Part of my recent business trip to Europe was to perform a supplier audit at Moser-Baer AG in Sumiswald, Switzerland. This is just north of the Swiss Alps...
'tis also the exact area where the famous Emmental cheeses originate.
Beautiful country, it is!
Moser-Baer is primarily an OEM manufacturer of specialty clocks under the MobaTime brand, particularly railway clocks (they are the exclusive supplier of clocks to the Swiss, German, French and Italian railway systems). However, they also do contract machining on high-precision components such as missile systems and medical targeting devices. That's my good friend Erwin Birk on the way to the front door..
Right outside the front door. The white-faced clock, of course, is the classic (and patented) Swiss Railway design. Like so.
The owner-president of the company, Herr Urs Moser, is a most personable gentleman of some 65 to 70 years. He was wearing a wristwatch of the same design and, being familiar with ChrisL's Mondaine, I thought I had it pegged. So over drinks that evening I said "Pardon Herr Moser, but I notice your wristwatch has the Swiss Railway look. It is a Mondaine, no?"
His eyes lit up and he responds with "Nein! But how is it you know of Mondaine? Are they more common in America than I realize?" I was forced to admit that, no, they are not well known, and to explain my WIS affliction. He understood perfectly, as he's something of a WIS, too. (Doh! He owns a clock factory! :-) ) We discussed watches at some length. Turns out he knows the owner of Mondaine personally. He told me that Mondaine pays a license fee to the Swiss railway for the use of the design, but that he himself does not because Moser-Baer helped develop the design. Good thing, too, as his wristwatch was a 'cheap give-away' (his words!) quartz bearing the MobaTime logo.
Note that these are not standalone clocks, but rather a Distributed Time System. There is a central Time Server - the rack of electronics seen in the latter photo - and all the clocks are slaved to it.
The master syncs to atomic time via GPS and/or radio, and the slave units can vary widely in design, as in the digital units seen above.
Above and following are some interesting vintage pieces from their under-construction museum.
That's the tail unit of a Hellfire missile in the lower right corner
And now, into the factory itself;
No, it's not what I expected a clock factory to look like, either. 
But then these are industrial clocks, so...
This monster on the test bench is, believe it or not, merely medium-sized by
MobaTime's standards. Their largest clock is 9 meters in diameter. That's 27
feet, good people! 
The back view..
..shows the movement, and the beautiful CNC milling on the hands.
And, yes, there was a preponderance of watch shops...
This one was right across the street from MobaTime's factory. BTW, I've
always been a little confused about the meaning of 'uhren', whether it meant
'clocks' or 'watches'. The Lead Engineer, Ueli Soltermann, assures me that it is
used for both. How efficient! 
I was quite temted by this group of Certinas. 
But, as you can see, the
prices are quite high. 
I found these Boccia offerings to be quite pleasing, too.
So there you have it. The tour of MobaTime, and particularly Herr Moser's
hospitality, turned what could have been a dreary business trip into an
experience I'll remember all my life.
And, yes, there are a couple of stories I've omitted for brevity (no, really! ). More later, perhaps...
Hope you enjoyed it!
-Ricky
) is that you can smoke in the shop area. Great Post contains photos (n/t) (n/t) (n/t) (n/t) (n/t) Thank you! for sharing (n/t) Ricky, thanks for that. It helps me know even a small amount more about my watch. 
of the back. Awesome! (n/t)'Poor Man's' Watch Forum - Foro de Relojes Para el 'Hombre Pobre' - Horlogeforum voor de 'Arme Man'
