Kicking off Geneva Watch Days 2023 a few days early, MB&F presents another stunning addition to the brand’s catalog – the Horological Machine N°9 Sapphire Vision. Back in 2018, it was difficult to imagine a timepiece more spectacular than the original in titanium and then rose gold. Then, the focus was on the HM9’s form – the exceptional three-dimensional case with inspiration drawn from 1940’s and 1950’s automotive and aeronautical designs. One thing that wasn’t obvious then due to the solid case, the movement is a genuine spectacle. HM9-SV with its fully sapphire case is born from the motivation to show the world the stunning engine in this timepiece.
From every angle, there’s so much for the eye to admire on this latest HM9-SV. First, there’s the vibrant color of the movement on both new versions – one with an 18K yellow gold frame with CVD-coated green engine and the other with an 18K white gold frame with CVD-coated blue engine. Then, there’s two fully independent cantilevered balances that channel data into a differential that turns two heartbeats into one coherent time-pulse.
Two balances beating within the same movement will inevitably bring up discussions of resonance, the mechanical phenomenon that describes linked oscillators in a state of mutual harmonic excitation. As with the LM2 engine, Horological Machine N°9 deliberately avoids inducing the resonance effect. Its purpose in including two balance wheels is to obtain discrete sets of chronometric data that can be translated by a differential to produce one stable averaged reading. This purpose would be defeated by two balances oscillating perfectly in phase, giving the same chronometric data at every point.
It comes as no surprise that one of the most difficult technical challenges involved the sapphire. As a material, it is extremely challenging to machine in complex three-dimensional shapes, especially compounded by the small machining tolerances required in watchmaking. Since its very first creations, MB&F has worked with ever-increasingly complicated sapphire crystal components; HM2 ‘Sapphire Vision’, the double-arched crystals of HM4 ‘Thunderbolt’, the recent HM3 FrogX and the hallucinatory body of HM6 ‘Alien Nation’ are prime examples.
Limited to five in each version, the HM9-SV is another example of MB&F’s exceptional ability to push design and engineering limits in 21st century watchmaking.