The house of MB&F introduces a new range of its imaginative Logical Machines.
As always, the latest iteration pays homage to the rich watchmaking traditions of the 18th and 19th centuries, by answering the question that Maximilian Büsser, the founder of MB&F, frequently asks himself: “What would MB&F watches have looked like they had been designed 100 years ago?” As we all know by now, the answer to this question is a retro futuristic range of avant-garde watches based on the classic principles of traditional Swiss watchmaking.
The latest edition of MB&F Legacy Machines is designed in collaboration with Büsser’s friend Alain Silberstein, an architect, designer, and owner of the eponymous watch brand that specializes in production of modern designs inspired by the German Bauhaus movement. This is the second time for Silberstein to collaborate with artists and designers of MB&F. The first collaboration happened in 2009, when MB&F asked Silberstein to create his very first piece of ‘Performance Art.’ The result was the HM2.2 ‘Black Box.’ In 2016, Silberstein has taken MB&F's classic Legacy Machine N°1 and imbued it with his distinctive style.
For the new MB&F Legacy Machine No. 1 Silberstein, the artist used his signature three bright colors and shapes: red, blue and yellow; triangle, rectangle and circle for the hands and dial markers. A cone, cube and sphere were used for the power reserve, and nicely contrasted against the subdued movement plate, to create an illusion of depth and dimension. The concave curve of the subdials conveys Silberstein’s philosophical approach – they attract and welcome the "eternal time" of the universe into the movement, which translates it and displays as two separate time zones.
As Silberstein explains: "I resonated with LM1 because by highlighting the balance – the mechanism that splits time into miniscule increments – it highlights how man converts eternal time into something he can use."
The reworked design of the new Legacy Machine stems out of Silberstein's criticisms of the classical Legacy Machine design. For example, the designer thought that the dual arcing bridges are taking too much visual attention from the indications. That is why he envisioned and created the transparent sapphire crystal balance bridge to support the balance wheel, and reveal it on the dial side, so that block "eternal time" could effortlessly reach the time indications. The hands are concave, so that they complement the curvature of the dials, while two crowns, with six-pointed star shapes, are formed by overlapping two triangles.
The new MB&F Legacy Machine No. 1 Silberstein is powered by LM1's ingenious three-dimensional movement. The balance wheel and spring at the heart of the movement have been inspired by the large slowly oscillating balance wheels of antique pocket watches. They beat at a much slower frequency of 18,000 vph compared with the 28,800 vph common today. The movement features two separate time zone indications, allowing the wearer to set both hours and minutes of each dial to whatever time he wishes. The movement is built from 279 individual components and 23 jewels, and it offers 45 hours of power reserve.
The new LM1 Silberstein is available in a limited edition of 3 x 12 pieces in red gold, titanium, or black PVD-treated titanium. The watches are held on matching hand-stitched calf leather straps, and water resistant to 300 meters. MB&F Legacy Machine No. 1 Silberstein is priced at $83,000 for titanium versions, and $92,000 for the red gold variant. Engraved in French on the case band between the lugs of LM1 Silberstein is a paraphrased quote from Gustave Flaubert: "Le vrai bonheur est d'avoir sa passion pour métier" – which translates roughly as, "Making a profession of your passion is true happiness”.
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