Ten highly limited Venturer Small Seconds XLs have been created by H. Moser & Cie and their sister company Precision Engineering AG to launch a new alloy, PE5000. A combination of niobium and titanium, the PE5000 alloy was created for the ever-increasing demands this ever-changing world requires of its tools, machines, gadgets and tyes, most especially watches.

Indeed, in a world that is getting faster, stronger, and just going further, the constraints facing the anachronistic mechanical wristwatch are just getting higher and higher. Resistance to shocks and magnetic fields, while ensuring accuracy and a reasonable power reserve is more important than ever before. Especially in this new and frightening world populated by terminally ADHD patients who want instant gratification for nothing or even less (the term “millennial” is fast becoming a dirty word). Thus the creation of PE5000, which has valuable characteristics hitherto unknown for the regulating organs of mechanical watches.

First of all, PE5000 is extremely resilient, and as a paramagnetic material is so elastic that a hairspring made from it will be less affected by impacts to a much higher degree. The advantages of this to the oscillator of a mechanical watch are obvious, as it is constantly in motion and is subject to numerous impacts by the…progeny of Gen-Xers.

And did we mention PE5000 is a viable alternative to silicon? Yes, silicon is also non-magnetic and shock resistant but it has the disadvantage of not allowing for manipulation. Niobium-titanium, in contrast, can be adjusted by the watchmaker for optimal performance when necessary. Indeed, Precision Engineering AG joins the few manufacturers capable of producing paramagnetic escapements, a major advantage in the Swiss watch industry.

As for the timepiece itself, the new limited edition Venturer Small Seconds XL is an H. Moser & Cie timepiece through and through with features and signature characteristics that mark the watchmaker’s particular seal of quality. One of those characteristics is the drop-dead-gorgeous blue fumé dial which is so beautiful it is simply beyond words.

First seen two years ago in the Venturer Small Seconds Bucherer Edition, this limited edition Venturer Small Seconds XL features the same blue fumé dial that is equally spectacular. To quote one journalist the midnight blue dial is “the blue of a cloudless sky just before dawn: dark but tinged with hints of light,” with an added luster supplied by a sunburst pattern on its convex dial that is simply to die for.

That’s an original Precision Engineering Paramagnetic Hairspring with a stabilised Breguet overcoil in the in-house hand-wound small seconds calibre HMC 327

Best of all, the watch as a whole is as elegant, refined and as exquisitely understated as the most outstanding in the Venturer family. With a design inspired not only by the historic pocket watches of H. Moser & Cie, but also by convex forms typical of the 1960s, this limited edition Venturer Small Seconds XL features a convex profile emphasized by its domed sapphire crystal, the line of which is reflected in the dial and the long, tapered hands with curved edges. The refined, elegant bezel offers a beautifully clear view of the dial, which revels in an exceptional blue color synonymous with quality in traditional watchmaking. Which is why the same color is used in the balance bridge and balance wheel of the in-house calibre HMC 327 movement, thanks to a special finish developed by Precision Engineering AG to give depth and volume to the escapement.

The hand-wound HMC 327 movement beats at a leisurely 18,000 vph and boasts a power reserve of three days, the indicator of which has been cut into the Côtes de Genève decoration on the plates adjacent to the blued escapement with the crest of H. Moser stamped in gold.

A total of only ten people will be able to fasten the limited edition Venturer Small Seconds XL with a hand-stitched midnight-blue alligator leather strap with an 18K solid gold pin buckle engraved with the Moser logo to their wrists. Best of all, they will be able to participate in an experiment that will see the future of watchmaking to come.