With their madcap watch design MB&F are not exactly the first brand you think of when it comes to car related horology. You may instead think of Tag Heuer with the Monaco or Rolex and the Daytona. However, MB&F do have automotive inspiration running through their veins. It just tends to be more Pagani than Peugeot, i.e. insane hyper cars with dramatic shapes. Case in point, the new MB&F HM8 Mark 2 Purple.
Looking at this 47mm x 41.5mm x 19mm, vaguely U-shaped creation with an exposed rotor under a curved sapphire crystal, it’s hard to immediately see the car connection. However, consider it on a conceptual level and what you need to realise is that you’re not looking at a whole car. You’re looking at the exposed engine bay of a mid-engine monster seen from the back. At least if you’re looking at in a conventional top-down angle.
Rotate your point of view to the side of the watch (where the driver and passenger would be sitting in this conceptual vehicle) and you’ll discover twin dials displaying the hours and minutes. When wearing the watch, it’s designed to be worn with those dials facing inwards towards your body, which means that if you’re driving, they’ll stay pointed at you too, making them easy to read.
Looking at the name of the watch, HM8 Mark 2 Purple, a key aspect of this watch is obviously the colour. Previous editions of the HM8 and last year’s HM8 Mark 2 have all had fairly conventional colours of white, blue and racing green, so purple is in some ways a notable departure – particularly for a case as they have done purple dials in the past. It’s far more exotic and ostentatious, less grounded in the reality of motorsport or any other practical automotive application. In short, like a hyper car.
In order to achieve the rich tone of royal purple MB&F have used their proprietary CarbonMacrolon® material. It’s a composite made from polymer and carbon nanotubes, making it super lightweight and supremely durable, the kind of technology used in the automotive industry. It can also be polished to give it that high gloss finish and is built over the top of a titanium chassis to give it greater strength.
The movement on display through that rear-bay style sapphire glass is the HM8 engine. It’s actually powered by a Girard-Perregaux calibre as its base movement prior to being adapted with MB&F’s in-house jumping hours module and accompanying minutes. It has a 42-hour power reserve supplied by the exposed, dual sided rotor with axe-head shaped arms.
Like the previous HM8 watches the new MB&F HM8 Mark 2 Purple is a limited edition of 33 pieces priced at CHF 68,000 + VAT (approx. £61,250). Another glimpse into the mad world of MB&F – not the be confused with the MB&F M.A.D.
Price and Specs:
Model:
MB&F
HM8 Mark 2 Purple
Case:
47mm
length x 41.5mm width x 19mm thickness, CarbonMacrolon® and titanium
Dial:
Purple
Water resistance:
30m
(3 bar)
Movement:
MB&F
HM8 Engine, automatic, 30 jewels
Frequency:
28,800
vph (4 Hz)
Power reserve:
42h
Functions:
Hours,
minutes
Strap:
Rubber
strap, white with titanium tang buckle
Price:
CHF
68,000 + VAT (approx. £61,250), limited to 33 pieces
More details at MB&F.
Oracle Time