Welcome to Watch Guy Watches, GQ’s monthly curation of high-end timepieces for the true watch nerds among us. This month, Moser goes retro(grade); Lange brings back a beloved bracelet; Biver drops its first hand-wound three-hander; and Breitling puts a pair of vintage-inspired watches in its core catalog. There are only a few firm absolutes in the horological sphere.
One of them is “never bet against H. Moser & Cie.” The high-end independent maker never ceases to amaze with its creativity, wit, and technological prowess. From a mechanical timepiece that bears a suspicious resemblance to a certain famous smartwatch to one the coolest integrated bracelet-bearing luxury sports watches on the market, Moser consistently delivers the Swiss-made goods.
Building upon its Pioneer Retrograde Seconds Midnight Blue release from two years ago, three new models with retrograde seconds join the collection this month in the Pioneer, Endeavour, and Streamliner collections. While all three are beautiful, however, it’s the latter whose aesthetics pair particularly well with this steampunk-esque complication—one in which a small hand tracks the passing seconds in an arc and then jumps back to its starting position at the top of each 30-second period. Housed in a 40mm brushed stainless steel cushion case with a serpentine integrated bracelet, the Streamliner Retrograde Seconds offers a potent mix of Streamline Moderne and futurism before one even considers its dial.
Executed in midnight blue fumé enamel, it features applied indices and the brand’s signature modified syringe handset, with a faint “H. Moser & Cie” signature appearing in white beneath 12 o’clock. The lower half of the face, meanwhile, is given over to the retrograde seconds display.
Inspired by instrument gauges such as automotive speedometers, it features smooth action powered by the cal. HMC 252, a product of movement specialists Agenhor. (Flip the watch over and you can view its tungsten rotor whirring away via a sapphire caseback.) One of the coolest features of the Streamliner collection is that despite the presence of numerous complications; of the use of fumé dials; and of high-end pricing, these watches are meant to be used. With 120m of water resistance, steel constriction, automatic winding, and 72 hours of power reserve, the Streamliner Retrograde Seconds is effectively a high-end tool watch. (Though at a sticker price of 29,900 CHF, maybe take it off if you’re, like, climbing Mt.
Everest or whatever?) While retrograde seconds displays don’t have the same utility as calendar readouts or GMT complications, they do demonstrate horological competence on the part of the watchmaker…and more importantly, they’re wild fun to watch in action. And if you can’t have a little fun in your watch-collecting journey, well—then what the heck are you even doing here, anyway?! Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual If you’ve been waiting years for the return of platinum bracelet options for A.
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