Just weeks after releasing its show-stopping Aquapod, MB&F last week updated its Legacy Machine No. 2 (LM2) with a lighter (titanium) and slightly thinner case, a stunning new dial color and a few cosmetic alterations.
You’ll recall that the original LM2 debuted in 2013 with a choice of a red gold, white gold and platinum case. We told you all about it here.
This latest version of the LM2 is a limited edition of eighteen pieces made of grade 5 titanium (a titanium Ti-6Al-4V alloy) and a blue-green dial (which is actually the movement’s top plate). If that slightly metallic sheen looks familiar, it’s because the color was obtained using the same CVD (chemical vapor deposition) technique MB&F used for last year’s LM1 M.A.D. Dubai.
But there are more changes beyond the dial/top plate hue and the case material. The watch’s dramatic dual “flying” balance wheels are now secured by rounded, mirror polished bridges rather than the hollowed and brushed arcs seen on the earlier examples. Likewise, the bezel is polished, which serves to better reflect the almost iridescent blue-green dial. And finally, using titanium to encase the exquisite movement made by Jean-François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen, MB&F shaved a full millimeter from the thickness of the watch.
The remainder of the watch retains its retro-futuristic architecture. At the top of the dial you’ll find the familiar white lacquer subdial with blued gold hour and minute hands, both balanced visually by the raised differential at 6 o’clock. Flanking this are the two flying independent balances and their escapements, dramatically towering over the stage.
Recall that these balances each beat at their own rate while the planetary differential below continuously averages out these two rates to feed power to the hands. The MB&F LM2 continues to be a horological tour de force, here presented in a pleasing new limited edition of eighteen.
Price: $138,000
SPECIFICATIONS: MB&F Legacy Machine No 2 Titanium
(Legacy Machine N°2 Ti is a limited edition of 18 pieces in a titanium Ti-6Al-4V alloy case.)
Movement:
Three-dimensional horological movement developed exclusively for MB&F by Jean-François Mojon at Chronode, and Kari Voutilainen. Manual winding with single mainspring barrel
Power reserve: 45 hours
Differential: Planetary differential comprising 3 gears and 5 pinions
Balance wheels: Two bespoke 11mm balance wheels with four traditional regulating screws floating above the movement and dials
Balance spring: traditional Breguet curve terminating with stud holder
Balance frequency: 18,000bph/2.5Hz
Number of components: 241
Number of jewels: 44.
Superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th century style; polished internal bevel angles highlighting handcraft; polished bevels; Geneva waves; gold chatons with polished countersinks; hand-made engravings
Functions: Hours and minutes, Planetary differential transmits the average rate of the two regulators to the single gear train.
Case: Titanium Ti-6Al-4V alloy (grade 5)
Dimensions: 44 mm x 19 mm
Number of components: 41
Water resistance: 30 meters
Sapphire crystals: High domed sapphire crystal on top and sapphire crystal on back with anti-reflective coating on both sides.
Strap & Buckle: Black hand-stitched alligator strap with titanium tang buckle.
About MB&F
After two decades of experience in haute horology, Maximilian Büsser concluded that he most enjoyed the projects in which he had the privilege of working with talented independent watchmakers on exciting concept watch projects. Büsser created MB&F – Maximilian Büsser & Friends – an atelier dedicated solely to designing, developing and crafting a small series of radical concept watches replica with talented professionals and friends. MB&F is not a watch brand, it is an artistic community and micro-engineering concept laboratory in which a changing collective of horological professionals are assembled to design and craft radical Horological Machines.