America’s largest luxury watch extravaganza, WatchTime New York, returns for its fifth consecutive year at Midtown Manhattan’s Gotham Hall on October 25 – 26, 2019. This year’s event is shaping up to be the biggest yet, with 37 participating watch brands displaying their latest and greatest timepieces. Among these brands is MB&F, which will showcase the last-ever Legacy Machine 2 to be crafted in 18K rose gold.
The MB&F Legacy Machine 2 (LM2) was revealed in 2013 as a joint effort between MB&F, watchmaker Jean-Francois Mojon (founder of the Cyrus brand) and his team at Chronode, and Kari Voutilainen, the trio that was also behind 2011’s Legacy Machine 1. According to MB&F, the LM2, with the first double flying balance wheel with differential, pays tribute to 18th-century watchmaking giants Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807) and Antide Janvier (1751-1835) as well Philippe Dufour, the inventor of the Duality, the first known wristwatch to feature two balances joined by a differential.
Recently, the brand has announced a variation of the LM2 with a blue dial and a case made of rose gold, a material that was present on one of the launch editions of the LM2 in 2013. This, right here, is an important detail as MB&F founder Maximillian Büsser (the “MB” in the company name, with the “F” identifying his corps of visionary watchmaking “Friends”) has announced that it will be the last time an LM2 will be released in the precious metal. Following the sleeker balance bridges of the redesigned LM2 Titanium, the LM2 Red Gold Blue offers a more elegant take on the original industrial aesthetic of the first LM2. The sunray-finished dial plate gets its hue via the process of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which evenly coats the surface with a rich, deep blue.
On display under a domed sapphire crystal, the dial of Legacy Machine No. 2, which is actually the top plate of the exquisitely finished movement, is a lesson in symmetrical simplicity. Top to bottom: the white stretched lacquer subdial at 12 o’clock, with its blued gold hour and minute hands, is visually balanced by the large, raised differential at 6 o’clock. Left to right: the two flying balances and their escapements are identical mirror images, right down to the position of the stud holders pinning their balance springs.
While the levitated oscillating balance wheels of the binary regulators catch and hold the viewer’s gaze, it is the large planetary differential sitting proud of the dial that is the real heart of Legacy Machine No.2. These multiple regulators are connected via a differential giving way to a complex high-precision mechanism which serves three crucial roles:
- Transferring power to each of the regulators
- Receiving the individual timing rates from each balance
- Transmitting the average rate of the two regulators to the gear train, where it finally manifests itself as the displayed time
The Legacy Machine No. 2 Red Blue Gold comes in a limited series of 12 pieces and is priced at $156,000.
Don’t miss out on seeing the last MB&F LM2 in rose gold at WatchTime New York 2019 on October 25 – 26. Click here to get your tickets now!
