A friend of mine recently received his Horological Machine n°2 and since he is both technically challenged and is not comfortable in writing in English asked me to share scans and impressions with you. The text is his (my translation) and the photos are from you’re truly.
Ever since the day I saw the Opus III (2003) and even though he is not a watchmaker I had dreamt of having a watch which Max Büsser was involved in. The Opus III was an eye opener and the Opus IV a jaw opener. It was a difficult project launching a brand where all elements of design and brand recognition would be reinvented for every new creation but I had faith and impatiently waited the unveiling of the HM-1.
It was a very interesting piece but unfortunately not up to my means. I was happy to hear that MB&F would be switching each year between a new model with a fully developed inhouse movement and another on a base ebauche which would invariably lower the price range.
I was more that intrigued when I first saw the movement for the HM-2, it looked like anything but a watch movement but my heart was beating fast because I knew that this one was maybe the ONE. When I saw the 1st photos I knew that I wanted it and badly and based only on these photos I placed an order at my AD.
Last week I got a call from my AD saying that he had received the HM-2 and I immediately dashed to his store, and 20 minutes later it was sitting on my wrist.
The HM-2 is definitely more machine than watch! It’s not a beautiful watch but it is a timepiece which is both interesting and intriguing and which obliges you to a certain intellectual gymnastics to understand and approach it. It is a watch with a great emotional impact and that is the main reason it attracts me so much.
For the past days many who have seen it on my wrist have commented on it. They wonder what the object I have on my wrist is! No one actually imagined it could be a watch!!
It’s an object which I can’t stop staring at. It is anything but tactile (unlike the HM-1 which was all in curves) but I can’t stop touching it. The case construction is full of subtleties which I discover over time and the mix of titanium, rose gold and grey ruthenium dials give the watch a fantastically contemporary look without it being gimmicky in any way.
Now I just can’t wait to see Horological Machine 3 J
The blue "cache" for the moonphase indication looks surprisingly like the case shape of the HM-1!