Cast your mind back to the early 19th century when lavish spending on timepieces and jewellery by the Russian aristocracy was creating a gold rush around the Baltic city of St Petersburg.
It attracted a young watchmaker and entrepreneur, Heinrich Moser, who left his family in Schaffhausen to make his mark among the nobility.
So successful was his service that he was able to launch his own watchmaking business, H. Moser & Cie. in 1828, building a factory in Schaffhausen that employed several hundred artisans.
This connection to Moser’s history with Russia is celebrated in the Heritage Bronze “Since 1828” limited edition, which is launching this week with H. Moser & Cie’s logo appearing on a black fume dial in the Cyrillic alphabet commonly used in Eastern Europe back in the day.
The design of the watch draws from another period in Moser’s history, the early 20th century when artisans were converting pocket watches into wristwatches.
Combining almost 200 years of tradition into a single watch is not straightforward, particularly as the bronze case and Cyrillic logo are jusxtaposed with a contemporary railway minute track in white and sword-shaped hands enhanced with Super-LumiNova.
The 42mm three-hander uses the HMC 200 automatic movement with three day power reserve, which is visible through a crystal case back.
It is made in a limited edition of 50 pieces priced at CHF 17,900.