I have reported earlier on the Only Watch event in Monaco this coming september. Maximilian B?ɬ�sser introduced his special version of the Horological Machine No2, in order to get attention and financial help for kids suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

And although the goal is noble, I really think some of the contributors should have tried harder. This evening, I noticed the contribution by Omega on Roger Ruegger’s website and I was amazed by the laziness of this company from Bienne. The good thing about this watch is that it has the new inhouse Omega movement, Co-Axial 8501 and that there probably are people who are going to spend a lot of money on it for the benefit of DMD.

However, what on earth (or moon or mars) was Omega thinking? Although Omega has a special place in my collector’s heart (hence the Speedmaster coverage here), these kind of additions to the Omega collection makes me sad. A women’s watch measuring 55.5mm x 17.5mm, what’s that about? This is one of the most silly watches released this year. A diver’s watch that can go as deep as 1200 meters below surface, in 18kt red gold. Nice. The only thing missing here is the tourbillon. No wonder this is a one only watch.

Nevertheless, I hope the watch gets sold for a nice price (to whoever with a bad taste or to someone who just cares about the auction event and not about the watch) and that Omega learns from their mistakes and contribute with something more decent next year.

Some of the other contributions to the Only Watch event in Monaco are quite impressive, like the Patek Philippe Celestial or the Girard-Perregaux ww.tc Ceramic or of course my favorite, the MBandF HM2. Omega could have done much better, they really gave me hope during the last BaselWorld with their new Seamaster PloProf 1200. Why didn’t they take the opportunity to show what they are capable of? They have made so much nice and exclusive time pieces in the past, besides the regular Seamasters, Speedmasters and Constellations. For example, they made a very spectacular Speedmaster with skeleton dial in the past or a dress watch with a tourbillon. Why not now? Is it the financial crisis? Or were they just lazy and thought “look how popular the Chanel J12 is, so why not go with that?”? I really don’t know what they were thinking, but I think the marketing guy responsible for this watch should get fired.

On the bright side, they are making only one of them…

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 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.