Like a great many Swiss watch companies, H. Moser & Cie has a long and prestigious history, tracing back almost two hundred years, and like so many, its fortunes have seen highs and lows over the years too. But of all the twists and turns in its timeline, its passing into the new and dynamic hands of MELB Holdings in 2013 has been one of the most significant, setting this fine old brand on a new and exciting trajectory, and if there’s one charge which cannot be laid at its door today is that it’s boring.

For a very serious haute horlogerie watch manufacturer, H. Moser & Cie. are not afraid to push the boundaries, and if there’s an air of gravitas and sober reserve surrounding the superb creations, its Swiss Alp Watch On The Rocks emphatically demonstrates that there’s another wild and extroverted side to the company.

Entirely encrusted in baguette-cut diamonds with a dial of blue sapphires, echoing the cool fumé colour graduation used elsewhere in the H. Moser collections, the Swiss Alp Watch becomes a piece of drama and exquisite, opulent beauty. Introduced as a defiant reaction to the soulless electronica of a new breed of wristwatches, the Alp Watch is a play on the phenomenon in both name and aesthetics, and its rounded rectangular case and minimalist styling unapologetically redolent of the Smart Watch’s leading proponent.

This haute joaillerie piece is truly exceptional, from the quality of the precious stones, and their unique cuts which pave the surfaces with superb precision and invisible fixings, to the slender leaf hour and minute hands and the uncompromising standard of workmanship throughout. Spectacular from every angle, and irresistibly eye-catching the H. Moser Swiss Alp Watch on the Rocks is certainly not for the shy and retiring type,

Inside the white gold case beats Moser’s manufacture calibre HMC 324 rectangular manual winding movement, which is entirely created in-house. Viewed through the sapphire case-back, the surface of the movement plates painstakingly hand decorated in Côtes de Genève are revealed, signed off with gold H. Moser crest and detail. The rubies are bedded in mirror-polished chatons, and at its heart is Moser’s own regulating organ and balance with Straumann hairspring.

It is presented on a black alligator leather strap and secured with a white gold folding clasp.