IWC Company of Henry Moser -  Schaffhausen Art Deco Tank Model - This Art Deco men’s watch is a handsome specimen with a silver dial and black Arabic numerals. It featuring a 60 minute checkered outer track border & dayphine-style hands. The dial is signed H. Moser below the 12. The case is pure silver as are the lugs. The crown is gently domed. Manual wind, 15 jewels, gold plated high-grade mechanism is stamped with the Moser's family board with letters HM. This is a NAIL SET wind so you don’t pull the crown out to set the time. Instead, you press the little button near the crown IN and turn crown to set the hands. Release the crown when set  CARING FOR VINTAGE WATCHES |  Elvis Presley Watches Size with crown: 36.00 mm x 46.00 mm (1.4173 in x 1.8110 in) Size without crown: 32.00 mm x 46.00 mm ( 1.2598 in x 1.8110 in) Watch crystal size: 27.00 mm x 39.00 mm ( 1.0630 in x 1.5354 in)

WATCHMAKER HEINRICH MOSER: Heinrich Moser grew up in Schaffhausen in the traditions and experience of a watch making dynasty that had become established over the generations. He learned the traditional watchmaker’s craft from his father, Erhard Moser, between 1820 and 1824. Subsequently broadened his knowledge in the watch making town of Le Locle. His plan to succeed his father for the position of town watchmaker, to which the Moser family had a claim was thwarted by the Town Council in Schaffhausen. As an ambitious and visionary watchmaker, Heinrich Moser decided to set up business in Russia. Tsarist Russia at the time was regarded as an excellent labour and sales market and a sound trading base for watches. 

After several employed positions as a watchmaker, he founded his own company in St. Petersburg at the end of 1828. This marked the hour of inception of the greatly successful brand, Hy Moser & Cie. Alongside precision watches and watches designed as pieces of jewelry, Heinrich Moser offered a range of simple watches. As he built up his trading network, he came to realize that a successful wholesaler should also be a manufacturer thus established a watch factory in Le Locle in 1829, which produced watches exclusively for his businesses. This allowed him to guarantee the high quality of his products. Eventually, he was made an honorary citizen of Le Locle in acknowledgement of his services to the town in the Swiss Jura. 

Heinrich Moser’s constant quest for quality was crowned by success. He supplied the Imperial Court , various princes and the armed forces in Russia. Within a few years, he was selling watches to Persia, China and Japan, as well as New York and Paris  where his brother Georg Moser was working as a watchmaker. Only 15 years after starting his company, Heinrich Moser was the undisputed market leader in the Russian watch trade. He returned to his home town of Schaffhausen as a prosperous watch manufacturer and merchant at the end of 1848.

COMPANY AND BRAND NAME The first internationally active company founded by Heinrich Moser was the St. Petersburg trading as Hy Moser & Co. From this name, he developed the company signature in Latin and Cyrillic script, which was almost always accompanied by a medallion. Until about 1918, these symbols were the standard signature on all watches supplied by Moser’s watch company. In 1829, Heinrich Moser opened a watch factory in Le Locle, which also bore the name Hy Moser & Co. The Russian operation had to be abandoned in 1917 in the aftermath of the October Revolution. In about 1920, the State-owned “Central Watch Repair Workshop” was formed in Moscow from the remains of the Moser watch businesses. Moser watches continued to be regarded as synonymous with work of the highest quality for some considerable time afterwards. In 1966, the Government of the USSR presented one of its high-ranking military officers with an original Moser pocket watch in 18-carat gold, dating from the period before the expropriation and bearing an engraved dedication. The name of Moser also died out in this branch of the family in 1923 with the death of Heinrich Moser’s only son, who had no male offspring. Dr. Jürgen Lange and the great-grandson of Heinrich Moser, Roger Nicholas Balsiger, jointly with private investors, founded the watch company Moser Schaffhausen AG in 2002. Dr. Lange also registered the original brand H. Moser & Cie again internationally.  

Watches of "Henry Moser" were so popular it instigated huge production of replicas. Thus the factory of Moser offered this disclaimer... "for elimination of cases of abusing by some dealers by the name of our firm we consider necessary to recommend wishing to get watches of our factory to pay special attention to the inscriptions in French before a surname "MOSER & Ce" letters "Hy" as only with such brands and inscriptions watches are authentic". These cautions are useful and to modern collectors of watches. 
 
TIME LINE: 1730  Johannes Moser, grandfather of Heinrich Moser, is born in Schaffhausen. After an apprenticeship as a watchmaker, he assumes the honorary position of town watchmaker. He later becomes a magistrate in the local court. 

• 1760 Erhard Moser, father of Heinrich Moser, born in Schaffhausen. He succeeds his father in the position of town watchmaker, and was a member of the Cantonal Council and Town Commissioner. 

• 1805 Johann Heinrich Moser born 12 December. He learns the traditional watchmaker’s craft from his father from 1820 - 1824. 1824. Heinrich Moser continues his training in Le Locle where gains respect as a skilled watchmaker, and he starts a small business to supply spare parts. After about eighteen months, Moser receives offers of work from Italy and Paris. 

• 1826 Moser works on his own building clocks into cases as pieces of furniture. 

• 1827 The prospects of good business leads Moser to St. Petersburg . After an adventurous journey, he starts work as a watchmaker in the local workshops. 

• 1828 Moser opens the trading company H. Moser & Co. in St. Petersburg . His watches are characterized by their high quality. Not a single watch is allowed to pass over the counter until it has been inspected personally or by one of his representatives. The business is very successful. 

• 1829 In order to maintain this claim to superior quality, Moser establishes a watch factory in Le Locle to produce watches exclusively for his businesses. 

• 1848 Moser returns to Schaffhausen as a prosperous merchant and watch manufacturer. He sees his new challenge as the transformation of the quiet town of Schaffhausen into a lively industrial location. At the same time, he builds the magnificent Charlottenfels country manor house for his family. 

• 1851 Moser completes the construction of a canal on the Rhine, which supplies the water to drive a turbine. 

• 1853 In a joint venture with Schaffhausen, Moser establishes Schweizerische Waggonfabrik bei Schaffhausen (Swiss Wagonworks at Schaffhausen) and Schweizerische Industriegesellschaft (SIG) Neuhausen (Swiss Industrial Company Neuhausen). Moser is a co-founder of the Schaffhausen-Winterthur railway line. He opens a workshop for the manufacture of watch cases in Schaffhausen. 

• 1860 Moser becomes a customer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. Over time, he sources up to 64 different calibres, including 24 complications. 

• 1863 Moser embarks on the construction of the largest Swiss dam on the Rhine , to supply neighbouring industrial companies with inexpensive power transmission system. This hydroelectric power station marks the start of the industrial age in Schaffhausen. 

• 1868 Moser supports Ariosto Jones in the foundation of the International Watch Company (IWC) by providing premises and energy to drive the machines. 

• 1874 Heinrich Moser dies 23 October. His will names his second wife, Fanny Moser as the heiress of all his business interests. 

• 1877 Fanny Moser sells the entire Russian trading operation as well as the watch factory in Le Locle to the respective general managers. The contracts of sale stipulate that all successor companies must continue to operate in perpetuity under the company names H. Moser & Cie or Heinrich Moser & Co

• 1917 The Russian October Revolution completely eradicates the watch market in the country that is dominated by the Swiss watchmakers. The last of the Swiss directors of the Moser company return to Switzerland

• 1918 The business in Le Locle attempts to compensate for the loss of the Russian markets through increased exports to other countries. 

• 1920 The State-owned Central Watch Repair Workshop in Moscow is formed from the remains of the Moser watch businesses. 

• 1953 Wristwatch production in Le Locle is expanded while the production of pocket decreases. Some of the watches also bear the name Henry Moser in spite of this being in breach of the 1877 agreements. 

• 1973 H. Moser & Co. is mentioned as a manufacturer of precision lever escapement watches and special watches, predominantly in 18-carat gold and in cases set with precious stones. The quartz watch crisis that is widespread in the Swiss watch industry also affects the business in Le Locle. 

• 1979 The factory in Le Locle becomes part of the Dixi Mechanique Group trading as Hy Moser & Cie 

• 2002 The original brand of the founder, H. Moser & Cie, is once more registered internationally by Dr. Jürgen Lange. The Moser Schaffhausen AG watch company is launched jointly with representatives of Heinrich Moser’s family as a successor company. The great-grandson of Heinrich Moser, Roger Nicholas Balsiger, is today Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors.

• 2005 To mark the bicentenary of Heinrich Moser’s birth, the successor company Moser Schaffhausen AG, under the H. Moser & Cie brand, is once again launching a range of watches that are faithful to the legacy of the founding father on the international watch arena.