MB&F's Horological Machine No2-SV (Sapphire Vision)
Today, MB&F unveiled the Horological Machine No2-SV (Sapphire Vision) according to plan. Since early 2008, I am following Maximilian Busser and Friends with great interest and have reported several times on their extreme cool creations. My personal favorites are MB&F’s (including Sage Vaughn) HM2 contribution to the Monaco Only Watch event and the recently introduced HM 2.2 BlackBox model that MB&F created together with Alain Silberstein.
On the 6th of January, MB&F announced the upcoming introduction of a 25 piece only HM2, which is today, on January 12th of 2010. The HM2 SV edition gives away part of the secrets and inner workings of their Horological Machine Number 2 by using sapphire crystal to cover the entire front of the timepiece as you can see on the picture above.
Sapphire’s hardness is second only to diamond, which makes the whole top half of the case (the most exposed half) extremely scratch-resistant. This is a timepiece that will keep its good looks for a very, very long time. The 3.6mm thick sapphire crystal consist out of a top plate that has been constructed out of three separate parts. It takes up to 55 hours to create just a single top plate of sapphire. Actually, Stettler in Lyss (Switzerland) was the only manufacturer of sapphire crystals that accepted the challenge and managed to fulfil this task in a perfect way, so I guess they are worth mentioning here 🙂
To ensure maximum light and visibility through to the movement, the two dials – minutes and date – are also in sapphire, sapphire disks lightly brushed to a perfect translucency ensuring full legibility of the polished silvered numbers while allowing maximum light through to the engine beneath.
The movement of the HM2-SV, has been developed by master watchmaker J.M Wiederrecht, it feature an instantaneous jump hour, concentric retrograde minutes, retrograde date and a bi-hemisphere moon phase. One of the technical highlights of this timepiece is the highly energy-efficient jump hour/retrograde mechanism developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, which uses his exclusive (and patented) asymmetrical-tooth gear wheels to ensure high precision and play-free functionality.
The price of the HM2 – SV is unknown yet, but I am pretty sure it won’t be in my personal collection any time soon. 🙁 At least I have some specification of this watch for you:
Movement:
Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor designed functionality regulated and powered by a Girard-Perregaux oscillator and gear train
Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph
Blued 22k rose gold Battle-axe automatic winding rotor
Number of components: 349 including 44 jewels
Functions:
Left dial: Retrograde Date and Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase
Right Dial: Jumping Hours and Concentric Retrograde Minutes
Case:
Sapphire/titanium limited to 25
Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 59mm x 38mm x 13mm
Water resistant to 30 meters (3 ATM)
Number of parts: 120 (case only)
Sapphire crystals:
Sapphire case top and crystals over the dual dials treated with anti-reflective treatment on both faces. Display back with anti-reflective treatment on single face.
Dials:
Brushed sapphire and metallic blue disks
Strap & Buckle:
Black hand-stitched alligator with 18k white gold & titanium folding buckle
Presentation box:
Precision engineered aluminium and leather instrument case featuring an integrated Reger thermometer
