Coming full circle
Even with round cases, MB&F watches are anything but conventional as the brand continues to innovate in high watchmaking
MOST watch lovers would not have fallen for MB&F’s creations, its founder Maximilian Busser had conceded when the independent watch brand, still fresh, rolled out its first few models. The latter looked more like time machines than timepieces.
But it’s okay, he said. MB&F’s production is small, only enough to satisfy the few who would love them.
That was some 15 years ago. MB&F’s big success since then must have piqued the interest of watch buyers in the wider market, buyers who would be more at home with the brand’s new watches showcased here.
Unlike the early horological machines that have carved a niche for MB&F in the luxury watch world, the new models have the appearance of the elegant timepieces from the old watch-making world. They come in the round case that most people are familiar with.
Displaying a bezel-free architecture, the cases identified the new watches (with the exception of the Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Platinum) to be part of MB&F’s EVO collection, which is targeted at watch fans living an active lifestyle.
The early horological machines remain sought after, in some corners of the market, for their quirky designs and also as works of creativity and innovation.
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The EVO watches, despite their more conventional look, share these same traits.
Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO
This is essentially the same perpetual calendar as the Legacy Machine Perpetual. Nearly a decade after its launch, in 2015, the latter remains an exceptional complication for MB&F to re-release it in a new case in the EVO series.
It in fact first reappeared in 2020, also in the EVO line, in a zirconium and a titanium case – in metals more resistant than stainless steel. The titanium case went with a green dial-plate.
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The latest LM Perpetual EVO is also in titanium, but has a new icy blue dial plate. Like the earlier versions, it comes with an integrated rubber strap.
The 44 millimetre-wide case of the three LM Perpetual EVO models is unchanged from the 2015 original, but its case design features a no-bezel build, with the domed sapphire crystal fused directly to the case. This more open design offers greater legibility for the calendar indications as well as the movement parts.
While the LM Perpetual EVO does not look much different from most perpetual calendar watches, its mechanisms are constructed differently, which makes the LM Perpetual EVO more efficient and reliable than the traditional perpetual calendar.
MB&F said the traditional perpetual calendar assumes all months are 31 days long and, when the month has fewer than 31 days, it has to quickly skip through the extra dates to arrive at the 1st of the new months. This can damage the mechanism which requires expensive repairs.
The LM Perpetual EVO has a built-in safety feature to prevent the damage. Also, it takes 28 to be the default number of days in the month. It then adds the extra days as required by each individual month. This ensures that each month has exactly the right number of days.
The LM Perpetual further allows quick-setting of the year so that the four-year leap year cycle is displayed correctly, whereas the traditional perpetual calendar requires scrolling through up to 47 months to arrive at the right month of the year.
Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO
This timepiece comes in two versions – a Ti version that has a 44 mm Grade 5 titanium case with pastel blue baseplate and a dark grey dial, and a Beverly Hills limited edition of 25 pieces. The latter also has a 44 mm Grade 5 titanium case, but with black baseplate and blue dial.
Both watches are powered by a hand-winding movement with double mainspring barrels and 72 hours of power reserve.
The LM Split Escapement EVO, which first surfaced in the Legacy Machine series, is a showcase of the innovations made in the LM Perpetual, specifically in the display of the brand’s signature flying balance wheel in the centre of the dial.
In making the LM Perpetual, MB&F found there was not enough room for the balance wheel and the escapement. The solution was to create the world’s longest balance staff that would traverse the entire movement, leaving the balance wheel on its own, on the watch’s front and moving the remaining parts of the escapement to the opposite side of the movement. Hence the name “Split Escapement”.
Apart from the EVO case (grade 5 titanium), the LM Split Escapement EVO differs from the original versions in that the entire mechanism is rotated close-wise by 30 degrees, with the crown at 4.30 instead of 2 o’clock. This changes totally the symmetry of the watch, giving it an entirely new character.
Legacy Machine Sequential EVO
Released two years ago, this 44 mm timepiece encased in zirconium is MB&F’s first chronograph. It is fitted with a groundbreaking “Twinverter” binary switch for multiple timing modes, enabling the Sequential EVO to perform measurements no other chronograph wristwatch, however complicated, can do.
Among the measurements this winner of the GPHG “Aiguille d’Or” – the most coveted prize in watchmaking – can do is to measure the duration of multiple events with separate starting and end points, even when the events overlap in timing. It can also measure the individual durations of two events that start at the same time, but have different end points.
The Sequential EVO dial, which is available in atomic orange or coal black dial plate, has two chronograph displays. Each can be started, stopped and reset fully independently of the other. The watch has four chronograph pushers. A fifth pusher, the “Twinverter”, controls both chronograph systems.
Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Platinum
MB&F’s first chronograph, the award-winning LM Sequential EVO, had included a flyback system in its design, but it was very complicated and there were many “unproven elements in play”. So the Sequential EVO was rolled out without the flyback function.
Two years later, after more testing, MB&F has produced a robust flyback system it is happy with to be added to its chronograph. On top of the previous timing modes typically associated with motor racing, the Sequential Flyback has added the flyback function originally conceived for pilots, bringing the Sequential into the world of aviation.
The new 44 mm Flyback edition comes with a sky blue dial plate in the more classic Legacy Machine styling, encased in platinum with a white lacquered dial. It has the same layout as the Sequential EVO, with two chronograph displays. With the flyback function, the reset pushers also trigger it if the corresponding chronograph is running.
Combining the new flyback function with the other timing modes of the Sequential, the Sequential Flyback is even more useful. For instance, a pilot can keep track of overall flight time on one chronograph, while using the other chronograph to accurately time each leg with the flyback function.
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