This ‘invisible’ watch is so fragile you can’t even wear it
Published on Apr 08, 2022 at 2:41 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Feb 28, 2023 at 2:28 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
This watch is made entirely of Vantablack, a special type of material that absorbs more than 99 percent of light, and makes it appear invisible against a dark background.
It was manufactured by H. Moser, an independent Swiss watch maker, as a concept to showcase at the 2022 Watches & Wonders, a global watch show that ended in Geneva just this week.
In the video that H. Moser shared, you can see the the stark difference between a regular Streamliner and the Vantablack one.
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It’s called the Streamliner Chronograph Flyback ‘Blacker than Black’ and unfortunately you can’t actually buy one, but there is some good news.
First of all, H. Moser didn’t just make this for fun, the company is actually trying to figure out a way to build a production version in the future.
The problem is Vantablack is composed of carbon nanostructures that make it extremely fragile, so you couldn’t really wear it for much longer than a few hours, if not minutes, before it breaks.
H. Moser has actually already used Vantablack for some of its dials in the past and since the structure of those timepieces is made of steel, you can actually buy and wear them.
There’s the Venturer Vantablack (above), for example. The dial is made from Vantablack but the case is made from red gold, which means you can wear it and it won’t break. You only need about $27,000 to buy it.
Alternatively, you can buy the Swiss Alp Watch (below). This is a quirky, provocative timepiece designed to remind you of the Apple Watch even though it is actually a manual wristwatch.
The dial is painted using Vantablack and there’s a running indicator reminiscent of the ‘loading’ symbol at the 6 o’clock.
H. Moser never officially announced a price tag for this piece (it’s available upon request) because it was limited to 50 pieces and it’s sold out.
Mind you, a similar version is available on Chrono 24 for about $40,000.
So what exactly is Vantablack?
It was developed in the UK by Surrey NanoSystems, which holds a globally registered trademark for Vantablack, and it is the property of a UK company.
The material is made of vertical carbon tubes and when the light strikes these tubes it doesn’t bounce off, it becomes trapped in them.
A couple of years ago, BMW used Vantablack to paint an X6 and the result was quite frankly astonishing, as you can see from the picture below.
But then again BMW is not new to this: just a few months ago, they created a special type of paint that can change colour upon request.
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