MB&F’s Horological Machines — as each of his watches will be named — are machines which tell the time rather than machines to tell the time. This distinction is crucial to the understanding of MB&F’s timepieces because they have nothing to do with the mundane necessity to read time and are all about the luxurious expression of time.

On the dial side the HM1 looks like the command center of a rocket ship. The dial on the right provides a reading for minutes with a massive speedometer needle-like hand. An indication for the watch’s massive four barreled fuel tank is also mounted on this same axis. On the left dial you have a reading for hours. Both dials feature transverse mounted floating sapphire subdials to provide time indication on the left, and on which the power reserve indication is engraved on the right.

The hour and minute hands have to communicate with each other across the massive divide between them. This was accomplished with an oversized, ultra-flat, mirror-polished wheel centrally located under the dial. Too thin to support from its axis, this wheel cleverly floats between two layers of precision-adjusted jewels. Because of the artisan minutia involved, only 100 watches will be made in the next three years. Indeed the Horological Machine No.1 is the horological equivalent of a super car. It is a mixture of technical mastery, truly refined traditional finish, and groundbreaking new aesthetics that heralds the arrival of one of the new masters of form and function — a new world collective known as MB&F, spearheaded by one of the watch industry’s most exciting young leaders, a man named Max Büsser.
Quality of energy was one of HM1’s primary focuses. While the tourbillon may be the technical element to first catch the eye, it was the four massive mainspring barrels under the dial which dictated the foundation of HM1’s movement design and construction. The two barrels on the left are wound by the rotor; while the two barrels on the right are wound by the crown.

Each pair of barrels needs to equalize their energy with the other around the void of the tourbillon in the narrowest section of the movement. Distributing that immense power required the development of a sophisticated beryllium gear train. Using four mainspring barrels in parallel enabled MB&F to reduce the torque of each mainspring, thus improving accuracy, decreasing wear and increasing longevity - all while maintaining an incredible seven days reserve of power!

As modernist as it may appear, HM1 is also a tribute to Büsser’s vast devotion to legitimate horology. The development of the new caliber, actualized through the partnership of movement engineer Laurent Besse with AHCI member Peter Speake-Marin, was a match made in heaven. The synthesis of Besse’s engineering background with Speake-Marin’s roots in classical horology ensures that, although the movement looks like it were torn from the fabric of the future, its quality and finish are solidly founded on the very finest aspects of traditional haute horlogerie. The tourbillon cage, for example, is inspired by the battle axe of a Japanese Magna hero from Büsser’s childhood, yet it receives stunning black polish — one of the most difficult finishes to execute in traditional high watchmaking.
http://www.timezone.com//library/extras/200609137055