Studio Underd0g and H. Moser & Cie. make an exciting team up, but there is a catch
Zach Blass- Studio Underd0g & H. Moser & Cie. is a fitting team-up, as both brands are known for being playful and rebellious.
- The pair, however, play at very different price points – Moser at the high-end, and Underd0g at the more accessible end.
- Both passion fruit-inspired watches have purple and gold dials, but the 100-piece limited edition will be sold strictly as a set, priced at US$64,900.
The collaboration watch trend has been so expansive that some watch enthusiasts began to wonder if such team-ups were happening too often. This could be between a watchmaker and non-watchmaking brand, like TAG Heuer x Kith, a watch brand and watch publication like our very own Zenith Night Surfer Time+Tide Edition, or between two brands like Kari Voutilainen and Schwarz Etienne. And it is the latter of that list that gets me the most excited. It always stands to be a really cool opportunity when two brands that sell watches at different price tiers come together and offer elements of the higher-priced brand at a lower price point. So, when reels were shared on both Moser’s and Studio Underd0g’s Instagram accounts, naturally it generated a ton of excitement. While the watch itself was not heavily teased, it was clear an H. Moser Cie. x Studio Underd0g Passion fruit collaboration project was set to be revealed. We now know it does not involve just one watch, rather one from each brand.
Of course, Studio Underd0g is well-known for its rebellious nature and creating (and democratically selling) watches with flavourful aesthetics often inspired by food or beverages. Therefore, the reveal that passion fruit would serve as a possible muse for a horological team-up made sense. H. Moser & Cie., while a higher priced and higher-end watch brand, has equally indulged in a sense of playfulness and rebelliousness. We only need to think back to the one-off “Frankenstein” watch that mashed up design cues of various iconic designs, or the watch with a case made from a Swiss cheese-derived resin. As I have suggested, for lack of a better phrase, high-low collaborations excite me the most, and I could not think of a better pair to come together with so many parallels despite the massive disparity in price point. First, let’s run through the new H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit and Studio Underd0g 03SERIES Passi0n Fruit watches, and then I’ll share some final thoughts.
H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit
Moser’s component of the collaboration, an Endeavour Perpetual Calendar, largely retains the elements of its predecessors which is a testament to the brand’s playfulness. It’s executed in stainless steel, 42mm in diameter and 12.8mm thick, with a clean dial due to the lack of overt branding and a minimal expression of a perpetual calendar. It strictly indicates the date, and very subtly the month via tiny green nubbin poking out from the centre pinion. Beyond its core perpetual calendar indications, the dial also includes a power reserve at the 9 o’clock position.
Such a burst of colour is not new for the brand, but the exact colours used, at least in this fashion, is its distinguishing point from its predecessors. The passion fruit-themed dial is comprised of purple and yellow, with a subtle hint of green on the aforementioned month indicator hand. The purple portion is made from sunburst-finished purple lacquer, and the broader yellow part further flexes Moser’s high-end dial mastery through its cleverly named maracuja grand feu enamel placed on an 18k yellow gold base that has a sort of chiselled-like texture. Colour preferences aside, it’s a well-crafted dial – and I suspect Lakers fans will love the combo.
Driving it all is the in-house, hand-wound, and finely hand-finished H. Moser & Cie. calibre HMC 800. It features seven days of power reserve, a full balance bridge, an interchangeable Moser escapement, a Straumann hairspring, and a pallet fork and escapement wheel made from gold. The calibre also has a leap year indicator embedded within one of its bridges, in dial-matching yellow and purple.
| Brand | H. Moser & Cie. |
| Model | Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit |
| Case Dimensions | 42mm (D) x 12.8mm (T) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Purple sunburst lacquer, maracuja grand feu enamel, 18k yellow gold base |
| Strap | Light brown waxy gaucho, steel folding clasp |
| Movement | HMC 800, in-house, automatic |
| Power Reserve | 7 days |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve, perpetual calendar |
| Availability | 100-piece limited edition set |
| Price | US$64,900 |
Studio Underd0g 03SERIES Passi0n Fruit
While the novelty of the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit is largely its colour combination, the Studio Underd0g 03SERIES Passi0n Fruit marks the debut of an entirely new model for the brand, its first-ever monopusher chronograph. This is made possible through its usage of the 63-hour, hand-wound Sellita SW510 M, the first-ever Swiss chronograph calibre for Studio Underd0g.
Its stainless steel case upholds the same proportions as 01SERIES chronographs like our Hand Delivered watches, measuring in at 38.5mm in diameter and 13.6mm in thickness. Presumably, since the diameter and thickness are the same, the lug-to-lug is likely the same at a wrist-friendly 44.5mm. The dial of the 03SERIES Passi0n Fruit visually aligns with the Moser’s colour scheme and cleanliness, with the outer minutes and tachymeter scale ring and elapsed minutes counter rendered in purple, a larger portion of the dial executed in a textured yellow, with a subtle green accent on the small hand of the elapsed minutes counter. The texture of the yellow surface is described as “coarse dégradé amber”, and it feels like a brighter version of what we saw on the Hand Delivered pizza. Any way you slice it, it excellently executes the shared passion fruit theme.
| Brand | Studio Underd0g |
| Model | 03SERIES Passi0n Fruit |
| Case Dimensions | 38.5mm (D) x 13.6mm (T) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 50 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Coarse dégradé amber and royal purple |
| Strap | Black epsom calfskin, steel pin buckle |
| Movement | Sellita SW510 M, manual winding |
| Power Reserve | 63 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds, monopusher chronograph |
| Availability | 100-piece limited edition set |
| Price | US$64,900 |
Final thoughts
Let me just say from the outset that I think both watches brilliantly execute the passion fruit theme – I tip my hat to both brands. However, I cannot help but feel mixed emotions regarding this collaboration. I like both brands and the watches they produced for this collaboration, but I’m not over the Moon about the fact these 100-piece limited editions are exclusively sold as a set for US$64,900. Studio Underd0g’s founder Richard Benc is known for being all about accessible watchmaking, infamously cancelling pre-orders from clients identified as flippers. This collab will undoubtedly leave Studio Underd0g fans who don’t have H. Moser & Cie.-level purchasing power rather disappointed. While the sensibilities of the brand certainly mesh very well, the exclusivity and pricing of Moser may not jive very well with Studio Underd0g’s core fanbase. Therefore, to present this collaboration as a set rather than two pieces that could be individually purchased with only a certain number reserved as set, poses some challenges.
This is why I mentioned collaborations such as Kari Voutilainen and Schwarz Etienne earlier, where buyers could acquire a watch touched by Voutilainen for a lower price. Personally, I would have preferred a single collaborative watch rather than two manufactured independently with an aligned theme. Had the duo presented a 03SERIES with a dial manufactured by Moser, using the purple sunburst lacquer and grand feu enamel, I think it would have yielded a more accessible middle ground offering. If such a hypothetical watch, with a Sellita monopusher movement and Moser-made dial, was priced between US$10,000 – US$20,000, while not inexpensive it would have been at a price position that sits between the two brands that speaks to a broader audience. The good news for Studio Underd0g fans is that this premiere of a 03SERIES is likely not a one-off, and it’s expected that standard production versions of the watch will be released.