A few months ago, I wrote an incoming post about an IWC Portuguese that I’d recently acquired. You can read it here if you feel inclined, but to cut a long story short I spent a while explaining the connection between IWC and a company that, back then, had taken the Russian watch market by storm. That company was Moser, and had I been able to fast forward to this week I’d have had to laugh. The IWC went because it was simply too big for me at 42mm (and all dial); and the most unexpected of incomings proved to be a Moser Mayu Marrone. (The Mayu collection is, interestingly, a tribute to Heinrich Moser’s first wife, Charlotte Mayu.)

This is a September 2014 watch that’s been worn just a handful of times, and it’s not the LE model that we’ve seen on the forum a few times of late. This one – the “standard” Mayu Marrone – has a solid brown dial and arabic numerals at 12; I think the numerals actually give the dial much more balance, with the sub-seconds at 6 providing a very elegant symmetry. The case, measuring 38.8mm without the crown and 9.3mm high, is white gold and whilst the difference from stainless steel is subtle it’s still very noticeable in terms of the hue and the effect of light as it hits from different angles; of course, it’s also a fair bit heavier. The wonder of this case, though, is in the contrast of flat and curved, brushed and polished… it’s multi-faceted and really is quite beautiful.

The finish on the movement is absolutely breathtaking, and it’s such a good fit for the case that Moser were able to dispense with a retaining ring and use every millimetre of the dial (as you can see, in fact, from the placement of the sub-dial); a really nice change, this, from the more usual small movement/large case approach that has predominated watch design in recent years. It’s an in-house Moser Cal. HMC321.503 hand-wound movement with 80 hour power reserve, modular escapement and PR indicator, all visible through a display back. I’ve actually had a really good look at it through a 10x loupe, and the finish is nothing short of perfect.

In fact, the entire watch is perfect, and it’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever had on my wrist.