Let’s just put it out there—Saquon Barkley, you’re very rare. We’ll go back some years. You’re born in the Bronx to a family of boxers (see, rarity already in the room). You’re soon enough prospected by the best colleges in football. Once settled in and overly achieved, you skip your senior year at Penn State and go #2 in the draft. You win Offensive Rookie of the Year, elect to the Pro Bowl. Some seasons pass by, some injuries are dealt with, you’re soon a free agent and ink a beefy contract with the Eagles.

On arrival, you exceed 2,000 rushing yards (joining fewer than 10 players to ever do this) scooping both an AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year award and a Super Bowl ring. Your contract sees monster extensions, making you the highest-paid running back in history. You’re also a family man, charming, creative, kind, and as one would expect, your back is big as a Buick.

Then there’s that first Monday in May—an invitation to the Met Gala, the Super Bowl, if you will, of fashion (though arguably a better afterparty and less of a clear winner), and you long to flex a timepiece that’s not so obvious, not popping up in every other music video, oversized and advertised in airport terminals, or opening a boutique every other month. You want that piece that’s equal parts bold and rare. You want that H. Moser & Cie.

A meeting is made with the legacy brand that’s almost 200 years old—with that special blend of glory and notoriety and decline and near extinction along the way—acquired, dusted off, and reinvigorated in 2012 by a Swiss family’s investment firm, MELB Holding. Now helmed by brothers Bertrand and Edouard Meylan—with blessings and oversight from their father, Georges-Henri, former CEO at Audemars Piguet—H. Moser continues to strategically amass fans and attention, with stunningly unique timepieces, of course, but also brazen cross-collabs (see the recent viral “pump” watch in collaboration with Reebok and its iconic sneaker, among others).

I first properly encounter the H. Moser brand inside the guts of F1 star Pierre Gasly’s pit garage during pre-race trials in Miami a couple years back. The sheer science, the power, the exacting attitude of the whole experience—truly wow. No messing around. The timepieces in proxy boast no logo, and the designs—albethey extremely limited in production and quite challenging to get one’s paws on—seem to be rounding conceptual corners at a watch world pace of the supercar that bears their logo. There are connections, there is Swiss sensibility, and in the end, the brand leaves an indelible mark.

Then I see Mr. Barkley cropping up at exclusive gatherings, press releases detailing the unique features of his wrist wear, and soon enough, an embargoed collaboration will see me in the room for its unveil. It’s evident: H. Moser is undoubtedly coming for the big, take no prisoners powerhouse and its charming ship of fools—that is, the NFL and the vast continent that cradles this unique league. Moser is coming for America.

“We’ve really seen a big shift in the US in the taste of a new generation looking to wear a watch that isn’t the same as their father’s or grandfather’s,” Bertrand Meylan, Co-Owner of H. Moser and CEO of MELB Subsidiaries tells me as we await Barkley’s arrival. “There’s a big shift toward new collectors looking for something different while being strong in its DNA. I think that’s where Moser is well positioned, and that’s why we’re doing amazing in the US right now.”

It sounds as though Barkley isn’t the only one compelled to the brand’s remarkable history, but a storytelling that is still very much in flux and formation. I ask Meylan, knowing about he and his brother meeting Barkley and his fiancée and children at the commencement of their collaboration, if this is really a story about family? “We are a family business,” he remarks, “which is very important at our core. But we use ‘family’ as a large term because we believe everybody who works around Moser is part of the family. Family, to me, is about who cares about you and who you care about.”

Meylan takes a moment to observe the handful of watches on the photoshoot set today, each in its own dramatic lane, and continues, “We took over the brand 14 years ago. It was in bad shape—missing clear direction, a bit lost—and our dream was always to give Moser the right light, the right position in the watch industry that it deserved, that it had a century ago. Our issue as a company is that we don’t celebrate enough. People tell us we need to celebrate. But we know what’s coming is even better. So we’re always looking to the future, and I imagine that’s what the dream is about—to continue.”

So here we are in New York City, a city it’s said where dreams often find a home, the July sun pounding the glassy atrium of rooftop cocktail lounge, Skylark, staring out at the Empire State Building, now feeling an Eagle in our midst who we know can fly in his own special way but would sooner save the wings for September. We witness Saquon Barkley, in the company of Meylan, see for the very first time the timepiece he’s been co-creating with the fabled horologer over the past year. And friends, let me tell you—Barkley’s smile, the humility, the awe at this unique piece’s physical manifestation is a beautiful thing.

And thus we’re not done dreaming. We chat with Saquon Barkley. We invoke the childlike wonder about what might be out there, beyond the endless high-rises and history, and with that, the sometimes uncomfortable awareness of our limited influence over what’s to come. How come? Well, set within the skeletal Pioneer framework of the H. Moser Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon Aventurine Saquon Barkley Edition watch is a little patch of night sky, a tiny canvas of sorts that will keep the dreaming kid dreaming inside of the eventual timepiece owner. As Barkley will explain, if you let go of that little dreamer, disproportionately lose yourself in relation to your bearings, you miss out on the give-and-take balance of things, you forget what you actually came here for.

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How do you relate to the Moser brand slogan and ethos of Very Rare?‍

A lot of kids run the ball, a lot of people want to be in that space, but very rare is what you do. I know I had a lot of hype coming out of college, and there are some things I’m able to do on a football field that are rare, that a lot of people can’t do. At the same time, I’m able to acknowledge that and understand the blessing God gave me. I think that’s why I’m able to partner with Moser—I feel like I fit right in with that idea, with that brand, and that message. Hopefully I’m able to continue to show people I’m very rare as an athlete, and hopefully more people get to know me as a person too.

Do you like this idea of exclusivity that’s very popular in watch culture? Or do you feel these worlds should have no boundaries?‍

I’ll agree it can be very exclusive, but with this partnership, we’re showing a different side of Moser and a different side of myself, opening it up more into the sports world, into the culture. I’d agree more with the second question—it’s for everybody. The watch we’re coming out with isn’t something you can only wear with a suit. It’s very versatile, and it speaks to the type of person I am. You can work out in it, dress it up, dress it down—anything you want, you can do.

It’s pretty cool for me as an athlete to see how much goes into the details. If you want to be a great athlete, you have to focus on the details, and I see that same craftsmanship in building a successful watch and in the storytelling within it.

There’s a night sky motif in the new piece. When we look at the night sky, we dream, we reflect, we’re stilled by it. Talk about what the night sky means to you?‍

When I think of the night sky, it takes me back to being a little kid, looking at the stars, wondering. It always made me feel small but big at the same time. Small in the sense that there’s so much out there, it’s endless—even now, as NASA and science evolve each year, you learn more. But it’s big, too, in the sense that here I am, living on this floating rock, spinning at the perfect pace for me to have this atmosphere, this gravity, to be able to breathe and live. It makes you appreciate life. That’s the concept I take from looking up at the night sky—always wondering, always knowing there’s more to it, but also having appreciation for the life you live.

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What do you see when you look back at yourself as a little kid, dreaming of what might be? Did you dream of anything like this collaboration?

‍The best way I can explain it—people play Madden or NBA 2K, building a character, hitting all these milestones you want to reach. For me, to sit here and say I’m able to create and partner with a brand that’s been around for so long and is so iconic, it’s crazy to even think about, crazy to even say. When I put the watch on, that’s the biggest smile—the piece is beautiful, and I love it. But to me it’s like, wow, not many athletes or people can say they’ve accomplished something like this. I’ve done some pretty cool things, and I’m a competitor—there’s a lot on my list I want to accomplish—and to have this is pretty cool. I have kids, so I always want to do things they can remember, that will be there forever.

You’ve also made your mark on legacy in your playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. What’s that been like?

You always have an idea of where your journey is going to go—you try to play God, right? When I got drafted to the New York Giants, I had this vision, texting Odell [Beckham Jr.] about giving championships to the city and doing this and that. You realize you don’t hold the pen in your own book—you’re just part of it. Your story’s going to grow, and you have to take the punches and roll with it. My career in New York came up short, though I accomplished a lot of what I wanted to. 

When I got to the Eagles, I wanted to give it my all, give my best. I wasn’t able to accomplish a championship in New York, but I wanted to bring a Super Bowl to this city. I didn’t know it would happen that fast—we did it in year one, then came up short last year. But it’s a beautiful thing. I’m living my dream. I always wanted to play in the NFL, but did I imagine all the other stuff that would come with it—the Super Bowl, the Nike deal, creating my own shoe, partnering with Moser to create my own watch? You have an idea of that stuff happening, but until it actually happens, it’s more like a pinch-me moment.

Beyond your own experience, what’s it like seeing that stuff come to life? 

It’s awesome, and the biggest thing is being able to have an impact on others, especially kids. It’s funny—because I’m perceived to be pretty good at running a football, I can have an impact on a child’s life and inspire them to do anything they imagine themselves doing. I think that’s probably the biggest lesson of being a football player.

Talk about fatherhood. What have you learned as a dad?

Learned a lot. I was 20, turning 21—actually two days before I got drafted—when I had my daughter, Jada. She’s eight now, and I have three kids total. The biggest thing for me is I see my father and my mom in me—the way I react to things, the way I try to handle things with my kids. Sometimes it’s like, wow, that’s my dad coming through. But it’s cool, because I’d be crazy not to say this: the best part is raising a family with a partner, with my fiancée Anna. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I wouldn’t be in this position today without her—the care she has for me and for our children. She epitomizes what it means to be a mother and a partner, and that’s been a true blessing.

And I imagine it’s a nice to be able to step away from the field and enjoy that?

These kids put a smile on your face. My daughter’s at the age where sometimes she might frustrate you, but the other 90% of the time it’s super cool. I do the coaching thing, go to her sporting events, her piano recitals. My son, the baby, can’t do much yet—still looking for mama’s milk. My son Junior loves football, loves sports. I was working out running hills, and there’s a cool photo of him doing it with us, all of us surrounding him, and he’s just locked in. It really shows—he has no choice—he’s right there with us, soaking it all in. He’s surrounded by my teammates, his uncles. Not blood uncles, but other uncles. It takes a village. It’s pretty cool.

Photographed by Alvin Kean Wong

Styled by Joshua McPhearson

Written by Matthew Bedard

Barber: Speedy

Grooming: Rose Grace at Forward Artists

Flaunt Film: Aaron Wenck

Still Life Photographer: Danya Morrison

Photo Assistant: Joshua Holz

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