Today, MB&F unveiled the Horological Machine No2-SV (Sapphire Vision) according to plan. Since early 2008, I am following Maximilian Büsser and Friends with great interest and have reported several times on their extreme cool creations. My personal favorites are MB&F’s (including Sage Vaughn) HM2 contribution to the Monaco Only Watch event and the recently introduced HM 2.2 BlackBox model that MB&F created together with Alain Silberstein.

On the 6th of January, MB&F announced the upcoming introduction of a 25 piece only HM2, which is today, on January 12th of 2010. The HM2 SV edition gives away part of the secrets and inner workings of their Horological Machine Number 2 by using sapphire crystal to cover the entire front of the timepiece as you can see on the picture above.

Sapphire’s hardness is second only to diamond, which makes the whole top half of the case (the most exposed half) extremely scratch-resistant. This is a timepiece that will keep its good looks for a very, very long time. The 3.6mm thick sapphire crystal consist out of a top plate that has been constructed out of three separate parts. It takes up to 55 hours to create just a single top plate of sapphire. Actually, Stettler in Lyss (Switzerland) was the only manufacturer of sapphire crystals that accepted the challenge and managed to fulfil this task in a perfect way, so I guess they are worth mentioning here

To ensure maximum light and visibility through to the movement, the two dials – minutes and date – are also in sapphire, sapphire disks lightly brushed to a perfect translucency ensuring full legibility of the polished silvered numbers while allowing maximum light through to the engine beneath.

The movement of the HM2-SV, has been developed by master watchmaker J.M Wiederrecht, it feature an instantaneous jump hour, concentric retrograde minutes, retrograde date and a bi-hemisphere moon phase. One of the technical highlights of this timepiece is the highly energy-efficient jump hour/retrograde mechanism developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, which uses his exclusive (and patented) asymmetrical-tooth gear wheels to ensure high precision and play-free functionality.

The price of the HM2 – SV is unknown yet, but I am pretty sure it won’t be in my personal collection any time soon. At least I have some specification of this watch for you:

Movement:

Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor designed functionality regulated and powered by a Girard-Perregaux oscillator and gear train
Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph
Blued 22k rose gold Battle-axe automatic winding rotor
Number of components: 349 including 44 jewels

Functions:

Left dial: Retrograde Date and Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase
Right Dial: Jumping Hours and Concentric Retrograde Minutes

Case:

Sapphire/titanium limited to 25
Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 59mm x 38mm x 13mm
Water resistant to 30 meters (3 ATM)
Number of parts: 120 (case only)

Sapphire crystals:

Sapphire case top and crystals over the dual dials treated with anti-reflective treatment on both faces. Display back with anti-reflective treatment on single face.

Dials:

Brushed sapphire and metallic blue disks

Strap & Buckle:

Black hand-stitched alligator with 18k white gold & titanium folding buckle

Presentation box:

Precision engineered aluminium and leather instrument case featuring an integrated Rüeger thermometer

Tom Mulraney of The Watch Lounge interviewed Maximilian Büsser, friend of the show, which is definitely worth reading! I covered MB&F’s projects a lot during the past year(s), including my personal favorites HM2 ‘Only Watch’ and his latest, the HM2.2 ‘Black Box’ that he created together with Alain Silberstein.

Click here to read the interview that Tom had with Maximilian Büsser.

Friend of the show, Maximilian Büsser, just introduced the HM2.2 ‘Black Box’. A redesign of the famous Horological Machine No.2 that he did together with watch design icon Alain Silberstein.

Maximilian Büsser wrote in his e-mail that “In fact my first encounter with an Alain Silberstein watch dates back to my student years over 20 years ago: I was driving down a German Autobahn and overtook a BMW Z1 with it’s doors down and the driver wearing first world war pilot jacket, goggles and leather helmet – and a Silberstein Krono on his wrist. A sight I have never been able to forget…” . So, a little more than a year back, I asked Alain if he would honour me with a redesign of our HM2. Well, he not only readily accepted, but floored me again ! Where I was expecting his signature colours, he came up with the “Black Box”. HM2.2 is in fact where both our universes join – It’s a little unnerving and it is beautiful (at least in my eyes !).

I think both watch designers can be proud of the outcome of their joint venture on the HM2.

Whilst the design of this time piece is still very HM2, Silberstein’s influences are clearly visible by the Bauhaus-look applied to the watch. Silberstein wanted the HM2.2 to be a combination of pure geometry of the Bauhaus design with the user-friendliness of the miniature box cameras of the ’40s.

Also, the typical Alain Silberstein colors are applied to the Hm2.2, as well as the square, circel and triangle. Although it doesn’t sound very respectful, I always refer to the Sony Playstation controller that also used these icons. Alain Silberstein uses these icons to shape the pushers and crown on his own time pieces (as pictured below), while the HM2.2 carries them on the second dial of the watch.

The rectangular case is carved out of a solid block of titanium, resting on the original substructure. This multi-layered construction gives the watch its powerful, richly engineered profile. The simplicity of the case itself is deceptive: Alain Silberstein works with the light, like a diamond-cutter, to achieve a play of mat and polished surfaces when the watch is worn. The case exists out of 89 parts.

The titanium case is treated with an exclusive PVD coating incorporating the famous silicium material, resulting in a soft touch and particularly intense black colour. The vibrant red numerals, markers and hands are coated in Superluminova for easy night reading.

The back of the case carries the signatures of both watch designers. The MB&F logo and the ‘hand written’ Alain Silberstein signature.

The side of the case has an inscription that has the following sentence: “Le vrai bonheur est d’avoir sa passion pour métier” (“True happiness is having one’s passion for a profession”). To quote the press release: That is Alain Silberstein’s motto, and he found his soul mates in MB&F. He says that the whole point was the pleasure of working together, and Maximilian Büsser agrees. “Alain is a true artist, but he never takes himself too seriously. He has kept that childlike spirit of adventure, and that is something that we at MB&F hold dear”.

The movement inside the watch (see picture above) has been designed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor and is powered by a oscillator and gear train by Girard-Perregaux. It ticks at 28.800 beats per hour and features a 22 karat blued red gold winding rotor. The movement consists of 349 parts, including the 44 jewels.

The two dials of the watch show several functions, namely: the retrograde date and moon phase on the left dial and jumping hours and retrograde minutes on the right dial.

Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 59mm x 38mm x 13mm.

More information can be found here.

I do not have to think long before I can do a write-up on Maximilian Büsser & Friends, not in the last place because Maximilian Büsser has been ‘a friend of the show’ since some time now. MB&F watches are something special, something out of the ordinary. The same goes for MB&F’s contribution to the annual Only Watch, to be held in Monaco on 24 September 2009.

This year’s goal of the Only Watch event is to get attention (and financial resources) for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This is a serious illness (genetic disorder) that affects boys only and shows itself by progressive weakening of muscles. Unfortunately, there is no cure yet, and eventually this illness will result in cardiac problems that will become fatal as the boys are getting older. Here in Europe, about 30.000 boys are suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. You can read more about this terrible disease over at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchenne_muscular_dystrophy

One of the most important breakthroughs that have been made is the development of a surgical technique called Saut d’Exon or exon skipping, as it is being called in English. You can find a lot about exon skipping for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy via Google and I also was able to find a few (video) interviews with experts on the exon skipping surgery. Among them is Luis Garcia, who developed this technique together with his team. You can find the interview videos at: http://www.myology2008.org/en/news/112.html

Max Büsser, his team (Friends) and Sage Vaughn (an American painter) worked together to be able to contribute with a special watch for Only Watch later on this year. I am almost sure, and without seeing any of the other watches that will be contributed, that this watch will be the Only Watch that captures a lot of emotion that comes with the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy illness.

There is a great press release of this special Horological Machine No2, but I think these pictures will do the trick as well.

As you will see, the movement is surrounded by 3D barb wire,which – and I quote Maximilian Büsser’s e-mail – symbolizes the illness trapping the child’s body. In Sage’s works the butterly represents innocence and hope, and here the blued gold butterfly has one of its wings clipped, because unfortunately for the moment, there is no cure for children suffering from DMD…

Of course, I hope that every contributing watch will fetch a great amount of money in support of the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy illness and R&D of a cure, but this MB&F HM2 with the symbolic butterfly and it’s clipped wing is already my favorite time piece of the event.

Yesterday, I was happy to find an e-mail from Maximilian Büsser in my inbox. He is pre-releasing some ‘SIHH’ news on the internet already. Just recently, I posted news on his Horological Machine No.3. However, he now introduces the Ceramic model of the HM2. There are two versions of the new HM2: a ceramic with red gold (HM2-CR) and ceramic with titanium (HM2-CTi).

The HM2-CR is a limited edition of 33 pieces (and only 11 produced in 2009) and the HM2-CTi is a limited edition of 66 pieces (and only 22 produced this year).

Ceramic is quite ‘da bomb’ in the horological world lately, and MB&Friends are also embracing this material for their watches. As MB&F writes in their official press release:

“Ceramic: there is nothing quite like it. In fact, nothing that even comes close! From exquisite 5,000 year old pottery to 300 km/hour brake disks on Formula One racing cars; from the aqueducts of the Roman Empire to 1,600°C heat shields on the space shuttle, ceramic’s extreme versatility is complimented an incredible ability to shrug of time and adversity.”

To be able to create the Ceramic parts of this watch, diamond cutting tools are nescessary equipment for MB&F.

Enough talk, here are some pictures of the new MB&F creations:

Although I am way too young to wear gold , I do love the HM2-CR – that’s the ceramic with red gold – with its nice color contrast. The retrograde date and bi-hemisphere moon phase is on the left dial and the (jump) hour and minutes (also retrograde) are on the right dial. No wonder the case is almost 6 centimeters in width! The jump hour/retrograde mechanism developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht.

The SIHH is worth visiting for this Horological Machine only! I am eagerly waiting for the first pictures of this watch in the flesh.

Movement used in the HM2-CTi and HM2-CR is a:
Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor designed functionality regulated and powered by a Girard-Perregaux oscillator and gear train
Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph
22k rose gold Double Hakken automatic winding rotor

Number of components: 349 including 44 jewels

Case dimensions:
Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 59mm x 38mm x 13mm
Water resistant to 30 meters (3 ATM)
Number of parts: 102 (case only)

What do you think of these haute horlogerie timepieces? Exceptional watchmaking or too haut for you? Please leave a comment!