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Friday, October 7, 2011

Max Busser does it again: Legacy Machine no 1

Max Busser has always been a controversial figure...from the time he initiated and helmed the Opus project for Harry Winston and to the 4 Horological Machines he has created under his own brand name, I see Max as the leader in the field of pushing watches into the realm of horological art.

I can always trust Max's creations to be out of this world, edgy, alive.
So when he described his journey to create the Legacy Machine to us, I was feeling a bit jittery had I not seen the early press photographs. He was coming back to earth. He was imagining if he had been a watch creator a hundred years before, and did not have the inspiration from Star Wars, space travel...what would he have designed. If he drew from Science Fiction of the day, it would probably be Jules Verne's vision of space travel, of undersea adventures, or earth core exploration.

He completed the design some 3 years ago, and went to Kari Voutilainen, a master watchmaker and movement creator, to realise the design. He tells me that on the first meeting, Kari thought the watch was impossible to make. But after a little discussion, Kari began to offer his thoughts on how to improve the movement. Max with Mojon (who had done the conceptual design) looked into each other's faces, and back at Kari...and both uttered, "does that mean you would do it?". Kari, ever the quiet man, smiled like only Kari could...sly, soft, humble...and said...that he would...but due to his schedule, could only work on the design, and perform the quality control.

The result? The MBF Legacy Machine no 1.



The watch concept is interesting...two timezones, each with its own dials, and adjustable to the minute.

Quite a marvel to admire.



And a balance wheel which is suspended by a curved bridge above the dials. Like the verge escapements of the early English watchmakers, but now on the dial side. The bridge to hold the escapement is stylized, curved sensuously. And to mirror the escapement bridge, a similarly curved bridge, holding a power reserve indicator. The entire watch is then encased in a curved dome sapphire glass cover.



The movement side...pure Kari, with beautiful curved bridges, flying barrels.





On the wrist, it is very comfortable...



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