In term of independent watchmakers, they don’t come much more dynamic than MB & F. Certainly when I met Maximilian Büsser in Switzerland 18 months ago he was working the crowd at Baselworld. Certainly making the right impression at a major event like this can make a huge financial difference. Even though at this time MB & F didn’t have any new watches on display, it was fascinating to view their 10th Anniversary clock Melchior. This wonderful objet d’art was co created by L’Epée 1839 and contains 480 handcrafted individual components.
A few months ago I published an article about their LM1 Silberstein, which is a collaboration with French design Alain Silberstein. This is my favorite model from the highly successful series of Legacy Machine No.1 watches. In my review I mentioned that MB & F were not the most prolific watchmaker in comparison to other brands like Louis Moinet for example. Certainly these comments were not meant in a disparaging manner at all because as a designer I appreciate the time, effort, research, craftsmanship involved in an endeavor of this nature. However, since I made those observations the company have gained some momentum and have unveiled a brilliant new watch called the Horological Machine 8.
Aesthetically the Horological Machine 8 treads on familiar territory and has a similar appearance to Cabestan’s Triple Axis Tourbillon and Hautlence’s Vortex. Infact, the choice of materials and dimensions (49 x 51.5 x 19 mm) are also in line with the other models. Don’t get me wrong, there are many characteristics like the jumping hour indication that are different but the overall essence is the same. Probably it is the abundance of Sapphire crystal which shows the mechanical inner workings of the watch. Definitely that is not a bad thing because all three of these creations are spectacular in every way.
Of the two models my personal favorite is the 18k white gold/titanium (CAN-AM WT) version, which I feel is more cohesive. Priced for the connoisseur at: $82,000
