MB&F Launches an Entirely New Collection for their 20th Anniversary with the SP One
Would you expect anything less from MB&F on their 20th anniversary than the launch of an entirely new collection? The independent brand founded by Max Büsser has spent the last two decades confounding expectations, delighting enthusiasts and collectors along the way with some of the brazen and creative watch designs of the modern era. The brand’s influence and importance on the modern independent watch scene really can’t be overstated. To date, MB&F releases have existed on two distinct tracks: the LM or “Legacy Machine” collection, which represents Max Büsser’s idea of a classical watchmaking style (think circular cases, classical complications, and a generally traditional if sometimes highly complex readout of the time), and the HM, or “Horological Machine” collection, which can be described as pure, maximalist creativity. This is where you see watches shaped like dogs, and spaceships, with time read in unusual and unexpected ways.
While you’d think that working within two collections in this manner (particularly where one is seemingly unbound by traditional watchmaking rules) Max and his team would have the freedom to create just about anything they set their mind to. In reality, of course, there are always projects that don’t reach the finish line for one reason or another. The SP One (SP is short for “Special Projects”) represents an entirely new product category for MB&F with the promise of reviving these projects and creating entirely new ones. These are watches that don’t fit neatly into either the Legacy Machine or Horological Machine categories, and indeed the SP One, a riff on the classic manually wound dress watch, is somewhere between these two MB&F worlds.
What we see in the SP One is a trio of elements that seem to be levitating in the dial space: the barrel, the balance wheel, and the dial itself. The movement, an all new caliber simply called SP One lurks underneath connecting these three circular elements with a network of intricately finished components (191 to be exact). The beveled flange that circles the movement, balance, barrel and dial is a space MB&F refers to as the “ampitheater,” From the front, you can see that each circular dial element is effectively cantilevered over the center space through a connection to this flange. Turning the watch over reveals a great deal of drama in the movement finishing, including surfaces that have been polished and satin finished, as well as internal angles and hand engravings.
This is all in service to something that MB&F has never really made before: a dress watch. The case is compact at just 38mm in diameter, and measures 12mm tall. That is remarkably thin and small for an MB&F, which historically has not been shy about creating watches that redefine what it means to have “wrist presence,” to put it mildly. The SP One is remarkably discreet, and is perhaps the first MB&F that you could make a convincing case is actually under the radar in a meaningful way, if only because the case will in fact easily fit under a shirt cuff.
At launch, the case is available in two metals, platinum and rose gold. MB&F describes the case as “pebble shaped.” There’s no bezel land the lugs are short and curve sharply downward. According to the brand, the original sketches for this watch, which date to 2018, called for a watch that would be considerably more subtle than MB&F creations to that point, and the case architecture certainly plants this watch in a more “watch-like” space than any other MB&F release. Still, the design of the movement and its presentation never short change the brand’s commitment to crafting something that is inherently sculptural and artistic.
The new SP One is available now and is not a limited edition. The retail price is $76,000 for the gold version, and $82,000 for the platinum. MB&F
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