MB&F rolls out Horological Machine N°8 Can-Am
The worlds of edgy racing cars and Haute Horlogerie collide to present the Horological Machine N°8 Can-Am from the Maison of MB&F. The HM8 rises from the turbo-charged ashes of the Can-Am, a discontinued “anything goes” car-racing series that would have celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016
What happens when a talented youngster dreams of designing cars, but circumstances intervene and he becomes a watchmaker? The world of Haute Horlogerie benefits as do its aficionados. When it is Maximilian Büsser, the founder of MB&F, we then have the Horological Machines series.
Over the last decade, two indelible forms have often marked MB&F’s Horological Machines: the distinctive angular form and optical prism displays of the revisited 1970s Amida watch, which first manifested in HM5 and then HMX; and the now signature “battle-axe” winding rotor, which took centre stage on top of HM3, MB&F’s most popular model to date.
Horological Machine N°8 (HM8) takes those two idiosyncratic features and infuses them with high-octane Can-Am race car-inspired design – generating an exquisitely sculptured, high-speed wrist-borne fantasy. The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, Can-Am for short, was a sports car racing series running from 1966 to 1987.
Legendary racing names participated in the Can-Am – Bruce McLaren developed his very first car for the Can-Am series; McLaren, Lola, Chaparral, BRM, Shadow and Porsche all ran manufacture teams. Class restrictions in the Can-Am were minimal and allowed for unlimited engine sizes, turbocharging, supercharging, and basically unrestricted aerodynamics. All this led to the development of pioneering technology in many fields, and extremely powerful engines.
The HM8 Can-Am features a curvaceous yet angular case, with dual optical prisms vertically displaying bi-directional jumping hours and trailing minutes, while the distinctive battle-axe winding rotor is visible on top. But the real star of HM8 is its polished “roll bars” – inspired by Can-Am – that majestically sweep from the front of the Machine down to the beguiling tapered back. Incongruously for a fully mechanical racing machine, the visual effect is electric.
Those roll bars are milled from solid blocks of grade 5-titanium and then meticulously hand-polished to gleam like tubular mirrors. The HM8’s Engine sits in full view under a nearly invisible sapphire crystal engine cover. The open centre of the blued-gold battle-axe rotor enables appreciation of the circular wave finish on the movement, while the hour and minute indication discs are visible in the corners.
The generous use of sapphire crystal allows unfettered visual access to the movement while its transparency backlights the time displays, making them more legible by day. Light also charges the Super-LumiNova numerals on the hour and minute discs for maximum legibility by night. HM8’s form amplifies its function rather than simply following it.
Race-car motif: While visually it is those polished roll bars linking HM8 to the Can-Am supercars, it’s the rebellious spirit of working outside restrictive rules that really provided the inspiration for HM8.
At first glance it may appear that the sapphire crystal covering the HM8 Engine is circular and positioned above the battle-axe rotor, but it’s not. The complete top of the case is one piece of sapphire crystal with sections of the crystal metallised to create a bluish border. That crystal, combined with the polished roll bars on each side, the oil sumps underneath, and the time displays created by optical prisms highlight HM8’s unrestricted horological creativity.
The grade 5-titanium roll bars have the desired qualities of being light in weight and high in strength. But that strength comes with a twist: titanium is not very malleable and cannot be bent easily into the desired long curve, which means that each roll bar has to be milled from a solid block of titanium Ti-6Al-4V. This is a blend of pure titanium with six per cent aluminium and four per cent vanadium as well as trace amounts of iron and oxygen. The Ti-6Al-4V alloy is significantly stronger than commercially pure titanium and boasts an excellent combination of lightness, strength, and resistance to corrosion.
Continuing with the race-car motif, like most car engines which have an “oil sump” located underneath, the HM8 has dual oil sumps under its own Engine.
The HM8 Can-Am is powered by an in-house developed bi-directional jumping hour and trailing minute indication module, on a Sowind base movement. The movement is inverted to put the winding rotor on top and modified to drive the prism indicator module. The finishing of the movement is flawless and is completely open to view from the top. The power reserve is 42 hours.
The bi-directional jumping hour and trailing minute displays on HM8 are materialised by overlapping discs (one for the hours, one for the minutes), completely covered in Super-LumiNova. The effect of large numerals is created by masking all of the lume except for the numbers.
The discs rotate horizontally on top of the movement; they are visible in the corners of the transparent Engine cover. Yet the time indications are displayed vertically in a ‘dashboard’ at the front of the case. To achieve this, MB&F worked with a high-precision optical glass supplier to develop reflective sapphire crystal prisms that reflect light from the discs 90°. The prisms also magnify the indications by 20 per cent to maximise legibility.
The HM8 has separate sapphire crystal prisms for the hour and minute displays, which are wedge-shaped with precisely calculated angles to ensure that light is reflected (and reversed) from the horizontal indications to the vertical rather than refracted (bent). A convex lens at the front provides the magnification.
Because the time is reflected, the numbers are printed on the discs as mirror images so that they display correctly on the ‘dial’. The vertical, forward-facing display makes HM8 Can-Am an excellent driver’s watch, as there is no need to lift your wrist from the steering wheel to read the display.
The HM8 Can-Am is available in two versions: 18K white gold/titanium and 18K red gold/titanium.
