Playing heavily on contrasts, H. Moser & Cie. has chosen innovative materials borrowed from the worlds of astrophysics and aerospace to return to the essence of one of the most complex and most traditional mechanisms in Haute Horlogerie. A Vantablack® dial without indices or logo and featuring aluminium components showcases the tourbillon.
Positioned at 6 o'clock, the one-minute flying tourbillon seems literally to float in the centre of a black hole, with no reflection, and without indices or logo by way of distraction. And for good reason: H. Moser & Cie. has given its Endeavour Tourbillon Concept a dial made from Vantablack®, employing all the expertise it has gained by working with this innovative material created in 2012. A super-black coating renowned as the darkest substance in existence, Vantablack® is used in astrophysics in telescopes, by the military for thermal camouflage, to increase the stealth level of certain equipment, or in civil engineering for applications such as solar panels and, more recently, a concept car. It is composed of carbon nanotubes that are 10,000 times finer than a human hair, aligned vertically alongside each other. When a photon hits Vantablack®, this material absorbs 99.965% of the light. As our eyes need reflected light to perceive what we are looking at, Vantablack® is perceived as the absence of matter, a black hole. Resistant to shocks and vibrations, Vantablack® remains a material which is extremely delicate to handle. H. Moser & Cie. had to put a structure in place and develop special processes to successfully work with this material. Special cases were designed to transport the dials from the supplier, and tools were specially created to handle them and to fit the hands, until casing-up. Once behind the sapphire crystal, Vantablack® is protected as if in a safe. There, it can express itself fully and seems to radiate the full power of its perfect blackness.
With the Endeavour Tourbillon Concept Vantablack®, H. Moser & Cie. is writing an ode to minimalism. A simple look which complements the complexity of the materials chosen and the HMC 804 Manufacture movement equipping this model. In addition to Vantablack®, the Schaffhausen-based Manufacture used aluminium borrowed from the aerospace industry for the cage of its tourbillon, including the cage wheel, the balance bridge and the escapement bridge. More rigid than traditional aluminium, this innovative material offers the advantage of being more lightweight than brass. The result is reduced inertia, which offers an improved energy balance, and also enhanced performance with optimal operation and more stable isochronism over the long term. There is also an increase in the amplitude of approximately 10%. With its characteristic attention to detail, H. Moser & Cie. has added a black PVD coating to the tourbillon bridge and to the balance bridge, which echoes the abyss-like black of the Vantablack® dial.
A marvel of ingenuity, this self-winding HMC 804 calibre is equipped with a double hairspring designed and produced in-house. Thanks to this pair of matched hairsprings, the movement of the point of gravity on each spring when it expands is corrected and the effect of friction reduced, significantly improving accuracy and isochronism in continual pursuit of perfection.
