Independents

Jester
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The MOST boring watch to look at on the evening of Feb 29th...

Yet it's definitely one of the most treasured pieces among my perpetual calendar watches...

Stepping back almost a decade ago, when Moser announced the perpetual 1, I was captivated at first sight.   The dial was clean, with almost NO excess information.

It was EXACTLY what I was searching for:  Largely bored w/ the typical layout of perpetual calendar pieces with multiple sub dials indicating day of the week, date, month, leap years etc etc.    I was looking for a simpler layout: a dial that does NOT require the owner to look over different hands on sub dials, then the indices to make out the correct information.   I wanted something that gives me all those information at a glance.  

My search did end up w/ a few window perpetual calendar pieces.   One of them even offers the instantaneous jump of day/date/month, somewhat similar to the Perpetual 1.  But none came as minimalist as the perpetual 1.    So the Moser Perpetual 1 quickly went onto my wish list.

Then came the LONG waiting period.   As you may know, being a rather small manufacturer, Moser did suffer a rather significant supply chain problem.   During a period while the watch industry was booming at a fast pace, it was rather challenging to work w/ various suppliers given the relatively small quantity.   As such, the release of perpetual 1 suffers a huge delay and so was my acquisition.

The wait was so unbearable that I actually went out and bought another Moser to tie me over and that's when I discovered the double hairspring escapement!   I was again mesmerized by the technical aspect of this innovation that I just HAD to have one!    And to top it off, it came w/ the fume dial which was absolutely stunning

Soon I started fantasizing about the marriage of two watches, the double hairspring escapement fitted to the 7 day PR movement of the Perpetual 1 on a fume dial!   My chance came during Sep 2010:   I was attending a cocktail party hosted by Moser.   I had some private time w/ the head of sales and voiced out my idea of my dream watch.   I guess my enthusiasm left a lasting impression that Moser did decide to go ahead w/ this idea.   So in Basel fair of 2011 the Perpetual Double Hairspring w/ fume dial was announced.

However, the production of the piece continued to remain extremely low and I started having some idea about the dial colour.   Having already owned the grey fume dial on Mayu, I started dreaming about a blue fume dial on a Perpetual Double Hairspring.   My SECOND chance came again about 18 months ago during a dinner w/ the owner of Moser and I became very serious about pursuing my 'dream' piece.     The gents at Moser was very understanding & accommodating so my dream piece was finally going ahead...

If you're with me so far, you can probably guess that this is BY NO MEAN a boring watch for me.  I love the technical aspect of the movement, fused w/ the classical design & layout, not to mention my favourite colour fume dial.  

So allow me to indulge you w/ a few pictures?