Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-03-02)

63

THEONE BloombergPursuits March 2, 2020

There’s magic behind

the dial in this eye-

catching watch from the

mad scientists at MB&F

Photograph by

Joanna McClure

A Crinkle

In Time

Every year or so,
Maximilian Büsser
& Friends produces
a new timepiece
in a line it calls the
“Legacy Machines,”
which are an
exercise in upending
horological tradition.
The watchmaker
may twist dials into
a vertical angle that
offers a different
view than the usual
flat face or bend the
bridges that secure
the movement
into dreamy,
wishbonelike arches.
For the $280,000
Legacy Machine
Thunderdome,
unveiled in
December, MB&F
joined wunderkind
movement inventor
Eric Coudray
and perfectionist
designer Kari
Voutilainen to create
a tourbillon that
rotates on three
axes at the quickest
speed on the market.

THE COMPETITION

• If a bulbous,
  attention-grabbing
  piece of wrist bling
  is what you’re
  after, the Jacob
  & Co. Astronomia
  Flawless is the most
  audacious you’ll
  find. Featuring a full
  rotating Earth and
  a pea-size yellow
  diamond, it’ll set
  you back a galactic
  $1 million.


• Breguet can
  lay claim to the
  invention of
  the tourbillon
  itself, which the
  company’s founder
  patented in 1801. Its
  Double Tourbillon
  5347 ($444,000 in
  platinum) displays
  two of them working
  in tandem set into a
  hand-engraved dial.


• Coudray also
  designed the
  mechanism at work
  in the unorthodox
  Cabestan Triple
  Axis Tourbillon,
  inspired by a sailing
  catamaran. Only
  50 all-sapphire
  versions will be
  made; each retails
  for 265,000 Swiss
  francs ($270,000).

THE CASE

With a high dome

and a dial that

lifts away from the

wrist, this timepiece

isn’t one for the

subtlety-inclined—

yet it’s elegantly and

minimally designed.

From above, the

Thunderdome

appears to hold

a tangle of blue

titanium and brass,

but up close its

delicate complexity

revolves into view.

Rivulets carved

into the guilloche

face emphasize the

relative simplicity

of the dial, with

its plain hour and

minute hands.

(The tourbillon

rotates on its

three axes in 8, 12,

and 20 seconds,

respectively, if you

need to keep track of

smaller increments.)

MB&F will make only

33 of the watches in

the current platinum

model, which means

it’s a collector’s piece

that will stand as a

testament to what

elite watchmaking

is capable of at

this moment in

time. $280,000;

mbandf.com