MB&F goes back to the future with HM12 The Guardian

[SINGAPORE] Tony Stark would probably love to have the new MB&F horological machine to go with his Iron Man suits. The watch, a 60-second flying tourbillon with jumping hours and trailing minutes, comes in the shape of a robot’s head complete with a protective “face shield”. A perfect fit for the Marvel superhero’s armour suit.

Charris Yadigaroglou, MB&F’s head of marketing communications, wouldn’t deny that Iron Man had crossed the minds of the creators of HM12 The Guardian, but there were also other influences.

The idea for HM12, as usual, came from Maximilian Busser, founder and creative director of the avant-garde watch brand. However, it was another Max – Maximilian Maertens – who helped turn the idea into reality.

Busser got the ball rolling when he casually said to Maertens one day: “Wouldn’t it be cool if a watch could be the head of a robot?”. He then stepped back for the young designer to assume the role of architect and guardian of the project.

HM12 was born after “five intense years of creation, engineering, redesigning, problem-solving and a few headaches”, in Yadigaroglou’s words. 

The watch, launched on Jun 10, embodies the visions of the two men behind its design.

For Busser, the idea springs from his “early memories of robots and toys from the science-fiction imagery of the 1970s and 1980s, when machines were imagined as characters, explorers or guardians”. Maertens was influenced by the “Transformers animated series, and films like I, Robot, where robots evolve, adapt and take on more complex roles” that came later.

“HM12 sits at the intersection of these imaginations across different eras,” Yadigaroglou said in an interview with The Business Times.

Back to MB&F’s roots

The timepiece is a key milestone in MB&F’s creative story. Though Maertens has been with MB&F for eight years, his work has mostly revolved around clocks and music boxes.

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HM12 is his first watch collaboration with the MB&F founder. It’s still early for the 58-year-old Busser to retire, but HM12 may also signal the first step in passing the torch to Maertens, who is seen as Busser’s creative heir.

Originally meant to be unveiled in 2025 to mark the closing of MB&F’s first 20 years, the new watch is now deemed an appropriate kick-off for the brand’s third decade.

“It’s a back-to-the-roots piece,” said Yadigaroglou, noting that HM12 recalls the radical horological machines of MB&F’s early days – which the brand is still known for. It also serves as a reminder of why MB&F exists: to create mechanical objects with a soul, a sense of wonder and strong substance.

While HM12 clearly follows the footsteps of MB&F’s most unconventional timepieces, beneath its character and playfulness lies one of the most complex mechanical constructions undertaken by the brand.

The watch’s face is built around the two “eyes”, the bidirectional jumping hours and trailing minutes. The tourbillon forms the “brain”. One side of the double-sided micro-rotor, in the shape of the MB&F battleaxe, sits where the mouth would be.

The titanium-and-sapphire case is an intricate architecture of curves, surfaces, finishes and mobile lugs. One of the two crowns is for winding and time-setting; the other turns on the face shield. The shield, which can cover the face fully or partially, is a technical feat built with 200 components – a third of the watch movement’s 646 components.

While HM12’s front is futuristic, its back is the work of classical watchmaking. The bridges and barrels flaunt traditional hand-finishing. The flip side of the rotor reveals a guilloche dome crafted by renowned watchmaker Kari Voutilainen.

Off the wrist, the watch can be mounted on a stainless steel mechanical body to become the head and face of a 38.2 cm-tall robot called The Guardian. The robot has moving arms and is made of 755 components – more than the watch itself (730). It is also armed with a mechanical thermometer, a hidden loupe and an ultraviolet flashlight.

HM12 The Guardian comes in blue, green and purple. Each is limited to 12 pieces. Price: S$489,000 with tax.