Hands-On The H. Moser & Cie. x Massena Lab Endeavour Chronograph Compax

In this new collaboration, Massena LAB teams up with H. Moser & Cie for a limited edition Endeavour Chronograph Compax. Both Moser and Massena LAB are no strangers to collaborations, especially those tied to vintage designs and complications. From Geneva Watch Days in August, we saw Massena LAB do an absolute home-run collaboration with Albishorn in the Maxigraph, a 1930's-esque take on a modern regatta chronograph, while Moser teamed up with Studio Underd0g to create a pair of passionfruit-inspired dials.

With the Endeavour Chronograph Compax, the two brands cite inspiration from historic Moser chronographs from the 1940s, while trying to juxtapose it against the minimalist design language of the modern Moser catalog. While my search on the internet for these references was not particularly fruitful, some brief examples I've seen, while unverified, seem to match up with the styling of many other vintage chronographs we know from the 40s and 50s. In this collab, we get a vintage-style dial with a more traditional two-sub-dial layout, with the small seconds at three o'clock and the 45-minute chronograph counter at nine o'clock. A significant portion of the dial is taken up by the tachymeter scale, with the usual "Tachymeter" labeling replaced by "Kilomètres À L'Heure." While no vintage watch that I've come across has used that labeling on a dial, I'm assuming that it's a clever play with the many French examples of pulsation scales we've seen, typically written with "Gradué Pour 15 Pulsations."

I've saved the best touch for last regarding the dial, as my absolute favorite detail on this collaboration is the vintage logo printed on the dial, taken from the 1947 iteration of the Moser logo (and not seen on any current Moser watches, even in the Heritage collection). It's this kind of addition that makes the collaboration charming.

What brings us back to modern Moser is the dial color, done in their Funky Blue colorway – a sort of grey-blue fumé sunburst treatment that we've seen on several models. This time around, however, the dial seems slightly darker in person than on other models. This may be because the dark gradient portion of the dial starts much closer to the center, with both rings of the tachymeter contrasting sharply on the darkest point of the dial. It's a sharp color, and one of Moser's least saturated and exaggerated colorways, making it very fitting on a vintage-inspired model like this while still being unmistakably modern Moser. In bright light, the color of the dial doesn't get very intense, but the sunburst effect is extremely dramatic, leading to large rays of bright white and grey blue against the darker portions of the dial.

I've always thought Moser's sunburst dials are some of the best in execution – sometimes, sunburst dials can come across as cheap when put in bright sunlight, due to either the brushing intensity or the color saturation of the dial. Moser balances it right here, and gives the watch a much darker aura under indoors lighting while looking dynamic outdoors.

In a move that I associate with many a collaboration these days, the dial is also loaded up with lume. In addition to the leaf hands being filled with Super-LumiNova, all of the printing on the dial is also done in Super-LumiNova: numerals, tachymetric scale, sub-dial markings, and all. The Super-LumiNova on the dial is printed in a slight green cast, which from a design perspective gives the entire watch a cool color palette when paired with the colder Funky blue dial. While I wouldn't have been surprised if Massena LAB and Moser chose a warmer-looking vintage-style SuperLuminova, the green on blue just feels a bit more cohesive.

Continuing with more cues from modern Moser, this chronograph uses the steel Endeavour case, with distinctive sculpted case flanks and its signature concave bezel. The watch features a Dubois-Depraz chronograph module sitting on top of the movement, which means that this case is larger than a standard time-only Endeavour. It's 41mm in diameter, with a height of 13.3mm, but on the wrist, it wore quite well. I think it's due to a few reasons – first, the sculpted sides help break up the side profile of the watch. The concave bezel also does wonders, shrinking its top-down appearance when compared to a more traditional bezel. Finally, this is one busy dial, calling on vintage chronographs where the (much smaller) dials were packed with many scales and other printed elements. With the real estate that the tachymeter takes up on this model, the actual center dial printing gives an illusion of a smaller dial. I've consistently found that larger watches with busier dials tend to wear smaller on my wrist, and this one is no exception.

Inside the watch, powering the Dubois-Depraz module is the Moser HMC220 in-house caliber. The chronograph action of the module is crisp and concise, but not particularly noteworthy. The oscillating weight for the bi-directional winding system, engraved with the H. Moser hallmark, is finished in a dark grey to stand out against the movement plate decorated with Moser striping. A Straumann hairspring (single, not double) oscillates away at 21'600 vph, with a power reserve of three days. Surrounding the movement and sapphire caseback are the engravings of the collaborators and an indication that the watch is limited to 100 pieces.

The Endeavour Chronograph Compax comes on a kudu leather strap and a signed pin buckle. Limited to 100 pieces, the watch is priced at $27,600 USD. While this watch is notable for being the first modern two-subdial chronograph from Moser, the pricing is quite steep for a Dubois-Depraz module chronograph. A standard Pioneer Centre Seconds with the same in-house HMC200 movement is priced at $14,200. Sure, a 100-piece run means smaller production and thus more expensive parts like the custom dial and chronograph module, but is it worth nearly double that to a hundred customers?

I really think that Massena LAB and Moser have done well in pairing a vintage sensibility with modern Moser, but the question will be if the brands will be able to sell through the hundred pieces quickly, at almost $30k a piece. What both Massena LAB and Moser have going for them is the fact that both brands seem to know and serve their customer bases well – perhaps this pricing is an indicator that they certainly know the customers better than I do. Regardless, the piece is well done, and William Massena's push to explore an aesthetic a bit out of Moser's comfort zone suits this project perfectly. There's nothing quite like it in the modern Moser catalog, so if you want it, get your credit card ready.

H. Moser x Massena LAB Endeavour Chronograph Compax. 41mm diameter, 13.3mm thickness. Stainless steel case with sapphire crystal and see-through caseback, "M"-signed crown. Funky Blue fumé dial with sunburst pattern, H. Moser & Cie. logo from 1947. Leaf-shaped hour and minutes hands with Super-LumiNova, dial printing in Super-LumiNova. HMC220 Manufacture caliber with Dubois Dépraz chronograph module, 21,600 vph, 51 jewels. Power reserve of 3 days. Kudu leather strap with Moser-signed steel pin buckle. Limited to 100 pieces, $27,600 USD.

For more information, visit H. Moser & Cie. or Massena LAB.