MB&F's Horological Machine No.2 by Jack Forster

Max Busser and Horological Machine No.2

Horological Machine No.2 red gold

HM2 - Form Follows Function

What is a watch?

To begin with a blank sheet of paper and an open mind is a frightening prospect for a designer and yet that is specifically what Max Busser and Friends has set out to do –not once, but with each new creation.

Their first, Horological Machine No. 1, brought a harmonious symphony of mechanism and form to life.

Now, with Horological Machine No. 2 Max Busser and Friends once again has created a spectacular unification of mechanics and artistry, in which the external appearance of a watch is a direct manifestation of its mechanical ingenuity.

HM2's innovative and practical sliding crown protector

Horological Machine No.2 profile
Purely as an exercise in aesthetics, Horological Machine No. 2 would be remarkable. HM2 both acknowledges and breaks with its predecessor.

The interlinked circles of HM1, so powerfully evocative of a living cell exploding into new life as it strains to divide, have separated, and in doing so have given birth to two separate realms of horological experience.

On the right, a jumping hour and concentric retrograde minutes display offer a view of personal time –time as the inner clock we carry within us.

On the left, a dual-hemisphere moonphase display, with a concentric retrograde date, look into a different realm –the realm of universal time, expressed in the celestial rhythms of the calendar and the movement of the heavens.

The case of HM2 is a construction of unusual complexity, consisting of over 100 parts, and in its modular construction is a deliberate evocation of the Meccano sets of Max Busser’s childhood.

The sense of playfulness it conjures belies the sophistication of its construction.

A marriage of gold and titanium, the two metals –one a mainstay of aeronautics and space exploration, the other the quintessential terrestrial treasure –act together to reinforce the dual experience of both inner and celestial time.

HM2 Moon white gold

Horological Machine No.2 in white gold

As remarkable as all this would be purely as an exercise in horological visual poetry, the outer form of the watch is a direct expression of the mechanism.

HM2’s movement is, like that of HM1, a collaborative creation, and one of the most indispensable of the “Friends” involved in its creation is Jean-Marc Wiederrecht.

Mr or J-M Wiederrecht has been until now little known outside the industry but within it, he is one of a very few innovators whose creations can be found in some of modern horology’s most notable watches.

His complications and technical house, Agenhor (Atelier Genevois d’horlogerie) has over the years produced an almost incredible number of complications and modules for a staggeringly comprehensive list of haute horlogerie clients, many of whose lauded innovations are the result of his ingenuity.

Jean-Marc Wiederrecht with his wife Catherine

A particular specialty of his is retrograde complications, and for HM2, Jean Marc Wiederrecht was faced with the challenge of coordinating the jump of the hour display with the flying back of the retrograde displays –in his words, “one of my most ambitious developments to date.”

In order to ensure perfect synchronization of the changes of the display a unique mechanical linkage, in the form of a snail on the minute mechanism striking the hour star, was created.

Of equal importance is the use of a patented gear tooth design, invented and patented by Wiederrecht, in which each individual tooth has a nearly microscopic asymmetrical cut out central portion extending to the tip of the tooth –essentially each individual gear tooth is split into two parts.

The gap between the two allows each to flex slightly, which means that the teeth can mesh extremely precisely with no play between the gear teeth (sometimes referred to in watchmaking as “backlash.”)

Wiederrecht's patented gear tooth design

The greater precision afforded by this technical innovation contributes both to the proper functioning of the retrograde and jumping hour complications, but also to the precision of hand-setting.

Conventional gear cutting machines –even spark erosion and computer guided cutters –are inadequate to the task, and it is only the use of LIGA technology, a micro-manufacturing etching technique (a specialty of Mimotech, which manufactures the gears) that makes such micrometer scale precision possible.

The result, then, is a watch in which the movement is not a generic engine with no more individual character than a nine volt battery.

Instead, the movement of HM2 is intrinsic to and an indispensable part of the uniquely conceived relationship to time which it expresses.

In every aspect, from the signature Hakken-manga double rotor whose shape is reflected in the movement bridges, to the integration of the “flying buttresses” of the case with the internal struts which support gears, detents and cocks for the train and display wheels, the movement is an unrivalled example of a unified horological concept –and the internal incarnation of the aesthetic vision of which the entire piece is a powerful manifestation.

Horological Machine No.2 – Technical Specifications

Movement:

Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor designed functionality regulated and powered by a Girard Perregaux oscillator and gear train.

Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph.

22 k rose gold Double Hakken automatic winding rotor

Number of jewels: 44

Number of components: 330

Functions:

Left dial: Retrograde Date and Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase.

Right Dial: Jumping Hours and Concentric Retrograde Minutes.

Case

18k White gold/ titanium or 18k red gold/titanium. Limited edition of 125 pieces in each combination to be delivered over 3 years

Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 59mm x 38mm x 13mm

Water resistant to 30 meters (3 ATM).

Number of parts: 102 (case only)

Sapphire crystals:

Dial side with anti-reflective treatment on both faces. Display back with anti-reflective treatment on single face.

Dials:

Silver and ruthenium

Strap & Buckle:

Black hand-stitched alligator with 18 carat gold and titanium custom designed deployment buckle.

Presentation box:

Precision engineered aluminium and leather instrument case featuring an integrated Rüeger thermometer.

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The 'Friends' responsible for Horological Machine No.2

Concept : Maximilian Büsser

Product Design: Eric Giroud – Eric Giroud Design Studio

Movement Development: Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor, Maximilien Di Blasi/Agenhor, ,

Movement fabrication: Salvatore Ferrarotto/APR Quality, Georges Auer/Mecawatch, Jose Perez/Clamax, Gianni DiBlasi/Clamax.

Hand-finishing of movement components: Jacques-Adrien Rochat/C-L Rochat, Denis Garcia/C-L Rochat

Movement assemblage: Veronique Benoit Pequignet/Agenhor, Stewart Lesemann/Independent.

Case and buckle construction and production: Serge Kriknoff, Dominique Mainier, Bertrand Jeunet and François Liard of G.F.Châtelain.

Dials: François Bernhard and Denis Parel of Nateber.

Hands : Pierre Chillier, Isabelle Chillier and Guy Curioz of Fiedler.

Presentation case: Isabelle Vaudaux/Vaudaux

Communication:

Graphic Design - Hervé Rigal, Gerald Moulière and Alban Thomas of GVA.

Product Photography - Maarten van der Ende.

Display Architecture- Frédéric Legendre/Lekoni.

Portrait Photography - Regis Golay/Federal.

Webmaster - Jerome Piguet/rj41.

Texts- Ian Skellern.

Project Manager- Estelle Tonelli/MB&F.

An ancient Zen koan says, “How do you step from the top of a hundred foot pole?”

The question is meant to challenge the mind into illumination.

HM1 seemed an horological equivalent –a tour de force which both amazed and seemed to leave no where to go.

HM2, like enlightenment itself, is a thing of both tension and harmony –and an explosive entry into a new world of experience.

To follow the devopment of MB&F's Horological Machine No.1, please click
From Sketch to Machine - The Storyboard of a Passion

We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections to this article.


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