Hands-free H. Moser & Cie watch takes minimalism to the max
Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black uses your ears, not its hands, to tell the time
It might look like an Apple Watch with a dead battery and a hole in the screen but Swiss watchmaker H. Moser & Cie’s Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black is about as far from a notification-pushing, activity-tracking, music-streaming smartwatch as it’s possible to get. The minimalist timekeeper doesn’t even have hands or a dial, just a one-minute flying tourbillon and a button on the side that makes two rectangular gongs emit a series of chimes that tell the time down to the nearest minute. It’s a system that dates back to before people could rely on artificial light to see where the hands were pointing, so if the Apple Watch had been invented in 1715 rather than 2015 it might just have looked a bit like this. The cost of this slightly bonkers throwback? Just US$350,000. Maybe that Hermès edition Series 4 isn’t so expensive after all.