iW Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 82

BY MICHAEL THOMPSON MB&F Launches its First Collection for Women MB&F HELPED KICK START THE RISE OF INDEPENDENT WATCHMAKING FOURTEEN YEARS AGO creating retro-futuristic time machines as envisioned by company founder Maximilian Büsser. Among their traits, MB&F’s space age watch designs have always featured dramatic case heights, which are typically worn most comfortably on larger wrists. The debut of the round-cased 44mm Legacy Machines seven years ago offered a more moderate case size to those with smaller wrists, while the 2014 Legacy Machine 101, at 40mm in diameter, is perhaps MB&F’s most forgiving for those with smaller wrists. But, despite its size, the LM101 wasn’t specifically made with feminine design refinements. MB&F this year addresses its many female fans as it debuts the Legacy Machine Flying T, the first MB&F watch collection made specifically for women. The new watch is not only MB&F’s smallest-diameter model, at 38.5mm across, but it’s also the first MB&F horological art piece designed with what historically have been considered feminine touches, including a generous helping of diamonds. DOMED TOURBILLON The Legacy Machine Flying T is made with a round white gold case, a cambered bezel and long thin lugs set with diamonds. And while the case itself is thinner than those found on past Legacy Machines, the watch’s height and extensive use of clear sapphire recalls the previous LM models. Here, a high convex sapphire dome protects and focuses the eye on a dramatic, slow beat flying tourbillon – the Flying T in the collection’s name. Three versions will be made. Thus, the namesake flying tourbillon towers above either a galaxy of baguette diamonds, a field of brilliant, round diamonds or a sea of dark black lacquer. That tourbillon tower is itself unusual and a technical challenge. The shape of the upper tourbillon cage creates more mass on one side of the tourbillon than the other, MB&F reports. To ensure that the tower doesn’t topple (or, more specifically, doesn’t become unbalanced) MB&F places a (hidden) counterweight under the tourbillon carriage opposite the dramatic upper cage. One of three MB&F Legacy Machine Flying T models. Here, the dial plate and case are both fully set with baguette-cut diamonds. 82 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SPRING 2019