Darkest Hours (and Minutes): H. Moser & Cie. Introduces Vantablack “Black Hands” Models
In 2018, H.Moser & Cie. launched the Endeavour Perpetual Moon Concept, its first timepiece outfitted with a dial made from Vantablack, a material touted as being “the blackest black ever produced by artificial means.” This year, the inventive Schaffhausen manufacture takes the all-black aesthetic to the next level, unveiling three new models with a darkly monochromatic combo of a Vantablack dial and blackened hands.
Two of the new timepieces are time-only Venturer models: the Venturer Vantablack Black Hands in a 39-mm white gold case, and the Venturer Vantablack XL, in a 43-mm steel case. The third is a tourbillon model from the Endeavour collection, in a 42-mm case in black DLC-coated steel. All three are distinguished by the extreme minimalist aesthetic that has long been a Moser hallmark, as well as by their tone-on-tone black, leaf-shaped hour and minute hands.
Vantablack, which stands for Vertically Aligned NanoTube Array, is composed of carbon nanotubes, each 10,000 times finer than a human hair, which are vertically aligned next to each other and capable of absorbing up to 99.965 percent of all light. The material has been used in the past in telescopes used by astrophysicists to prevent stray light from entering them, and for military applications like thermal camouflage. Protected under a sapphire crystal, Moser’s Vantablack dials, with their black hands, reveal the time in a “stealth” manner, visible only up-close to to the wearer.
The Venturer Vantablack and Venturer Vantablack XL models are both outfitted with Moser’s manufacture Caliber HMC 327, a manually wound movement with 29 jewels, an 18,800-vph frequency, and a minimum three-day power reserve. on display behind a sapphire caseback, it is enhanced with a host of decorative finishes and equipped with Moser’s own balance with the hallmark Straumann hairspring.
The Endeavour Tourbillon Vantablack Black Hands contains the self-winding HMC 804 tourbillon caliber, visible behind a sapphire caseback. The movement is equipped with an in-house-produced double flat hairspring, a Moser innovation designed to improve accuracy by correcting the movement of the point of gravity on each of the paired springs as they expand. Timekeeping accuracy and isochronism is improved in this system because it reduces the effects of friction associated with a traditional, single-hairspring design. The tourbillon assembly, which appears through an aperture in the Vantablack dial at 6 o’clock, is an interchangeable “plug and play” module, built and regulated independently of the movement for easy servicing. The bi-directional rotor, skeletonized and made of 18k rose gold, transfers energy to the barrel using a bi-directional pawl winding system that reduces the time required to wind the mainspring. The balance bridge and escapement bridge are made from aeronautical-grade aluminum.
Moser’s Vantablack Black Hands models are all mounted on black alligator leather straps, with pin buckles matching their case material. The Venturer in 18k white gold retails for $27,600; the Venturer XL in steel, for $26,600; the Endeavour Tourbillon in steel/black DLC, for $69,000. All three will be offered for sale on Moser’s recently launched online sales platform, which had previously been used only for Certified Pre-Owned sales — an added service for customers unable to visit retailers closed due to the current global health crisis.