually the leap year display. Twelve "years" are displayed with 1, 2 and 3 displayed three times as well as three blacked out years. When the red tipped arm is pointing to a black year, then we are currently in a leap year. With how reserved the dial side of the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar is, the movement side provides a ton to get lost in.



Technical Specifications

The Streamline Perpetual Calendar is crafted out of stainless steel and has a 42.4 mm case diameter. The lug to lug length is 42 mm when measuring down the center of the watch. On our scale the Streamliner Perpetual weighed in at 156 grams on the stainless steel bracelet. At its thickest point, the Streamliner Perpetual is 13.6 mm tall.

The Moser Streamliner Perpetual Calendar has a domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating. The sapphire actually steps up off of the bezel and gives a slight boxed crystal look. Under the crystal clear sapphire is the smoked salmon fume dial. The dial transitions from a rich brown at its center to near black as it approaches the bezel.

True to the Moser design aesthetic, there is no branding found on the dial at all. Even past that, there are no dial markers present either. At 4 o'clock there is a cut-out for the black backed big date window. The date text is printed in white and pops nicely on the dial. At 10 o'clock there is a slender polished hand with a white insert. This is actually the power reserve hand, which shows full when pointing up and empty when pointing down.



There are four centrally mounted hands on the dial of the Moser Streamline Perpetual Calendar being the hours, minutes, running seconds and month hands. All of the hands are polished with the hour and minute hands being coated in Super-LumiNova which glows green in low light. The seconds hand is long and slender and covered in white that is not lumed.

Harking back to previous perpetual calendars from Moser, the Streamliner Perpetual uses a very small red hand with a white tip to indicate the current month. Since there are twelve months to the year, the small hand just points the corresponding hour position to show the month. For example, 2 o'clock would be February and 10 o'clock would be October. It's a very simple design, but also extremely functional and cuts down on the dial bloat.

It's a bit weird to jump to the movement and case back now, but we kind of have to. The reason for that is that the final indicator is found there. A very important component of any perpetual calendar is to either display the current year or if the year is a leap year. For this Moser has a star shaped wheel found on the movement visible through the sapphire case back. This wheel is divided into 12 sections. Each non-leap year is represented by 1, 2 or 3. The leap years are done in a blacked out segment. There is a lever that is tipped in red that points to the current year in the leap year cycle. With this system, the Moser Streamliner Perpetual Calendar is accurate up until the year 2100 which is the first year that does not align with the 100 year leap year rule.



The case back is fixed to the case with four visible screws and holds the sapphire display crystal. Important information about the watch is engraved into the case back bezel including case number and water resistance, which is a very impressive 120 meters. Through the sapphire you can see the expertly finished in-house Caliber HMC 812 manually wound movement. The HMC 812 beats away at a leisurely 18,000 vph (2.5Hz) and has an astounding 168 hour (7 day) power reserve with two barrels. On our timegrapher the HMC 812 was extremely accurate, showing an accuracy of +1 second per day when averaged out over several positions.

The HMC 812 is also a treat to look at. Through the case back you can see large pieces of the gear train and exposed balance beating away. The movement also features an engraving of the coat of arms for Schaffhausen in the upper right corner, cementing the connection between Moser and the city. The most pronounced finishing on the HMC 812 is the use of Moser's double stripes, which is a thicker take on the traditional Cotes de Geneve. There is also nice usage of anglage and black polishing found on the caliber. With the dial being so minimal in appearance, the movement is an interesting alternative view of the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar.

The majority of the case and bracelet of the Streamliner Perpetual is brushed in finish. Some additional visual flair is achieved by having polished chamfers. Looking at the profile of the watch you can see that the case is rather flat and on the extremes are the rather short lugs that point down sharply. This allows the Streamliner to have a rather large case diameter with a short lug to lug length. In practice this means that the Streamliner Perpetual can fit a huge variety of wrist shapes and sizes. The mid-case of the watch is partially hollowed out and satin in finish, really making the case look very dynamic.



On the left hand side of the case at 10 o'clock is a small pusher that lets you advance the leap year. On the right hand side of the case is the screw down crown located at 4 o'clock. The crown is nicely scalloped providing excellent grip and is topped by an engraved M. Unscrewing the crown lets you wind the movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date in both directions, this will also advance the month hand. Pulling the crown out to position two stops the seconds hand and lets you set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand and screwing the crown back in just requires you to push the crown down and then screw in. You can actually feel the crown sink into position and then it screws right in with no care needed to get it to catch.

Having an integrated bracelet means that the lug width of the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar is rather wide at 25 mm. The bracelet does taper down nicely to 18 mm at the hidden deployant clasp marked again with the coat of arms for Schaffhausen. The Streamliner might be best defined by its organic scales like bracelet. Each link flows over the next and resembles the scales of a reptile. Like the case, the links are fully brushed with polished edges. The bracelet is sized with pins and collars, requiring a watchmaker's hammer to remove and add links. Traditional spring bars hold the bracelet to the case. The bracelet forms around your wrist nicely and I found it rather pleasant to wear. The look of the bracelet might be my favorite of all time, slightly beating out that of the Royal Oak.



On The Wrist

Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm not a fan of bracelets on watches. This goes back to when I first started collecting watches and my Omega Seamasters would either be way too loose or tight during our brutal Texas summers where outside it was well over 100 degrees and inside it would be in the 60s. This has stayed with me and I still have issues wearing watches on bracelets. Almost every personal watch I own that came on a bracelet has been moved over to a strap and most review pieces I request are also on straps.

The bracelet of the Streamliner just looks so good and is also rather comfortable to wear. I'm happy the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar didn't come with a strap option and forced me to try the bracelet out. After my initial lack of enthusiasm about the bracelet, I actually started to enjoy wearing the watch as the hours went by. I'm not sure how Moser did it, but even without micro-adjustments on the clasp, the Streamliner Perpetual always felt sized right even on hot and cool days.



I wore the Streamline Perpetual Calendar around on boring everyday errands and the watch was a great wrist companion. I am used to watches that weight 100 grams or lighter crafted out of lightweight materials like carbon, titanium and ceramic, so with the Streamliner Perpetual being just over 150 grams I did notice it on wrist. The watch never really disappeared on wrist, but its heft made it feel more special and luxurious if that makes sense. If there was a version in titanium, I'd probably prefer that personally. Most collectors do value the heft of stainless steel over titanium though.

Typically I prefer a watch with a lug to lug length of 50 mm plus, so the Streamliner Perpetual being much shorter than that did worry me. In reality the Streamliner fit my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area very well. I feel a lot of that has to do with how well the bracelet integrates into the case making the watch appear larger than it is. Also the bracelet did a great job of keeping the watch centered on my wrist, never favoring one side over the other.

To test the legibility of a watch I use a simply test where I try to tell the time while driving at just a glance. In this test divers do the best with their high contrast dial and large markers, while complications and skeletons do the worst since they don't focus on legibility instead design is most important. While the Streamliner Perpetual is a very complicated piece, there really aren't many extra indicators on the dial to take your attention away from the simple act of time telling. With the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar having a "concept" dial, all dial markers are removed. This does mean that it takes a while longer when glancing at the watch to make out the time. Also with no hour markers on the dial and just the hour and minute hands being lumed, it is a bit tricky to tell the time in low light situations. Moser would probably be the first to tell you that the Streamliner Perpetual isn't built for legibility. Its main purpose is to display the date (until 2100) with no fuss without having to be set constantly.



The deep smoked salmon fume dial and brushed stainless steel case and bracelet went very well with my typical dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. When I wore the Streamliner Perpetual out during errands and to dinner and drinks I noticed a moderate amount of people looking at it. I even had a handful comment on it. I feel the bracelet really gathers the most looks since the dial color is fairly muted, especially in terms of dials from Moser. Those that commented on the watch and also my friends were blown away with how much was going on with the watch after assuming it was just a simple time and date watch. It was fun explaining all the complications and showing them the movement and hidden leap year indicator. In terms of price, most felt the watch was very expensive. To non-watch people, that does make sense though. It's hard to know the value of a perpetual calendar without really being deep into the hobby.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the Moser Streamliner Perpetual Calendar retails for $62,900. For that price you're getting a just stunning watch in the Streamliner design which is powered by a super accurate in-house manually wound movement with 7 days of power reserve. It's also worth noting that the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar might be one of the most simplified perpetual calendar displays that I have ever seen. Now is the time in the review where we look at other watches with similar features and specifications to see how the Streamliner Perpetual stacks up value wise.



Up first is the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar from Audemars Piguet which has a 41 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The Royal Oak has a more traditional looking perpetual calendar display with tons of indicators on the dial. The watch is powered by an in-house automatic movement with only 55 hours of power reserve. The Royal Oak only has 50 meters of water resistance as well. The Royal Oak is also much more expensive than the Streamliner at $114,800.

Next up is the Nautilus 5740/1G-001 Perpetual Calendar from Patek Philippe which has a 40 mm case made out of white gold. The Nautilus is powered by an in-house movement with only 38 hours of power reserve and the watch has 30 meters of water resistance. Once again, the Nautilus is a traditional perpetual calendar with a ton of indicators dial side. There is no currently produced stainless steel Nautilus with a perpetual calendar and the white gold does carry a premium, meaning the Nautilus is even more expensive than the Royal Oak at $194,754.

Moving on is the Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin from Vacheron Constantin which has a 41.5 mm case made out of white gold. The Overseas also had a very crowded dial full of indicators. The Overseas is powered by an automatic movement with only 40 hours of power reserve and the case is rated for 50 meters of water resistance. Once again there is no stainless steel Overseas Perpetual Calendar, so there is a bit of an added cost for white gold. Like the Royal Oak and Nautilus, the Overseas is much more expensive than the Streamliner at $120,000.

Finally we have the Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar 41 from IWC which has a 41.6 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. IWC was able to clean up the number of indicators on the dial of the Ingeniuer, but it still has way more information on the dial than the Streamliner. The Ingenieur is powered by an in-house automatic movement with just 60 hours of power reserve and 100 meters of water resistance. The Ingenieur is a bit less expensive than the Streamliner at $40,800.



Looking at these other four integrated sports watches housing perpetual calendars, you can see how great of a value the Moser Streamliner is. The Streamliner has specifications that were at the top of the board when looking at everything offered by these five perpetual calendars. While being at the top specs wise, only the IWC was less expensive than the Moser. Even if some cost is added for gold versus steel, the options from Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe were multiple times more expensive than the Streamliner, really driving home its value.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Moser Streamliner Perpetual Calendar for me? Basically everything about the Streamliner Perpetual really appeals to me, from the Marcus Eilinger design to the interesting way it displays the perpetual calendar complications. If the watch was going to be for me personal, I'd really love if it was made out of titanium and had a more out there dial color. I'm just too used to the lack of weight found in titanium, carbon and ceramic pieces, that a stainless steel watch on a bracelet is tough for me. I also really like more out there "in your face" watch designs, so the smoked salmon dial is a bit reserved for me. Now titanium with an orange fume dial would be just plain awesome, even better if there was a strap option as well.



Would I then recommend the Streamliner Perpetual to somebody looking for a complicated integrated sports watch? I really would in a heartbeat. The Streamliner is just such a great design and is its own unique thing in the very crowded field of integrated sports watches. The bracelet design is just a master class and really is one of my all time favorite watch bracelets. Moser was also able to keep all the un-necessary displays that accompany a perpetual calendar hidden with just the large date being displayed. It's not really something I've looked for in a perpetual calendar, but after seeing how it was executed by Moser, I am now very impressed with the minimalistic display.

The movement is also a work of art when viewed from the display back and it proved to be deadly accurate when on the timegrapher. Seven days of power reserve is very impressive and also makes a ton of sense since the Streamliner Perpetual is manually wound, meaning you will have to wind it once a week to keep the date accurate. Having a 30 or 40 hour power reserve would one be annoying and two pretty much mean that you would have to set it from time to time if you didn't pretty much wind it every day. The lower frequency also means that the seconds hand has a somewhat unique tick to it, being somewhere between a dead beat seconds tick and a smooth sweep. The smoked salmon fume dial is stunning in person and being a more subtle color would allow the watch to be worn perfectly as a daily wearer. I was really impressed with the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar and would recommend if you're looking for a complicated integrated sports watch. If the watch appeals to you, you should take an opportunity to see it in person. I'm very used to Royal Oaks, Nautilus and Overseas and came way with a ton of respect for the Streamliner.



I'd really like to thank Moser for sending us this Streamliner Perpetual Calendar to review. It served as a great longer term introduction to the brand. Like I said, I pretty much experienced the entire collection at the show they put on in Austin a few months ago, but I didn't get a true feeling for the watches like you do when you wear and live with them. The Streamliner Perpetual was a treat to get to know and I now can say with experience that Moser builds an amazing watch. Moser did send another watch for us to review, so keep an eye out for that review coming next week.

For more information about the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar please visit : Moser

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 6812-1201

Retail Price: $62,900

Case Size: 42.4 mm

Lug to Lug: 42 mm

Thickness: 13.6 mm

Weight: 156 grams On Stainless Steel Bracelet

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Stainless Steel

Strap:  Stainless Steel Bracelet

Movement: Swiss Made In-House HMC 812 Manually Wound Movement

Functions: Perpetual Calendar, Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Big Date, Power Reserve, Leap Year

Power Reserve: 168 Hours (7 Days)

Water Resistance: 120 Meters