While smartwatches are still nibbling at the market share of traditional mechanical watches, Swiss watchmaker H. Moser & Cie are sticking with the ‘if you can not beat it join ’em ”approach with its latest version Apple-inspired Swiss Alp Watch which now even contains a mechanical icon for rotary loading.
Then the Swiss Alp Watch for the first time in 2016, it was even introduced with a tongue-in-cheek video parody of Apple’s product launches. But it was not just Apple’s marketing that made H. Moser ape. Wwith his boxy suitcase, the Swiss Alp Watch looks like a clone of the Apple Watch, but only on the outside. Inside was a real Swiss movement that needed twisting to maintain the clock’s only ‘application’ –tell the time – work. Only 50 of them have been produced, with a price tag of $ 25,000 to appeal to dedicated horology enthusiasts who want a portable statement that they are not jumping on the smartwatch bandwagon.
Five years later, H. Moser revealed what he calls Swiss Alp Watch final upgrade– another slap in the face on Apple’s annual upgrade cycle for its smart portable material. The always-visible face of the original Swiss Alp Watch is a deadly gift that it does not come from Apple, but that it is harder to tell the final upgrade from the latest Apple Watch iterations.
The reflective face of the original Swiss Alp Watch has been repainted using the same light-absorbing material (more than 99% of the visible light) Vantablack paint which caused a museum visitor falls into an eight-foot hole which looked like it had been painted on the floor. Combined with hour and minute hands painted black it makes the Final Upgrade look like it has a real OLED screen.
WWhile the first Swiss Alp Watch uses a smaller traditional watch to display the movements of the second hand of the watch the final upgrade, it has been replaced by a rotating gradient disk revealed by a series of apertures that recreate the charging icon most commonly seen on Apple’s smartphones. But under the face, You will find H. Moser’s Caliber HMC 324 motion running for about 96 hours between twists and turns.
G / O Media can get a commission
Like the original, the Swiss Alp Watch, Final upgrade is limited to only 50 pieces –but it now costs $ 30,800. For so much money, you can buy almost 40 of the most expensive Apple Watch Series 6 models and wear a different one every day for more than a month. But while the final upgrade does not have apps, it will run longer than the Apple Watch before it is needed.