BY DHANANJAY PATHAK
In the world of horology, there are a few brands that never cease to amaze the audience and MBF is certainly one of them. All products coming from the house of MB&F not only exhibit technical brilliance but are also feast for the eyes managing to look like nothing one has ever seen before. The brand’s latest watch, the Legacy Machine Thunderdome keeps the surrealism associated with MB&F intact and features the world’s fastest triple-axis escapement.
If the words classic and elegant were to be used for an MB&F product it would be Legacy Machine collection and the new Thunderdome slots in there with ease. Developed as a collaboration between MB&F and watchmakers Eric Coudray and Kari Voutilainen, the highlight of this masterpiece is its triple-axis regulating mechanism, which as per MB&F is the fastest in the world. Standing tall at the center of the beautiful blue guilloche/ aventurine dial, this mechanism features a potter escapement, hemispherical balance, and helical hairspring, all of which combined rotates on three different axes at different speeds to achieve record-breaking results of 8,12 and 20 seconds. And while technical complexity is at the core of this watch, its real beauty lies in the way it has been expressed. The tri-axis tourbillon rises from the center of the dial, all the way to the rounded top of the sapphire crystal to give the wearer an almost uninterrupted 360-degree view. Further to this placed on the front is a small and elegant lacquered dial with Roman Numerals that has been tilted at 58 degrees to read the time conveniently using the blued handset.
The case of the new Legacy Machine Thunderdome has been crafted from 950 platinum or Tantalum and measures 44mm in diameter and is 22.2mm tall to the top of the super domed sapphire Crystal. While not small watch by any standard, it looks perfect considering what is on offer here. The case is water-resistant to 30 meters and has a sapphire glass on the back that gives a great view of the movement that powers this beauty. A hand-wound caliber designed especially for this watch, the movement comprises 413 components, operates at a frequency of 3Hz and offers a power reserve of around 45 hours. Apart from the technical wizardry displayed on the front, it also features a power reserve indicator on the back. It has been beautifully decorated using Geneva stripes, hand beveling on the bridges and more importantly features Kari Voutilainen’s proprietary style of finish on the ratchet wheels that imparts a sandblasted finish to the circular surfaces and reflects light in sigmoid waves.
In all, MB&F has delivered yet another stunning statement piece in the form of the new Legacy Machine Thunderdome. The watch would retail for CHF 270,000 and would be limited to a production run of 43 pieces. 33 pieces would be produced in Platinum with a blue guilloche dial and 10 pieces in Tantalum (5 with an Aventurine dial and 5 with a Blue guilloché dial).
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