Interview and text by Hiroyuki Suzuki
Part 2: Inheriting eternal simplicity
[Heritage Perpetual Moon]
Over 95% of H. Moser's components are Swiss-made. Most of the movement parts, in particular, are made in-house in their own workshops in Neuhausen, an industrial city close to the company's birthplace, Schaffhausen. When the new H. Moser & Cie. was launched in 2005, all of the Precision Engineering facilities established in Germany were transferred to the new headquarters under Meylan, and the new headquarters is now H. Moser & Cie.'s headquarters in both name and reality. Even in Switzerland, there are only a handful of workshops capable of producing key movement parts, such as escapement components and balance springs, and the number is even smaller when it comes to ateliers that also operate their own watch brands. The "purity" that H. Moser & Cie. promotes is based on these technological advantages.
Meanwhile, the exterior parts that visually express "purity" are manufactured in partnership with skilled suppliers, just like many other brands. This time, we'll take a short trip from Know-HowZen's headquarters to visit these exterior-related suppliers. Our destination is La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Neuchâtel, a key transportation hub connecting Zurich and Geneva, is the gateway to the Jura mountain range, bordering France. Passing through a long tunnel into the mountains, one arrives at La Chaux-de-Fonds, a historic industrial city with a grid-like layout. Along with neighboring Le Locle, this town is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its "watchmaking urban planning." From the mid-19th century, when medieval European class dominance was absolute, artisans spontaneously created a watchmaking system based on "horizontal division of labor and mutual cooperation," creating an ideal model for the subsequent great development of the Swiss watch industry. This is the reason why Swiss luxury watchmaking has developed primarily through the établisseurs.
