Architecture for the wrist: MB&F Horological Machine Nº11 Architect

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MB&F comes today with another surprising and innovative wrist machine inspired by the mid-to-late 1960s architecture – the MB&F Horological Machine Nº11 Architect. “What if a house was a watch?” nested in the mind of Max Büsser and the project made the light of day in 2018 with the first blueprints by Eric Giroud – transparency and light, interior volumes that interact with exterior perspectives.

The new concept is available in fifty pieces: 25 in titanium with a blue dial plate and 25 with a red gold dial plate. Visiting the M.A.D.HOUSE, Diana and I had the chance to discover and enjoy one of the two versions of the MB&F Horological Machine Nº11 Architect, in blue. Please be advised that the photographed piece is a prototype (some details might differ in the final product). Also, the watch was not specially prepared (cleaned) for a photo shoot.

The history of the concept revolves (literally and figuratively speaking) around an architectural style that separates the living spaces in “pods” destined for a unique function. A natural and organic way of living that should get us closer to the stars and to the Earth itself. In the modern world, we tend to do everything and everywhere, forgetting that some things and activities should be separate – for our own good.

Before entering the technical details, please enjoy the hands-on video and wrist-roll below:

In comparison, a home seems easy to build

As one can easily observe, the shape and function of the MB&F HM11 Architect are complex – a new set of challenges to conquer: a new movement, a new original case shape, and a never-before-seen concept. The case measures just 42mm in diameter and pushes 23mm in height. It is pretty small for such an elaborate design. The case is manufactured in titanium and exhibits superb polished surfaces with brushed accents on the subtle underneath lugs.

Although for the child in me the HM11 is more of a flying saucer, the watch is built around the central flying tourbillon that forms the heart of the house. A double-domed sapphire crystal reveals the four-leaves cage rotating with its beating heart. A cross delimits the four parabolic rooms holding a function each. The entire construction rotates in eight steps, allowing the wearer to have one of the rooms or corridors in the desired direction. The 45° turns are signalled by a haptic response that secures the position through a mechanical click. Each room is built similarly, with glossy white walls and an entire sapphire crystal window pane.

The time-telling room uses central rod-mounted orbs to serve as hour markers. The register uses larger and lighter polished aluminium orbs for each quarter and smaller and darker polished titanium orbs for the rest. This mute contrast is brought to life by the red-tipped arrows serving as hands for hours and minutes display.

Due to the complexity of the case and movement, the assembly of the indicators and external functions need to be executed with the mainplate already mounted in the case. In this way, the case and the movement are built at the same time.

The power reserve of 96 hours is displayed in another room, built in the style of the time-telling chamber. A red pointed arrow indicates towards five orbs with incremental sizes, the 2.4mm polished aluminium representing the maximum winding of the barrel.

The next room might come as a surprise – rarely used in watchmaking as a complication, a mechanical system with a bimetallic strip thermometer. Available in °C or °F indications, the watchmaker calibrates this detail in-house. That also means that if a client buys a watch with another scale than the desired one, the watch can be sent to MB&F for recalibration and scale change.

Last but not least, the fourth chamber is occupied by a tiny round badge engraved with the MB&F battle-axe motif, set into the sapphire-crystal window. Pulled with a click, it represents the crown used to set the time.

The complex shapes of the crystal and all the gaskets necessary to hermetically close the case were not possible a few years back. There are six externally facing sapphire crystal components, the largest of which consists of two separate sapphire crystal domes stacked concentrically to form the transparent atrium roof of HM11. The upper caps of each of the four MB&F HM11 Architect rooms are machined and finished separately since they can be affixed only after the movement has been installed. Ensuring the integrity of the case and the movement within are 19 gaskets offering a water resistance rating of 2ATM (20 metres). Just for the crown were necessary eight gaskets. The largest case gasket necessitates a unique mould.

Yet another new calibre

A new movement with strange construction powers the HM11. Due to all the “exterior” indications, the movement offers a large estate for studying. The flying tourbillon with the balance ticking at 2.5Hz (18,000 vph) can be seen over the plates and bridges that are coloured with a physical vapour deposition (PVD) process in ozone blue or the warm solar hues of 5N gold.

A small aperture on the back reveals the ratcheting system that winds the 96-hour power reserve barrel. The case itself winds the barrel with increased efficiency. A standard watch with a power reserve of 48 hours requires between 20 and 30 full turns of the crown to be fully wound. HM11’s power reserve can be completely rewound after just ten clockwise rotations of the case.

The movement also innovates in the shock-proofing direction: it incorporates a full-system dampener consisting of four high-tension suspension springs between the movement and the lower-case shell. The idea is partially inherited from the MB&F’s EVO-system but offers only vertical dampening.

Regarding the details, we cannot skip the automotive-inspired radiator block from the cross-bridge. All the details are fantastically executed. MB&F uses the one-watch-one-watchmaker policy. That means that a single watchmaker executes each watch from start to finish. The collector can meet and greet his watchmaker. Moreover, he can ask the same watchmaker to care for his watch. Or he can ask for a specific person to assemble his watch.

Conclusions

Once again, Maximilian Büsser invites for reflection. He touches aspects of life in a way that most of us forget how to. Most of the previous pieces were inspired by his childhood hopes and dreams. Still, the Horological Machine Nº11 Architect is the discovery of an adult who learned to recognise the beauty and the quality of life. It is simply another perspective of the creative adult – the child who survived.

HM11 Architect uses each function in a very distinct and delimited way. There is no chance to combine or mix but a chance of a choice. A good argument for daily life: when you choose to do something, do it correctly and place it – when in the bedroom, sleep; when in the kitchen, cook and eat; when with friends, have fun; when at work, do your job the best you can. HM11 should be a life philosophy.

MB&F Horological Machine Nº11 Architect is a superb wrist companion. And I am not referring to the beautiful design and its architectural inspiration but to the pragmatic wearing style. Diana and I both appreciated the size and weight for daily wear. The spinning house is a pleasant way to wind the watch and escape from the surrounding daily life in a small bubble in space and time.

MB&F Horological Machine Nº11 Architect Technical Specifications

HM11 Architect is available:
– in titanium with blue dial plate limited to 25 pieces;
– in titanium with red gold dial plate limited to 25 pieces.

Engine

• Three-dimensional horological engine featuring bevel gears, composed of a flying tourbillon, hours and minutes, a power reserve indicator and temperature measurement, developed in-house by MB&F.
• Mechanical movement, manual winding (by turning the entire case clockwise).
• Power reserve: 96 hours
• Balance frequency: 18’000bph/2.5Hz
• Plates: Blue and 5N PVD treatment
• Number of movement components: 364 components
• Number of jewels: 29 jewels

Functions/indications

• Hour and minutes
• Power reserve
• Temperature (-20 to 60° Celsius, or 0 to 140° Fahrenheit)

Case

• Grade 5 titanium
• Display markers: conical rods in stainless steel (Ø 0.50mm to 0.60mm), darker beads in polished titanium and lighter beads in polished aluminium (Ø 1.30mm to 2.40mm).
• Dimensions: 42mm diameter x 23mm height
• Number of case components: 92 components
• Water resistance: 20m / 68’ / 2ATM

Sapphire crystals

• Sapphire crystals on top, back, and on each chamber-display treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces
• Sapphire crown

Strap & Buckle

• Rubber strap – white for the blue model and khaki green for the red gold model
• Titanium tang buckle.

MB&F – GENESIS OF A CONCEPT LABORATORY
Founded in 2005, MB&F is the world’s first-ever horological concept laboratory. With almost 20 remarkable calibres forming the base of the critically acclaimed Horological and Legacy Machines, MB&F is continuing to follow Founder and Creative Director Maximilian Büsser’s vision of creating 3-D kinetic art by deconstructing traditional watchmaking.
After 15 years managing prestigious watch brands, Maximilian Büsser resigned from his Managing Director position at Harry Winston in 2005 to create MB&F – Maximilian Büsser & Friends. MB&F is an artistic and micro-engineering laboratory dedicated to designing and crafting small series of radical concept watches by bringing together talented horological professionals that Büsser both respects and enjoys working with.
In 2007, MB&F unveiled its first Horological Machine, HM1. HM1’s sculptured, three-dimensional case and beautifully finished engine (movement) set the standard for the idiosyncratic Horological Machines that have followed – all Machines that tell the time, rather than Machines to tell the time. The Horological Machines have explored space (HM2, HM3, HM6), the sky (HM4, HM9), the road (HM5, HMX, HM8) and the animal kingdom (HM7, HM10).
In 2011, MB&F launched its round-cased Legacy Machine collection. These more classical pieces – classical for MB&F, that is – pay tribute to nineteenth-century watchmaking excellence by reinterpreting complications from the great horological innovators of yesteryear to create contemporary objets d’art. LM1 and LM2 were followed by LM101, the first MB&F Machine to feature a movement developed entirely in-house. LM Perpetual, LM Split Escapement and LM Thunderdome broadened the collection further. 2019 marked a turning point with the creation of the first MB&F Machine dedicated to women: LM FlyingT; and MB&F celebrated 10 years of Legacy Machines in 2021 with the LMX. MB&F generally alternates between launching contemporary, resolutely unconventional Horological Machines and historically inspired Legacy Machines.
As the F stands for Friends, it was only natural for MB&F to develop collaborations with artists, watchmakers, designers and manufacturers they admire.
This brought about two new categories: Performance Art and Co-creations. While Performance Art pieces are MB&F machines revisited by external creative talent, Co-creations are not wristwatches but other types of machines, engineered and crafted by unique Swiss Manufactures from MB&F ideas and designs. Many of these Co-creations, such as the clocks created with L’Epée 1839, tell the time while collaborations with Reuge and Caran d’Ache generated other forms of mechanical art.
To give all these machines an appropriate platform, Büsser had the idea of placing them in an art gallery alongside various forms of mechanical art created by other artists, rather than in a traditional storefront. This brought about the creation of the first MB&F M.A.D.Gallery (M.A.D. stands for Mechanical Art Devices) in Geneva, which would later be followed by M.A.D.Galleries in Taipei, Dubai and Hong Kong.
There have been distinguished accolades reminding us of the innovative nature of MB&F’s journey so far. To name a few, there have been no less than 9 awards from the famous Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, including the ultimate prize: the “Aiguille d’Or”, which rewards the best watch of the year. In 2022, the LM Sequential EVO was awarded the Aiguille d’Or, while the M.A.D.1 RED won the ‘Challenge’ category. In 2021, LMX won the Best Men’s Complication and the LM SE Eddy Jaquet ‘Around The World in Eighty Days’ was awarded in the ‘Artistic Crafts’ category. In 2019, the prize for Best Ladies Complication went to the LM FlyingT; in 2016, LM Perpetual won the Best Calendar Watch award; in 2012, Legacy Machine No.1 was awarded both the Public Prize (voted for by horology fans) and the Best Men’s Watch Prize (voted for by the professional jury). In 2010, MB&F won Best Concept and Design Watch for the HM4 Thunderbolt. In 2015 MB&F received a Red Dot: Best of the Best award – the top prize at the international Red Dot Awards – for the HM6 Space Pirate.