Horologically Happy

When MB&F Friend (perhaps more accurately, “watchmaking wizard“) Stephen McDonnell gets together with the brand’s founder Maximilian Büsser, and the pair decide its time to envision any noted watchmaking complication in an entirely new way, the world of horology had best strap itself in and prepare to be thrilled. As Stephen did with the perpetual calendar, the Legacy Machine Sequential Evo we’re looking at today is a creation which pushes both technique and aesthetics to new heights. Beyond haute de gamme craftsmanship and hyperexclusivity–both of which this watch has in spades–the Sequential Evo reflects a joy of creation and a dynamic approach to solving technical problems that elevate it well above your typical luxury mechanical timepiece. While the chronograph complication itself is extremely prolific in the marketplace, in implementations from unremarkable mass production workhorses to the finest examples of the watchmaker’s art, at MB&F it has been nearly entirely reinvented, creating something of the excitement we might have felt well over a century ago, seeing a great complication appear for the very first time. The resultant watch is deserving of the resounding accolades it has received since introduction: In simplest glance, a handwound movement of 585 immaculately finished parts, drives two separately usable column wheel-controlled vertical clutch chronograph mechanisms, these all under the governance of one escapement and balance wheel; yet, a unique and never before attempted “Twinverter” function operable via the button at 9 o’clock allows the chronographs to be synchronized or made independent from one another at will, allowing timing possibilities that no chronograph before it has ever been capable of.

It’s easiest to simply see the watch in action to appreciate how unusual and remarkable it is, and the MB&F team’s entertaining video does a great job of that here. If there were ever a more engaging timepiece to interact with–with the possible exception of maybe an erotic automata minute repeater–I can’t imagine it. This piece is also a thing of real beauty, one of the most mechanically intricate chronographs since the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph blew our collective socks off back in 1999 (and still does, frankly). But the solutions that this piece employs are quirky and unique in a way that can’t be compared to anything out there in the high horology realm, as is the situation with other watches….excuse me, Machines!…from Maximilian Büsser & Friends.

The technical characteristics of this groundbreaking high horology chronograph have been well described elsewhere, and the team at MB&F haven’t been shy about divulging its many unusual and breathtaking mechanical summits. As an enthusiast, what grabs me about this watch–and very viscerally so–is the remarkable way in which these feats have been joined in conjunction with the finest demonstration of classical watchmaking finish and attention to aesthetic nuance. Moreover, the many aesthetic details, from the finishing of bridges and wheels, to the case and crystal, whilst being classic in nature, do not pander to classicism for its own sake; rather, they serve to emphasize just how avant garde, virtuoso–and somehow, subtly futuristic–the Legacy Machine Sequential Evo really is. As a counterstudy, consider Montblanc’s resurrection of Minerva, and the achingly beautiful chronographs finished to perfection we’ve seen emerge from that atelier: in short, laudatory examples of traditional watchmaking craft with the best in 19th century technology and finish. By contrast, the MB&F Sequential Evo is no less impressively crafted, but it strikes for a different and more audacious mark, and achieves something that no one–not Patek Philippe, not Audemars Piguet, nor even A. Lange & Sohne or another lofty house of high horology–has. Not content to simply produce a chronograph worthy of Willy Wonka levels of pure imagination, Max Büsser and his company went the further step to ensure the Sequential Evo would even be surprisingly practical and non-fussy for day to day life. A so-called “FlexRing” shock absorber insulates the movement nicely from day to day jostles, and protects the complex caliber it encircles. Also highly notable is the excellent 80 meter water resistance of the immaculately finished and sculptural 44mm case (of 74 parts, and in Zirconium no less!), no mean feat for a case with this many controls, buttons, and hence…holes for moisture to ingress. Pure badassery, if you want to be blunt about things!

While the price tag is certainly (and predictably) astronomical, MB&F’s Legacy Machine Sequential Evo somehow seems an actual good value, at least relative to other hyper watches in this rarefied echelon. When you consider the sheer mechanical boundaries that have been broken, fanatical attention to traditional watchmaking craft, and refreshing–even daring–aesthetic parameters it embodies, One Hundred And Eighty Grand seems much more digestible. If you have the funds. And…IF you can get one, as the word has been out on the extraordinary pieces of MB&F for some time now, with wait lists extending out many years. At least in this instance, the wait would be well worth it. Until then, and for the rest of us mere financial mortals, the fantasy is pretty satisfying too.