H. Moser & Cie. Introduce Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Wyoming Jade with Stone Dial

To be frank, as I start to write this article I haven’t decided if I like the new H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Wyoming Jade or not. The Streamliner is one of the most aesthetically striking and genuinely unique watches on the market, inspired as it is by retro American trains and is one of my grail watches. Where the new edition differs from previous versions is the addition of a semi-precious stone dial.

Specifically, the dial is made from Wyoming jade, a type of jade that is known for its intensity of colour and rich olive tone. The dials are produced using a CNC machine to carefully cut 1 – 1.2mm thick discs of the stone that are then carefully hand polished to emphasise the natural markings and slight marbled appearance of the material. Following that, the rear of the piece is varnished to make it appear opaque as at that thickness, jade is naturally translucent and so the brass plate below would show through.

In isolation, it’s a cool dial and I like the natural appearance of the stone – it reminds me of all the malachite dials you see brands producing but with a more marble-like appearance as opposed to the striations of malachite. However, the main problem I have with it is that in my opinion, every other style of dial I’ve seen on the Streamliner, such as the textured enamel of the Small Seconds model and the grey sunray brushed Perpetual Calendar, is infinitely sexier.

Part of that I think is down to the Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Wyoming Jade’s red gold case, which measures 40mm in diameter in the classic cushion shape with integrated bracelet. The Streamliner comes from an industrial background, it’s based on trains – admittedly very pretty trains – and so gold feels almost too luxe compared to steel. Add on top of that that there’s a sort of clash between the cold tone of the green dial and the warm tone of the gold, which is something models like the Endeavour Lime Concept avoid.

As a counter point to that, I accept that I’m being bias based on the existing H. Moser collection and if you look at the H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Wyoming Jade objectively, it’s a great looking watch. I particularly like the decision to omit the H. Moser logo from the dial and to go all in on a minimalist handset and display. The key features are just the hour markers at 12, 3 and 9 o’clock as well as the open heart tourbillon at 6 o’clock.

That tourbillon is part of the HMC 804 automatic manufacture calibre with 72-hour power reserve. The tourbillon itself is known as a 60-second tourbillon as it completes a full rotation once every 60 seconds, meaning that it doubles up as a small seconds indicator. That joins the central hour and minute functions to mean the watch is a time-only piece.

As for price and availability, the Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Wyoming Jade is limited to 100 pieces at a price of CHF 109,000 (approx. £98,660). On balance, I’d still prefer an enamel edition over the semi-precious stone. But at the same time, trends change and interesting materials can easily take the limelight – perhaps jade is the next malachite.

More details at H. Moser.

​Oracle Time 

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