 |
 | ||
| Dear Friends, You may remember our previous newsletter was titled “The Insane 12 Days”. Well, we survived. On September 23rd our HM4 “Flying Panda” sold for EUR 170,000 at the Only Watch auction – placing MB&F as the sixth largest bid among the 40 prestigious participating brands. A few days later, as planned on October 4th, we miraculously opened our MAD Gallery in Geneva and simultaneously launched our new Machine: Legacy Machine N°1. | ||
 | ||
 | ||
| Everyone was expecting Horological Machine N°5. Instead, we came out with not just a new Machine, but a new line: Legacy Machine N°1 (LM1). | ||
 | ||
| It’s fair to say that LM1 took everyone by surprise: MB&F created a round watch! We created the new line around a simple, powerful idea: What would MB&F have created a century ago, if our small team had been in operation during the Golden Age of watchmaking? We wouldn’t have had the superheroes, the science fiction or the jet planes that have inspired our very contemporary Horological Machines – but we would have had references like Jules Verne, turn-of-the-century architecture and pocket watches. Put that all together and you get MB&F’s classic interpretation of a three-dimensional kinetic sculpture. | ||
 | ||
| We worked with one of the most innovative contemporary watchmakers, Jean-François Mojon, to develop the incredibly hypnotic flying balance wheel, the completely independent dual time zones, the world-first vertical power reserve, and combined his expertise with the ultimate reference in classic horology, Kari Voutilainen. Kari’s talent is visible in the layout of the movement, the shapes of the bridges and the impeccable finish. You’ll find the full story about Legacy Machine No.1 on our website, or just sit back for a few minutes and have a look at the video: | ||
 | ||
| As mentioned, the feedback on LM1 has been overwhelmingly positive. Amateurs and experts around the world have covered the new Machine in compliments. One very recent example: just a few days ago, LM1 won 1st prize of the “Grand Prix du Public” at The Watches Days show in Geneva. | ||
 | ||
| ||
 | ||
 | ||
| We are very pleased to announce a new retail partner, Josh Reed. Josh recently opened Swiss Time Machine, a boutique specialising in independents in Perth, Australia. | ||
| ||
 | ||
| ||
| ||
 | ||
| Imagine a clock designed to run for an incredible 10,000 years. Well Danny Hillis not only imagined it, he designed it and is now building it in a remote mountain in Texas. When completed the clock will tick just once per day, has a hand that advances once per year and a cuckoo that comes out once every 1,000 years! | ||
 | ||
| As part of his goal to promote long-term thinking, Hillis helped establish the Long Now Foundation, an association of like-minded people unhappy with society’s short-attention span and interested in an expanded sense of time as symbolised by the clock – not the “short now” of the next quarter year, next week or the next five minutes, but the “long now” of centuries and millennia. Find out more here. | ||
| ||
| This will be our last newsletter from an extremely intense 2011, so I take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the remaining weeks, and a great New Year. Looking ahead at the first months of 2012 I think there’s little risk of getting bored. The Geneva and Basel fairs will kick-start the year right away, our MAD Gallery is preparing a few surprises, and we have a couple interesting Machines up our sleeves, including a Performance Art piece and Horological Machine N°5 in the Autumn. Stay in touch! With our very best regards, | ||
 | ||
| Maximilian Büsser | ||
 | ||
|
|
