MB&F Unveils Red Gold Version Of the ‘Space Pirate’ Watch

The HM6 RT is newest version of the Horologic Machine 6 “Space Pirate” timepiece line. The HM6 was introduced in 2014 to lots of international acclaim for its design and functionality. It was recently awarded the “Best of the Best” prize at the Red Dot international design competition—one of only 81 products to obtain the highest-ranking award among some 5,000 submissions. 

This new timepiece is housed in a case made of what the company calls “5N+” red gold. The more copper you add to yellow gold the redder it becomes. The amount of red in yellow gold is benchmarked by a grading system. Rose or pink gold is usually defined as 3N and 4N gold. Red gold is 5N, typically consisting of 75 percent gold and 25 percent copper. 

The 3D "engine" that powers the watch.

MB&F’s 5N+ gold is 5N red gold mixed with a small amount of palladium. Adding this alloy eliminates, or at least reduces, the copper tarnishing, the company said. The case of HM6 RT is machined from two solid ingots of 18k 5N+ red gold. 

The case looks a bit like a spacecraft. This was by design. Science Fiction is often an inspiration for Maximilian Büsser, the company’s founder. In this instance the case was inspired by a Japanese anime TV series called “Captain Future,” and the captain’s spacecraft, Comet. The curved lines of the HM No.6 give it a softer, more organically shaped appearance than its predecessors. This was inspired by the biomorphism art movement, which uses design elements based on the shapes of living organisms.

The underside of the watch

The case is topped by five sapphire domes. The two domes on the bottom of the watch show the hours and minutes. The two on top display twin turbines for the three-dimensional automatic movement (or "engine" as MB&F refers to it) developed for HM6 by MB&F with David Candaux Horlogerie Créative. 

The center dome contains a 60-second flying tourbillon that reveals part of the movement. In order to reduce the amount of sunlight that enters the movement through the tourbillon (thus possibly damaging the mechanism) a titanium cover was developed that is manually operated by a crown at 9 o’clock. 

Most of the movement can be seen on the reverse side of the watch through a much large sapphire circular sapphire glass window. The four domes for the time and the turbines are replicated on the underside of the case. 

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The Nixie Machine at MB&F’s MAD Gallery

The Nixie Machine

MB&F is a company that has built its reputation on radically challenging traditional watchmaking in appearance and function. 

The small, lean young firm, founded by Maximilian Büsser, is equally known for its partnerships (the “F” in the name stands for “friends”) as much as for its innovative products. The company teams with independent horological professionals, artists, craftsmen, retailers, jewelers, established companies and others to create their limited editions timepieces, known as “horological machines.”

Extending the limits of watchmaking even further, the brand produced a table clock inspired from Star Trek and a music box in the shape of a futuristic spaceship that plays modern rock songs and the theme from the Star Wars movie. In both cases the company teamed with long-established makers of these items. In the former it was table clock manufacturer, L’Epée 1839, and the latter it was luxury music box maker, Reuge. 

In 2011, the company took the next logical step and opened a commercial gallery in Geneva near its headquarters that specializes in contemporary kinetic art, named the M.A.D. Gallery (mechanical art devices). I recently received a tour of the place from Juliette Duru, the gallery’s new communications manager, and Charris Yadigaroglou, MB&F chief communications officer. It’s not a large space but one could easily spend hours studying and even playing with the exhibits.

The item of the moment is the Nixie Machine by German artist Frank Buchwald (above and top photo). It’s a sculptural clock that tells the time using six glowing 1960s Nixie tubes. A Nixie tube is an electronic device that is a variant of a neon lamp, which displays numbers and other information. It also is known as a cold cathode display. 

The six tubes are presented as three pairs for hours, minutes and seconds; or day, month and year. They rest atop a long burnished steel and brushed brass structure with four extended legs. The clock consists of no fewer than 350 components hand-made by Buchwald. It is a available in a limited edition of 12. How it keeps accurate time is a mystery to me. 

It is by no means the only item to see at the gallery. There are many more art pieces of interest, including fingers made of iron that move at the flick of a switch, hand-made motorcycles that are both a work of art and riding machines, and a futuristic looking electric guitar that is considered by some to be the finest in the world. Of course there’s also an extensive collection of MB&F timepieces.

 
Among my favorites was the A.W.E. (Automated Winding Engine) by Martin Smith with Laikingland, a creative label based in the UK and The Netherlands. It’s a mechanical watch winder that is a large robotic arm powered by cam driven motors, gearboxes and safety sensors. It goes through a long elaborate series of playful movements to wind the watch. 3D printing was used to create the elbow joint and the sculptured forearm and fingers.

 
Also there was a disk made of watch components that was spinning and floating over a teak table. It is called the Apesanteur II by Quentin Carnaille. The artist describes the piece as “an invisible link between astronomy and mechanical watchmaking.” Magnets are used inside the disk and the teak base to allow the disk to levitate. 

In 2014, MB&F opened its second M.A.D. Gallery in Taipei, Taiwan. The concept seems to be ready-made for further expansion. 

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MB&F Teams with L’Epée 1839 to Create Star Trek Themed Table Clock

Starfleet Machine in Dark Face

MB&F—in what is becoming a legacy for this young, innovative company—has again teamed up with a traditional mechanical movement manufacturer to create a bold concept in design and function. The “Starfleet Machine,” is a traditionally functional table clock with a futuristic appearance.

The clock combines the innovative design skills of the multi-award-winning MB&F (known for its cutting-edge “horological machines”) with the traditional fine craftsmanship and engineering skills of table clock manufacturer, L’Epée 1839. It was unveiled by both companies at Baselworld 2014. The inspiration of the clock is based on the MB&F’s founder, Maximilian Büsser’s passion for high-end mechanical watchmaking and Science Fiction, in this case the Star Trek television and film franchise. The idea Büsser said was “to boldly go where no clock designer had gone before.”

This introduction follows last year’s Baselworld release of the “Music Machine,” which was the first piece by the Geneva-based firm that wasn’t a timepiece but a music box, created with luxury music box maker, Reuge. It was shaped like a futuristic spaceship and the songs it played included the Star Wars and Star Trek themes.

Charris Yadigaroglou, MB&F chief communications officer, said during a meeting at Baselworld that the Starfleet Machine will be available in May and will be limited to 175 pieces in light and dark versions. Its cost is 28,000 Swiss francs ($31,763).

The C-shaped totally exposed and minimalistic Starfleet Machine looks different from any table clock ever made. The highly visible in-house movement has a power reserve of 40 days. (“You need a large fuel tank for long space voyages,” the company said.) Hours and minutes are indicated on the central black dome by hand-polished hands that follow the dome’s curved contours. Behind that, a smaller rotating dome, accompanied by a revolving “radar dish,” provides a view of remaining energy: five bars indicates the movement is fully wound; one bar means it has eight days of remaining power, which is the maximum power reserve on most table clocks.

Below 12 o’clock on the central hour-minute dome are double retrograde seconds in the form of what the company describes as “turret-mounted laser cannons.” The red-tipped cannons start in parallel and cross over one another before rapidly flying out again, an action marking off 20-second intervals.

L’Epée’s caliber has five main spring barrels that usually equips vertically standing clocks, but here it is laid flat. The escapement platform also had to be set horizontally.

Every component (except the 48 jewels) of the palladium-treated brass movement is designed and manufactured at L’Epée’s Swiss atelier. The gears and mainspring barrels are on full display due to the skeletonised mainplate and concentric C-shaped external structure in stainless steel. the clock can rest on both ends of its “vertical landing gear;” useful for turning it over to wind the mainspring and set the time.

It is covered with a glass dome, which isn’t shown in the photograph nor was it on display at Baselworld, Yadigaroglou said. 

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