The watch with the darkest dial in watchmaking just got darker. Following last year’s Venturer Concept Vantablack, H. Moser & Cie. refines the watch by blackening the hands for this year’s collection. The result is just as austere and enigmatic, but perhaps even more so now. The Venturer Vantablack Black Hands is presented in two sizes – 39mm and 43mm. The smaller watch boasts a precious 18k white gold case, while the XL model is democratically encased in stainless steel.
Price tags and sizes aside, the two share a commonality in using perhaps the darkest dial a human eye can perceive. Vantablack is one of the darkest substances mankind has made, of which H. Moser & Cie. has been a champion. The first H. Moser & Cie. watch to feature this surreal material was the 2018 Perpetual Moon Concept. At the time, the watch was lauded for its minimalist take on the popular moonphase with a textured silver crescent against a stark black backdrop.
According to the maker, Surrey NanoSystems, Vantablack is not a black paint, pigment or fabric, but is instead a functionalised collective of millions upon millions of carbon nanotubes. These miniscule tubes help absorb up to 99.96 percent of light, hence there is no visible reflection and leading to a matt finish. There is still a mild degree of reflection on the watch, nonetheless, courtesy of the anti-reflective sapphire crystal. However, it serves only to accentuate the perception of how unfathomably dark the dial actually is.
Both the Venturer Vantablack Black Hands and Venturer Vantablack Black Hands XL are powered by the in-house manual movement HMC 327. The power reserve is sufficient for at least three days and it is no surprise that the thickness of both watch cases is identical at 11.9mm given that they share the same movement. The dials of these two watches are absent of “Swiss Made” and the brand name, but for those who know, will instantly know of the brand of the watch. No other established brands omit their signatures from their own products, except H. Moser & Cie. for some of its collections. The exquisite finishing can be seen on the transparent caseback.
For those appreciative of the minimalist two-hand watch, the Venturer Vantablack Black Hands could be the perfect watch. The diameter is less than 40mm. The aesthetics lend well to formal dressing. With just two hands, setting time is effortless especially when the concern is that you don’t wear it on a daily basis.
Endeavour Tourbillon Vantablack Black Hands
If you require reading the seconds, why not aim for the best second counter? The Endeavour Tourbillon Vantablack Black Hands has a 60-second flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock with skeletonised bridges coated in black PVD. Other parts of the tourbillon such as the tourbillon cage, cage wheel, balance bridge and escapement bridge are made of aluminium, ensuring it is lightweight. Powering the watch is an in-house automatic movement HMC 804, which beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour – higher than the 18,000vph of Venturer Vantablack Black Hands’ HMC 327 – but still offers a minimum of three days of power reserve. The automatic movement can be observed on the caseback, with the skeletonised rotor made of 18k red gold.
Unlike the Venturer Vantablack Black Hands, the case of the Endeavour Tourbillon Vantablack Black Hands is made of black DLC-coated steel, complementing its two leaf-shaped hands. The case measures 42mm in diameter and 11.6mm in height.
True to H. Moser & Cie.’s tagline “very rare,” the Endeavour Tourbillon Vantablack Black Hands is available in only 50 pieces.