One of the Best Sports Watches Just Got Sportier Thanks to a Rare Feature

No, that’s not a speedometer on the dial (even if it looks like it).

Published October 2, 2024

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Updated April 29, 2025

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Most sports watches fit neatly into a handful of firmly established buckets. You’ve got your dive watches, your racing chronographs, your integrated bracelet sports watches, etc.

The H. Moser & Cie. Pioneer, by contrast, isn’t so easily pigeonholed.

It’s as elegant as a dress watch with its top-notch finishing, minimalist sunburst dial and leaf-shaped hands, but it’s still clearly designed for more raucous activity thanks to its perforated rubber strap, 120m of water resistance and discreetly sporty, grille-like cutouts in the sides of the case.

moser watch on a wrist — Moser’s Pioneer line boasts a deceptively sporty case design to go along with its elegant dials.

But the standout feature of the Pioneer line is the haute horological engines that power the watches. These are Mosers at the end of the day, which means they’re impressively crafted by a small-scale independent brand that plays in the same sandbox as brands like F.P. Journe and MB&F.

Because of the Pioneer’s robust case design, Moser is able to fashion high-horological creations far more durable than what is typically seen. Where else can you get a skeletonized dial with a cylindrical tourbillon that will still function 120m underwater?

The brand’s latest Pioneer model adds to this legacy, as it features a rarely-seen complication that simultaneously makes the watch a horological heavyweight and the sportiest-looking Moser Pioneer yet.

H. Moser & Cie. Pioneer Retrograde Seconds

$21,900 at Moser

That’s No Speedometer…

The new Moser Pioneer is largely familiar when compared to other references we’ve seen from the line in the past.

It has the same 42.8mm case as most other models with those aforementioned car grille-like cutouts. It has the same excellent perforated rubber strap (Moser’s rubber straps are like butter and are among the best I’ve ever worn.) And the dial is a familiar striking blue fumé sunburst.

The big difference comes from the movement and its signature complication, which presents itself on the bottom half of the dial. There, displayed prominently at 6 o’clock, is a unique retrograde seconds indicator.

moser watch on a blue surface — The speedometer-like display on the dial is actually a rarely-seen retrograde seconds complication.

Appearing like a speedometer on the dial, the display features a small seconds hand that tracks time from left to right and then instantaneously whips back and restarts back on the left once it reaches its rightward terminus.

Retrograde seconds displays are pretty rare in general, but the Pioneer’s is especially unusual since it’s only a 30-second counter. It features a rotating double snail cam at its center, allowing you to effectively see how the mechanism works.

After the rotating cam builds up energy, it then snaps the seconds hand back to start its journey over again, creating a highly dynamic way to display running seconds. The cam also sits on top of a bi-color disc that allows you to keep track of whether you’re in the first or second half of the current minute.

moser watch lying on its side — The Pioneer’s trademark case design is intact on the new Retrograde Seconds model.

Seeing this type of complication on a fancy dress watch is rare enough, but getting it in a 120m-capable sports watch like the Pioneer is basically unheard of — though its speedometer-like appearance makes me wonder why that is. Again, it’s stuff like this that makes the Pioneer such a damn cool sports watch.

The new HMC 250 movement is a modified version of Moser’s in-house HMC 201, a high-horology automatic with skeletonized bridges, an anthracite finish, an in-house hairspring and 72 hours of power on tap. The new calibre adds on the retrograde seconds module produced by Moser’s partner Agenhor, the manufacture behind some of the world’s most complex chronographs.

moser watch movement seen through its caseback — Like most Moser watches, the latest Pioneer looks as good from the back as it does from the front.

Pricing and Availability

I have just two problems with the Moser Pioneer Retrograde Seconds.

One is its size. At 42.8mm, it’s on the larger side. This is unsurprising, as most Pioneers clock in at this size, but the brand did introduce a 40mm case size last year for both center seconds and tourbillon models, and I’d love to see that more wearable version become the standard Pioneer moving forward.

My other issue is the same problem I have with every Moser watch: I can’t afford it. Moser is a top-tier luxury brand, and its watches are priced accordingly. At $21,900, the Pioneer Retrograde Seconds is well out of my price range, but it’s damn competitive when stacked up against its competition. Especially since, in my eye, this particular watch doesn’t even really have a true direct competitor.

If I had a $22K watch fund, you can bet this is what I’d be spending my money on.