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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Welcome back to the Real Time show with me, your friendly neighborhood watchmaker, Rob Knudds, and our newest colleague on trts, Vuk Radic. We haven't got a nickname for you yet, mate. What are we going to call you?
- [00:16]
B
No idea. Just don't do Croatian Sensation.
- [00:19]
A
Croatian Sensation.
- [00:20]
B
No, please don't do that.
- [00:21]
A
Okay, so here we are with the Croatian sensation, Vikradic. You walked right into that. We'll workshop it, don't worry. But for one day, and one day only, you'll be the sensation. We have a sensation in our hands. And it's a watch. Surprise, surprise. It is by Moore and Moussey. It is a new 41 millimeter all titanium execution of their traditional no ring case construction, which made waves, pun intended, when it came out over a decade ago. Now, for eschewing the gaskets normally used in traditional watchmaking. Vik, you were the one that desperately wanted to come and see this brand, and I obviously put up no resistance because I've been a fan since day one. Tell me what it is you love about Mauren Moussi.
- [01:06]
B
It's. It's such a crazy story because this is the best presentation I've ever seen. And it happened last year at Geneva Watch Days. They have, like, a little wooden plank with all their parts on it, and they put the watch together in front of you, showing how it doesn't use gaskets and uses springs and tension to keep the watch watertight. And it's probably the best visual representation of a complex system I've ever seen. So I fell in love with that. And then when I fell in love with that, and then when I discovered the style of the watch, how well it fit my wrist, I knew it was watchful. For me, it's futuristic, it's different. It's a bit wild. It's a bit large.
- [01:55]
A
Yep.
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B
But I have large wrists, so I can pull it off.
- [01:58]
A
You do have large recesses, don't you? Because you've got a 20 centimeter wrist.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Which is really towards the upper end of the. The bell curve for human beings of which you are one.
- [02:07]
B
And that. And that is why I'm often criticized for liking large watches.
- [02:11]
A
Well, I'm not sure if it's a criticism, is it? I mean, it's fair enough, for goodness sake. You know, while the rest of the world has been clamoring for smaller diameters in the past five years, you've been hoping that brands don't pay too much attention. Now, Maurimusi have paid attention to it by releasing a 41 millimeter version of the watch. But it has to be said that the case at 44, the original case size, even though it's large, it's quite compact. You know the way the lug system works makes it easy on the wrist.
- [02:35]
B
Yeah, that's the thing. You should never trust the width measurement. Right. It's all about the proportions.
- [02:42]
A
Yeah.
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B
And with such short lugs and the strap going all the way into the case, it works.
- [02:48]
A
Hey, tell the listeners about the clever little addition you saw to the side of the case to accommodate for something
- [02:55]
B
that is a problem. So seeing a lot of watches here at, at, at in Geneva all week, I've seen one or two watches that had scratches on them from, from the little pin that does the, the, the quick release for the straps.
- [03:08]
A
Yeah.
- [03:08]
B
And it's obvious like it's an strap, it's, it's a sourced strap, not, not a, a purpose built strap and that's what's causing scratches. And if that shows up in the production model, that's going to be a problem. But more musi. Because they do so much of their own machining, they just told us that they machine everything here in Switzerland in their own factory, in their own facility. They can machine a lot of things, including a little notch that accommodates the quick release spring. So it slips within. If you, if you bend the, the, the straps all the way, it slips all the way into the case and it doesn't scratch it. Such attention to detail is so cool.
- [03:49]
A
I mean, when you're working with no gaskets, you really need to be paying attention to every single thing. And they, they've shown that with that little addition, that little Easter egg for fans of precise engineering and extremely, extremely thorough thinking, if we're being honest. This case construction, it has its roots in the earliest days of water resistant wristwatches. It's not too dissimilar to the concept that Rolex tried to pioneer with the Oyster. In principle, everything's clamped together and held in place by tension. Obviously Rolex still uses gaskets, so it's not been able to achieve the level of precision that Mauramusi has in this case. But as you mentioned, the assembly process is wild. Not just because it's all tension and it's all dry and it's all durable, but because it's basically can just be pushed together by hand, no tools needed.
- [04:41]
B
And she did push it together by hand, but we didn't actually explain how it works. Right. So the, the way that they get the, they get 300 meters of water resistance, which is, you know, the industry standard for divers. And they get it by polishing the, the materials to such a fine degree, like microns that slots together so well, there are no gaps in between the two polished pieces of, of, of metal, be it steel or, or, or titanium. So there's no way for water to get in. And that's just an ingenious way to do it.
- [05:18]
A
It's an interesting thing when it comes to water resistance, isn't it? Because the most likely phase of submersion in which a watch will leak is the first 10 meters.
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B
True.
- [05:30]
A
The further down you go, the higher the pressure on the exterior of the watch becomes and the more force is applied to the components, these separate components, squeezing them together, reducing gaps that may have existed on dry land. So really, the system is not a compressor diver, of course, but since it will become more compressed as it gets deeper, it's extremely resilient to those depths, as you say, is the standard level for dive watches. So anyone that is interested in owning a piece of future futuristic technology should check this out, because it's not just a wild horological creation. It's also a really robust, suitable watch for daily wear.
- [06:11]
B
It should also be noted that while we are fans of the wilder creations, the, the, the openwork dials that are way more than standard openwork dials, they do have more classic expressions of dials. We just saw one with an aventurine dial. They have a couple of colors, and while not for me, they look really cool.
- [06:36]
A
Well, let's talk about the two that we chose for ourselves. Right, so you've gone for the 44 millimeter titanium model, and it has this incredible rose gold, solid rose gold web design on the face. Did you prefer, in the end, the meteorite version of this with meteorite beneath that web?
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B
I'm on record as not being a fan of meteorite dials.
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A
Are you having your meteorite moment like I had my tourbillon moment?
- [07:00]
B
Possibly. Okay, well, I think the reason why I like it is because it's not just a slab of meteorite just slapped onto a dial.
- [07:07]
A
Right.
- [07:08]
B
It's also cut up into shapes and placed beneath this, this lattice of rose gold. So the meteorite just peaks around the corner a little bit, and it's so such a nice little surprise. But I think I prefer the turquoise and gold version.
- [07:27]
A
It's very summery.
- [07:28]
B
It's very. I can imagine being able to afford a large yacht and wearing that.
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A
Well, you are an imaginative guy. I Guess.
- [07:37]
B
Yeah.
- [07:38]
A
Takes a leap of. Leap of creativity. But. But I mean, you're Croatian, so your country's mostly coast. And that watch looks exactly.
- [07:46]
B
My yacht can be just a little, you know, a little boat with. With a 5, 5, 5 horsepower outdoor engine and I'll be happy.
- [07:55]
A
Yeah, it's better to skimp on the yacht and the. Take all the watch that you can get for the money. For me, the 41 millimeter, all titanium on the bracelet is a bit of a revelation. I never really felt I required a small Amaran Moussi because I felt that the case looked perfectly at home. At 44 millimeters, I could just about get away with it on my wrist. Maybe a little bit higher than I would normally wear, but that was the point. I wanted people to see the case, so I wanted it to be noticeable. But this model just melts into the wrist. It's so comfortable. It's disturbingly lightweight, to be honest. And the dial is not something I would normally go for because as you are not normally a fan of meteorite and as I am not normally a fan of tourbillons, I am also not normally a fan of too much open work on the dial. I normally can do without the balance. I know where it is. I like it to be exactly where it needs to be and beating away there without interruption. But on this execution, we see the balance on the left hand side of the dial around 9 o'. Clock. We can see a little window down near the 5 o' clock marker where the micro rotor, which is extremely well finished when viewed through the back of the case. You can see it wiggling around down there. So there's this motion and activity and life to the dial. The right hand part of the dial, probably about 60% of the dial is covered and available in three colors. Either a dark blue or in a sort of sunburst finish or a mottled white or mottled gray. Personal preference for me is the gray to keep colours to a minimum and allow like a bit more space for that active openwork dial to breathe. So it doesn't feel too cluttered. It's gorgeous. My choice is 42,000 francs, is it for the 41 millimeter on the titanium. And yours comes in at 32, so 10 lower. You don't have the metal bracelet. Yours is on rubber, right? But it's a beautiful rubber strap. When you talk about the design of the rubber strap a little bit, yeah,
- [09:47]
B
the rubber strap has. It's supremely comfortable. It comes in several colors. This comes in blue. I Think I saw white in there. But. But the clasp is also done in sandblasted titanium. And it's super easy to operate, it's super easy to adjust. It's surprisingly easy to adjust the size of the rubber strap. It's just like a quick pull to get the pin out and you move it backwards or forwards, which is a great, great thing if you have wrists like mine. But, yeah, a very rounded out package.
- [10:22]
A
Strangely enough, it's not a weedy rubber strap at all. It's got quite some thickness to it.
- [10:27]
B
Yeah, yeah.
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A
But it's very supple.
- [10:29]
B
It's a substantial strap for a substantial watch, but super comfortable. Doesn't dig into your hand and bends very easily in a good way.
- [10:39]
A
I find it to even fit my 16.5 centimeter wrist very comfortably without too much noticeable bulk. That may be the case itself, acting in conjunction with the buckle side of the strap, as in balancing out that weight on the wrist. Although to be fair, they're extremely lightweight watches for their size and visual impact. And yeah, okay, 32,000 francs. 42,000 francs. We're not talking about the most accessible or easy to afford pieces, but you do get a lot for your money in terms of technological development and uniqueness. And the brand has been going, as we said now, for more than 10 years. And there's obviously quite a following. We've actually, we've in the middle of our meeting at the Hamlet Hotel in the old town of Geneva. It's a wonderful setting for this kind of private expose. Since we've been here and we arrived perhaps 35 minutes ago, eight collectors have come in, sat down, played with the watches, had a glass of wine, and seemingly been very impressed by what they're seeing. So there is obviously a community that is engaged with this kind of product and wants to see more from Maurimousi.
- [11:50]
B
And not only that, they seem to be very good friends with the brand. So these are obviously repeat customers, which is, you know, for a brand that is at this price point with such expressive watches, such unusual watches, to have people coming back and getting more is, I think, a great thing.
- [12:13]
A
Yeah. And they did reveal to us exactly how many pieces they make a year, and it's 300, which is certainly significant. You know, for a brand even 10 years down the line, you would expect a brand creating such a niche product to maybe not be operating at that volume. But that's a very, very healthy sign. I think. I think we can expect them to be around for a long time to come.
- [12:32]
B
Yeah. But they've Always. They'll. They've already been here for a while, so, yeah, it's good to see that they're chugging on.
- [12:40]
A
Funny story about the foundation of the brand. Christophe Mussi did not intend to start a watch brand. And it's, you know, that kind of beginning is not unheard of in this industry. We know for our good friend Giles Ellis from Schofield, of course, didn't really want to start a brand. He just wanted to make a watch for himself. Christophe, on the other hand, wanted to make some Christmas presents for his family and friends. He's an engineer by trade, and he decided that he could apply his engineering background to the problem of watchmaking as he identified it, that despite these objects being effectively eternal and heirlooms that can be passed from generation to generation, every four or five years, one should have the gaskets changed to ensure that they maintain their functionality. And he thought this was crazy. And so we stepped in to solve the problem. And unfortunately, he went so far down a rabbit hole, I think he forgot all about Christmas. Or at least his family and friends haven't received watches yet. But what we have instead, and it is a gift to the industry, is more. And Missy, yeah, I hope he made
- [13:36]
B
up for that Christmas.
- [13:38]
A
He probably wasn't there. He was probably searching the banks of Lake Michatel looking for a manufacturer, which is where he found Moron himself, who had a workshop with extremely advanced tools and a great deal of savoir faire, which was necessary for Christophe to bring his idea to life. And, yeah, now we are here with a collection that has seen many different iterations of the same concept and really seems to be maturing into the next phase of its development. And we can't wait to follow the brand in the future. Until next time, stay safe and keep on ticking.
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B
It.