Latest Review
My favorite version of the H. Moser brand is the one that acts as a gentle troll in the watch community, and puts their idiosyncratic sense of humor on full display. Not every brand can get away with a watch made of cheese, or a watch seemingly made from the disparate parts of so many Swiss Icons. To be fair, some would say that even Moser can’t get away with it – their most provocative watches are their most divisive, and the haters have a loud voice on the internet. And while I have no desire to strap a block of Swiss cheese to my wrist, I enjoy the fact that a high end indie brand is willing to infuse some watch industry commentary into the watches themselves. Moser’s latest piece, the Pioneer Center Seconds Sunny-Side Up, is not likely to be as controversial as some of the brand’s other releases, but it’s hard not to see them edging into satire.
The cost of eggs, of course, has been on everyone’s mind. And the cost of watches, while not as universal a concern, has also been much discussed. So a watch from H. Moser that evokes an egg seems like a release meant to start a conversation. For the record, the retail price of the Sunny-Side Up is $15,900. The retail price of the first Moser Pioneer with a 40mm case introduced in 2023 was $14,200 at launch. A roughly 12% increase in price over a two year period is honestly not the craziest rate in the luxury watch industry. Egg prices? Between March 2023 and March 2025, the cost of a dozen eggs rose around 120% according to publicly available sources.
The official press materials from Moser, naturally, don’t really wade into the state of the world economy. Rather, they tout the watch for the philosophical qualities of the piece, a totem for the age old “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” conundrum. Does the watch provide an answer? I haven’t seen it in person, so I can’t say for sure.
What I can say, having experienced that initial 40mm Pioneer from two years ago, is that this case size is basically perfect. While my 7.5 inch wrist can pull off the larger Pioneer, 40mm just works better in my opinion. And as is typical for Moser’s recent releases, they’ve hidden their wordmark via a transparent lacquer, letting the bold color of the fume dial take center stage with nearly no distractions. Yellow is a tough color to pull off in a watch, but if that’s your thing, there’s a bunch of it here, and nobody does fume quite like Moser.
The Pioneer Center Seconds Sunny-Side Up is powered by H. Moser’s HMC 201 automatic movement with a three day power reserve. As you’d expect, it’s visible through a sapphire caseback. Moser has paired this yellow dialed sports watch with a white rubber strap, which brings to mind warmer weather and perhaps even tropical locations, which seem to be very much this watch’s vibe. Although, here in New Hampshire, where the high today as we approach late April was only 55 degrees, I concede this all might be wishful thinking.
More information about the Pioneer Center Seconds Sunny-Side Up can be found here.
