Initially launched in 2013, the MB&F Legacy Machine No. 2 was only available in 18K white gold with dark grey dial, 18K rose gold with silver dial, a limited edition of 18 pieces in platinum with blue dial and in an 18-piece limited edition in titanium with its strikingly beautiful vivid blue greenish dial. Today, we bring you the fourth iteration of the MB&F LM2 this time in white gold with an unconventional purple dial. MB&F started using purple as far back as 2011 in their winding rotors on the HM3 Frog Zr, HM5 CarbonMacrolon and on the HM8 Only Watch. More recently purple was utilized on the limited editions of the HMX Black Badger and the Legacy Machine Perpetual. Obtained via a CVD —Chemical Vapor Deposition— process, many watchmakers avoid using purple because the color isn’t stable, but in the eyes of Max Büsser and friends, that “instability” just makes purple even more cool.
The MB&F Legacy Machine No. 2 White Gold Purple is a new 12-piece limited edition. Covering the entire face of the watch, the unconventional color serves as a powerful backdrop to the equally unconventional LM2 movement. Conceived by watchmaking stars Jean-François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen, LM2 features two fully independent flying wheels and escapements, constantly averaged by a central planetary differential.
Back in white gold, the material of one of its launch editions, LM2 frames its hypnotic engine in a case that is discreet yet precious. Following the sleeker balance bridges of the redesigned LM2 Titanium, the LM2 White Gold Purple offers a more elegant take on the original industrial aesthetic of the first LM2. The sunray-finished dial plate is given its purple hue via the process of chemical vapor deposition, which evenly coats the dial surface and gives it a multi-faceted coloration under different angles of light —ranging from a deep violet to an almost electric shade of plasma purple.
Oscillating on high, the exalted double balance wheels of LM2 were inspired by, and pay homage to, one of the rarest mechanisms in the history of watchmaking: the dual regulator. And rarer still, the average rates of Legacy Machine No.2's dual regulators are transmitted by a differential to a single gear train, where the majority had two separate movements. On display under a domed sapphire crystal cupola, the dial of Legacy Machine No. 2, which is actually the top plate of the exquisitely finished movement, is an object lesson in symmetrical simplicity. Top to bottom: the white stretched lacquer sub dial at 12 o'clock, with its blued gold hour and minute hands, is visually balanced by the large, raised differential at 6 o'clock. Left to right: the two flying balances and their escapements are identical mirror images, right down to the position of the stud holders pinning their balance springs.
The movement of the Legacy Machine No.2 was developed to MB&F's specifications by award-winning watchmaker Jean-François Mojon —Best Watchmaker at the 2010 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève— and his team at Chronode. Acclaimed independent watchmaker Kari Voutilainen ensured that the movement's aesthetic style was consistent with high-quality traditional timepieces of the 19th century and for specifying the superlative hand-finishing. Immaculate Geneva waves, gold chatons, mirror-polished bevels and bridges designed with deliberate internal beveled angles —which cannot be finished by machine— showcase the movement's peerless fine finishing. Consistent with MB&F's spirit of transparency, the names of the two men responsible for the movement are hand engraved on the back.
Sticker Price $159,000 USD. For more info on MB&F click here.
