This year marks the ninth edition of ONLY Watch, a biennial charity auction of one-of-a-kind timepieces where 99 percent of proceeds go to fund research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration primarily affecting young boys. This is the sixth time MB&F has contributed one of its Machines to ONLY Watch, once again going above and beyond in the creation of a truly unique timepiece.
For this edition, MB&F has transformed its Horological Machine No. 10 —aka HM10 Bulldog— into a panda bear, one of the rarest and cutest of the world’s mammals, much-loved by children and adults alike —including Max Büsser, whose first cuddly toy was a panda. Because pandas are so associated with children, this is unsurprisingly not the first time the panda bear has made an appearance with MB&F and ONLY Watch. For the fourth edition in 2011, MB&F presented an HM4 in collaboration with Chinese artist Huang Hankang, which featured a miniature panda bear flying atop an HM4 jet.
The base of this new unique piece for ONLY Watch is Horological Machine No. 10 with its rounded, compact body that lends itself perfectly to the shape of the cuddly panda. The top section of the case is coated in black and white lacquer to mimic the animal’s colors. To accommodate the lacquer, the top section of the standard HM10 titanium case had to be specially crafted for this Pièce Unique in stainless steel. Other unique features include two black titanium panda ears, added atop the sapphire crystal dome, and a rather cute ceramic tail crafted from machined Grade 5 silicon nitride.
Much like the panda’s unmistakable eyes, two black aluminium time-display domes dominate the face of the watch —a nod to the other use of the word ‘panda’ in the watchmaking world, where white watch dials with black counters are fondly called panda dials. Other panda bear features include stout yet flexible “legs” that wrap firmly around your wrist and those important panda teeth that are constantly munching on bamboo shoots.
The teeth are not only fun but also act as the power reserve indicator. A fully closed mouth tells you that the Panda is wound down and ready for a nap, but if you can clearly see the rows of shining teeth lining the jaws, then it is charged up with 45 hours of mainspring. This three-dimensional power-reserve indication has been carefully designed and calibrated to consume the least energy possible, allowing the timepiece to direct its considerable mainspring torque solely towards its suspended balance and its revolving hour and minute domes.
Despite its rotund morphology —measuring 45 mm across, 54 mm from nose to tail, and with a maximum height of 24 mm— the HM10 Panda is surprisingly wearable. Its sprung strap attachment “legs” allow the body to fit closely around the wrist, with a strap that is black on one side and white on the other. This unique piece is powered by the manual-winding engine of the HM10 that was designed and developed in-house and is one of the rare timepieces where you can see both the heart beating and the brain ticking, making it the perfect calibre to bring the panda to life.
The case is composed of a top section in stainless steel with 5 pockets of black lacquer and 2 pockets of white lacquer —each with 3 layers of color and 7 layers of varnish—, then the bottom section is in grade 5 titanium with Preci-Coat matte black PVD and specially engraved with ONLY Watch signature statement: “ONLY Watch Create Beauty to Do Good”. The lugs and ears are also in grade 5 titanium with Preci-Coat matte black PVD and the latter are fused to the sapphire crystal dome with Asulab bonding. Lastly, the tail is in ceramic —grade 5 silicon nitride sphere.
The HM10 Panda is being offered together with unique works of art by multidisciplinary designer Lee Yuen-Rapati —well-known in the watchmaking world as @OneHourWatch on Instagram —who has graciously created a series of illustrations inspired by the HM10 Panda, especially for the auction. MB&F has been following Lee Yuen-Rapati’s horologically inspired work for quite some time. Lee recently did a live drawing of an HM10 Bulldog poking its tongue out during a Zoom session with RedBar, which gave the MB&F team the idea to do a special collaboration for ONLY Watch. Lee has created several artworks to perfectly illustrate the HM10 Panda concept.
“I have a panda resting on someone’s wrist, a panda lovingly cupped in a child’s hands, a panda lounging in a bamboo forest munching on a bamboo stick… I also created a short, four-panel narrative where the watch is a robotic panda that has been sent to explore another planet...this was one of those dream projects,” he says with a smile.
Lee is best known for his playful, narrative-based illustrations and works with a combination of alcohol-based marker pens and specialty pens on textured paper. He studied interdisciplinary design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University and then did a master’s in typeface design at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. He is behind the @onehourwatch Instagram series of daily original watch drawings and provides illustration and typographic design work for various watchmakers and brands.
Separate crowns are actuated for winding and time-setting, located towards the rear of the HM10 Panda body. The watch will be delivered with a hand-stitched black and white strap with one side in black and the other in white.
In the weeks preceding the auction, the watches will be presented to the public, media, and horological enthusiasts, during a promotional tour that will start tomorrow September 22, 2021, in Monaco, at the Monaco Yacht Show, and will end in Geneva on November 6, 2021. The tour includes the following cities worldwide:
Monaco: September 22-25, 2021 at the Monaco Yacht show
Dubai: September 30 to October 3, 2021, at Christie’s
Tokyo: October 8-10, 2021, at Christie’s
Singapore: October 15-20, 2021, at the Malmaison by The Hour Glass
Hong Kong: October 25-28, 2021, at Christie’s
Geneva: November 4-6, 2021 ,at the Four Seasons Hôtel des Bergues
The lots including the MB&F HM10 Panda will be auctioned in collaboration with Christie’s, for the third consecutive time, on November 6, 2021, at 2 pm —Geneva time—, at the Four Seasons Hôtel des Bergues.
For more info on MB&F click here. For more info on ONLY Watch Auction click here.
