Two Flying Balance Wheels, MB&F Legacy Machine 2
The Legacy Machine 2 (LM2) is the second watch released by MB&F for their Legacy Machine line of watches. Released in 2013, the watch in question continued the concept that Max Büsser had for this very creative set of watches - what would MB&F be creating is they were around 100 years ago?
The inspiration for the LM2 goes back to the mid-18th century. Watchmakers of this time period had to deal with oils that were of very low quality. Some notable watchmakers who experiment with solving this problem include Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807) and Antide Janvier (1751-1835). They each tried to create a watch that had two flying balance wheels that oscillated independently at their own rates, and had a differential that averaged out each regulator. Fast forward to the mid-90’s and another famous watchmaker created a notable watch with two balance wheels - the Philippe Dufour Duality. When Max speaks about the inception of this watch, he sights a dinner he was having with a collector who was wearing a Duality as being the first moment when we started to think about the design of the LM2.
The watch is a 44mm watch developed exclusively for MB&F by Jean-François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen. The watch features two flying balance wheels on the left and right side of the dial, closely following the design features of the LM1. Where 6 o’clock typically is, you will see part of the differential that is averaging out the two balance wheels and delivering the average time to the gear train. The actual time on the watch is on a dial at 12 o’clock which delivers the hours and minutes. Of course when you turn the watch over you see an incredibly finish movement, and the rest of the differential.
The watch came in various case metals and dials; launch editions in 18k red gold, 18k white gold, and platinum 950 (limited to 18 pieces); redesigned edition in grade 5 titanium (limited to 18 pieces), 18k white gold edition with purple dial (limited to 12 pieces); and in 18k red gold with blue dial (limited to 12 pieces). Not only is this watch an impressive feat of watchmaking, it continues the Legacy Machine story nicely and pays tribute to watchmakers of the 18th century, but also an important watch figure of today.
Enjoy!
