In 2014, the greatest known name in self-assembly furniture — the Swedish behemoth, Ikea released what is quite possibly one of the most hilarious guerrilla ad campaigns in recent memory.

The video ad, entitled ‘Experience the power of a bookbook™’, takes very little effort to figure out who it was aimed to parody. From the way in which the presenter in the video narrates the ad, to the stylized presentation used to highlight the many qualities of the 2015 Ikea catalogue — or, ‘bookbook’ as it is referred to in the video — you would have to have been living under a rock to not see the obvious parallels.

But considering no multi-million dollar lawsuit was brought forward as a result of the tongue-in-cheek ad, it’s safe to assume that it was all taken in good humor.

Moving away from the world of self-assembly furniture and into the realm of horology — one Neuhausen based Swiss watch brand has been, somewhat, on a similar punchline themselves, for a while now — and it seems to have done swimmingly well for them.

It was on the 9th of March, in 2015, that the watchmaker H. Moser & Cie. first took on the subject matter by announcing that it was re-introducing “The Original Smart Watch”. Mind you that the brand chose to make this announcement on the same day that the on-sale date of the present world leader of smartwatches, in terms of its popularity and, perhaps for those who it is relevant, desirability, was made known to thousands upon thousands of people present at the press conference at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (and, no doubt, millions others who caught the live cast of the keynote presentation across the world).

What H. Moser & Cie. announced that day, was their Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Funky Blue. Now while the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar has been around for some time, the unveiling of the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Funky Blue is worth recounting because it came with quite the humorous video advert itself featuring folks from the brand’s Neuhausen manufacture and Edouard Meylan (CEO, H. Moser & Cie.)  himself strutting through the brand’s facilities taking a bite out of the proverbial apple.

And then, of course, at the top of 2016, H. Moser & Cie. announced the Swiss Alp Watch, which threw subtlety out the window. Again, there was a video. This time the video too was closely stylized in the manner of the focus of their antic.

Brilliant marketing tactics aside, Edouard’s foresight in having produced a watch that has stirred all the right emotions in, at least, those who can take a joke — has, without doubt, done very well for H. Moser & Cie.

The initial Swiss Alp Watch was, however, produced in a limited run of 50 and it’s not hard to imagine — given the interest the watch had stirred — that many more who were interested in the watch, weren’t able to get their hands on one.

So today, the 6th of September 2016 — on the eve of the rumored announcement of the second generation of the world’s bestselling smartwatch — H. Moser & Cie. are at it again by announcing that they are bringing a version of their Swiss Alp Watch, named the Swiss Alp Watch S to market as part of their regular collection, starting with their signature, midnight blue fumé dial with sunburst pattern.

The watch features a 38.2 x 44.0 mm, 18ct white gold case — inside of which we will find the same caliber that was in the original Swiss Alp Watch: the HMC 324. The HMC 324 is a manual wound in-house movement of H. Moser & Cie.’s with a four-day power reserve and the brand’s Original Straumann Hairspring® beating at a hypnotic 18,000 vibrations per hour.

Simply because of the thought stirring intentions behind the watch, it may be safe to assume that the watch is going to have its fair share of success — as did its older sibling. And what with the blue fumé dial that has become quite the desirable feature of H. Moser & Cie. timepieces, it’s a done deal. All that remains to be asked now is — what video has the brand put together this time?