MB&F celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2015, and there is one basic fact about birthdays that is fairly safe to assume: The one celebrating usually gets the presents. However, for the most significant anniversary of its decadelong existence, MB&F turns that one basic assumption on its head. Rather than expecting to receive, the creative lab has conceived HMX —“X” as in the Roman numeral for ten— as a thank you to the friends who have supported the brand over the last 10 years. Instead of developing an ultra-complicated, ultra-expensive anniversary piece —the standard practice in the luxury watchmaking world—, MB&F has cut sales margins without sacrificing quality, offering a true Horological Machine at an unprecedented price. Paradoxically, creating such a Machine also made HMX one of the most difficult to develop as MB&F considered, tested and rejected a plethora of combinations of forms, finishes and details before being satisfied that everything was “just right”.