It’s been a season of sorts, with several watch brands taking on the hallowed realms of the stainless-steel integrated bracelet, luxury sports watch. Today it’s H. Moser & Cie that’s about to throw its hat into the ring, but of course, with an approach that is definitively Moser. This is the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic.

In making his case for the watch, Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & Cie begins, “Moser has been, I think, a very positive success story through the last seven years. But there was always this thing that I wanted to create — something that is more than just the dial and the beautiful movement. I wanted to work towards creating a case that would become the watch’s identity, that is really ours, that potentially can become something iconic for Moser.

“When I arrived at the brand, seven years ago, I already had people working on steel bracelets. To be honest, everything that my team was coming up with back then looked like things that already existed out there. What bothered me most about this was that a lot of the times what my team was proposing resembled designs from other big brands.

“To be a Moser watch, we knew we needed to work hard to create something that will be unique, different; that people maybe will need time to understand and appreciate in terms of the codes of what we had to offer.”

So, now we understand that for Moser, it was pure coincidence that their integrated bracelet stainless steel timepiece has been announced in a time when there are several other watch brands who have taken on the genre. Moser, as Edouard explains it, has been working on creating the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic, for seven years.

But the irony of it all, isn’t lost on Edouard, as he explains: “We’ve seen recently a lot of people going into this direction of making metal steel bracelet integrated watches. There’s many ways to go about it.

“Some, they kept their signature case and they put a bracelet on. For Moser, we decided that the bracelet would be our key. So we started with the bracelet. We considered other bracelets out there that we are familiar with and feel are the most comfortable. On those learning points, we then set out to perfect our bracelet.”

Rather than the more familiar three and five link bracelets out in the market, Moser went for a single link design, with brushed surfaces on the outer facing facets and the inward facing facets being polished. Edouard also explains that a lot of thought went into the clasp of the bracelet, for security and that it shouldn’t get in the way of everyday life.

When it came to the case for the watch, Moser went with a cushion-type design. But they’ve clearly gone the distance to dress it with multiple facets, which are then decorated with alternating brushed and polished finishing.

All in all, the form of the watch gives off a retro cool vibe. To seal in this vibe, Moser’s gone with a very pronounced box crystal and “bull-head” styled chronograph pushers. The case sits with a diameter of 42.3 mm, at a height of 14.2 mm.

Looking at the dial of the watch, it is in a new anthracite shade of grey fumé, but for the first time ever, the signature Moser fumé dial has been given a brushed surface treatment that’s been termed, griffé. The French word, quite literally, translates to “claw”.

The absence of the chronograph sub dials is an indication that all of the functions of the watch are centrally mounted (much like their approach to their own perpetual calendar). But turning the watch over to reveal the movement through its see-through caseback leaves no doubt that Moser has adopted one of the most progressive modern chronograph movements into the Streamliner: Jean-Marc Wiederrecht’s AgenGraph. But this isn’t the AgenGraph as we know it. Developed by Agenhor in partnership with Moser, the Calibre HMC 902 is the first in the lineage of the AgenGraph to boast a flyback function.

Summing it up, Edouard explains, “We started with the bracelet, comfortable, elegant and different. We then designed this model around the chronograph function, as this was what we really wanted to highlight. The Streamliner is a chronograph which displays the time rather than a watch which features a chronograph. We preferred understatement, ergonomics, and legibility, opting for a central display with no sub dial: perfectly matching our minimalist philosophy. We took the very essence of the chronograph, and raised it to the next level.”