Legacy Machine No1 M.A.D. Dubai: The MB&F gift
The Swiss independent watch brand, MB&F, says thank you to Dubai and its esteemed partner in business, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, through an exclusive limited edition timepiece
With more than a decade of success in building the world’s first ever horological concept laboratory, Maximilian Büsser has gained the company MB&F the rightful international recognition and friendships. In Dubai, the Swiss watch brand has found a strong partnership with the leader in the retail industry, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons. To honour the outpouring of support from the Seddiqi family, as evidenced by years of partnership and the recent opening of the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery in Dubai, MB&F has dedicated an exclusive limited edition timepiece, the MB&F. Legacy Machine No. 1 (LM1) M.A.D. Dubai as its micro-mechanical ‘thank you’ note.
First launched in 2011, LM1 is a tribute to the great innovators of traditional watchmaking, with its monumental central balance, superlatively finished movement, completely independent dual time zones, unique vertical power reserve indicator and elegant annular case. It was awarded the Public Prize (voted for by horology fans) and the Best Men’s Watch Prize (voted for by the jury) at the 2012 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. This year, the new LM1 M.A.D. Dubai features 13 limited edition pieces in Ti-6Al-4V (grade 5) titanium, and marks the first Legacy Machine watch that is available in this high-tech aerospace grade alloy.
Why titanium? While Legacy Machines are generally cased in precious metals, there is no mistaking the pedigree of this high-performance element. The specific alloy of titanium used for LM1 M.A.D. Dubai is Ti-6Al-4V, which is a blend of pure titanium with 6% aluminium, 4% vanadium and trace amounts of iron and oxygen. The Ti-6Al-4V alloy is significantly stronger than commercially pure titanium and has an excellent combination of lightness, strength, and resistance to corrosion.
What makes LM1 M.A.D. Dubai edition also easily distinguished from its stable mates is the eye-catching vivid green of its CVD-treated movement main plate, as well as the Arabic-Hindi numerals of the "home time" sub dial. It is also worth emphasising that LM1 is one of very few dual time zone watches offering completely independent setting of both hours and minutes. Green CVD has only recently become an option; the colour has long been considered too unstable for commercial applications. While applying green CVD is a long process, light playing over the verdant surface creates spectacularly contrasting hues of blue and purple.
Meanwhile, the watch features the LM1's transcendental in-house movement that bears testimony to the enormous talent of its creators, Jean-François Mojon of Chronode and Kari Voutilainen. Immaculate Geneva waves, highly polished gold chatons, and bridges with impeccably executed bevels following deliberate internal angles (which cannot be finished by machine) showcase the movement's absolutely peerless fine finishing. LM1’s movement proudly bears the names of both its creators, and is the first calibre other than Voutilainen's own to bear his name.
The limited edition LM1 M.A.D. Dubaiis available exclusively through the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery in Dubai.
