Watch Talk: MB&F HM11 Architect
Mad Max takes on astral architecture for a horological machine that defies gravity
“Une maison est une machine à habiter“ (a house is a machine to live in). - Le Corbusier
A little over a week ago the bi-annual Dubai Watch Week took place and gave brands the chance to share with the world some their latest developments, and compared to an event like Watches and Wonders, Dubai Watch Week is less about touting the newest mainstream ranges but is often used as an opportunity to showcase one-offs and limited collections. The free-to-attend, non-commercial week is based around discussion and education for the preservation of the watch industry and it is not unusual for brands to have completely sold out of the watches on display. There are some exceptions of course with one of our favorites this year coming from Oris and you can check out what they had on offer and our opinion here. This resulted in some rather special pieces coming out on show and offered no better arena for sci-fi futuristic, horological machine manufacturer MB&F to launch their HM11 Architect.
The concept for the HM11 Architect comes from the mind of MB&F’s founder Max Büsser and was undeniably the focal point of the releases at this year's event. On the main product page for the MB&F HM11 Architect there is a passage of text that reads “It could be said that an MB&F Machine is not worn; it is lived. With its latest creation, MB&F further blurs the line between watchmaking and architecture.” and boy, have they thrown the entire kitchen sink, bathrooms, bedrooms and family cat at this one. It seems rather crass of me to describe the HM11 as ‘looking a bit like beyblade’ but to me that’s a good thing, as on first reaction I am drawn to it as much as I was the spinning battle toy at age 7. Though I highly doubt I can expect to receive one from Santa this year, not only as it's limited in availability with just 50 pieces across two designs (blue movement and red movement), but I also doubt the bearded fella’s budget stretches to just short of £200,000. Jokes aside, the HM11 is an unapologetic thing of beauty with sapphire crystal that smoothly domes around a flying tourbillon that drives the machine, making for the perfect centerpiece.
Image courtesy of MB&F Watches
The inspiration for the design of the HM11 comes from ‘60s and ‘70s Postmodern bubble houses of which Max Büsser took one look at and thought “what if that house was a watch?” (a natural first thought for anyone). It features a sapphire window for four different ‘rooms’, one which features the time-setting crown, another displays the time, a third offers a power reserve display and a fourth which offers a thermometer. Access to the ‘rooms’ comes from a rotation of the entire ‘house’, or a rotation of the watch upon the base it sits and this rather neatly also handles the manual winding of the watch with just 10 full rotations providing you with 96-hours of power reserve. With all the absurdity and grandeur of the design you may expect it to be a leviathan in terms of size, but they have managed to pack the entire thing in a rather generous 42mm case size which may make it one of the more wearable and friendly watches that MB&F have produced.
For me the standout feature of this watch is the mechanical thermometer that doesn’t rely on the power of the movement to function and though it is likely to be affected by your body temperature it is a novel complication and is something that is rarely seen crossover with the world of mechanical horology these days, or that has ever been seen on an MB&F piece before. MB&F have fast gained a reputation for crafting outlandish time pieces that take inspiration from the most unlikely of sources and yet on this occasion they have made something which ironically brings it all back to earth and would suit most wearers with ease with a manageable size and light titanium frame. If you would like to learn more about the MB&F you can learn more here.
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The Specs
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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
Jewels: 29 jewels
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Material: 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
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Hour and minutes
Power reserve
Temperature (-20 to 60° Celsius, or 0 to 140° Fahrenheit)
Written by PIers Mansell for Watts On Watches.
