Founder Maximilian Büsser wondered what would happen if a robot’s head were a watch, and product designer Maximilian Maertens spent four years shaping the answer.
MB&F today introduces HM12 The Guardian, a wristwatch that is also the head of a 38cm-tall robot. It opens the brand’s third decade, in blue, purple and green, 12 pieces each.
The time sits in the robot’s eyes: jumping hours on the left, trailing minutes on the right. The flying tourbillon above is its brain, and a micro-rotor shaped like the MB&F battle-axe is its mouth. Worked by the left crown, face shields slide across and can stop at any point.
It is the first Horological Machine conceived and developed entirely by Büsser and Maertens, after 20 years of collaboration with designer Eric Giroud. The in-house calibre has 84 hours of power reserve. L’Epée 1839 built The Guardian, the robot that holds the watch on its head and carries a mechanical thermometer for a heart.
The robots of Büsser’s childhood have shaped MB&F’s machines from the beginning, and HM12 brings that fascination full circle: a watch that is also a robot’s face.
The Basics
Brand: MB&F
Model: HM12 The Guardian
Dimensions: 49.3mm long × 43.6mm wide
Thickness: 13.8mm
Case material: Grade 5 titanium; three sapphire crystals
Dial: No conventional dial; jumping hours and trailing minutes on rotating discs form the robot’s “eyes”
Strap: Quick-release system to mount the watch on The Guardian; 20mm lug width; 20mm buckle; Velcro fastening
Limited edition: 12 pieces per colour (blue, purple, green)
The Movement
Calibre: HM12, in-house
Functions: Instantaneous jumping hours, trailing minutes, flying tourbillon, face-shield function
Winding: Automatic, double winding rotor
Power reserve: 84 hours
Jewels: 86
Images courtesy of MB&F.