MB&F’s
creation this year for the Only Watch charity auction is an ultra-cool
concoction that appears to have flown out of a child’s dreamscape: a sapphire
and titanium jet turbine-shaped pod, its pilot a miniature solid gold panda.

A truly magical
synthesis of art and cutting-edge haute
horlogerie, this special edition HM4 Thunderbolt’s genesis is itself imbued with a fairytale
quality. It all began when MB&F founder Maximilian
Büsser gazed upon a watercolour painting of a panda bear flying on a rocket at
an art gallery. 

The Mission of Peace (2007), Huang Hankang

Artist Huang HanKang and MB&F founder Maximilian
Büsser 

That
painting was by Paris-based Chinese artist, Huang Hankang, who was then invited
by MB&F to collaborate on this year’s Only Watch project. The artist
agreed, and as he relates, ““I saw MB&F’s work as art, not watchmaking. It
comes from unfettered imagination, just like my paintings.” 

Huang
first imagined and then drew a delightfully carefree panda bear flying on top
of the HM4, and MB&F set about transposing Huang’s painting into a
horological instrument. Huang’s original painting accompanies the HM4 Only
Watch.

The
result of the collaboration was a dreamchild (or is it dreamcub?) featuring a panda
riding astride the HM4 jet, which he controls with reins made of twisted
gossamer gold filaments. The panda “pilot” was hand-carved and cast in 18k
white gold using the “lost wax” technique. And while the HM4 Only Watch is a
celebration of the freewheeling fantasy of children’s dreams, there is also a
feature for those obliged to ground their feet in reality from time to time:
the panda and his reins have been micro-engineered to be completely detachable
so that HM4 transforms from a flying machine into a Horological Machine.

The HM4
Only Watch 2011 will be auctioned at Only Watch, the charity auction benefiting
duchenne muscular dystrophy research.
The auction, which will be held in Monaco on September
22 under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II, is organised every two years and brings
together the best of Switzerland’s haute horlogerie makers.

MB&F is available exclusively at Europe Watch Company in China.

Flying With Eye In Sky (2010), Huang Hankang

HM4 Only Watch 2011: Technical Specifications

Features

A
detachable 18k gold panda and reins on top of Horological Machine No4 with the
signature of the artist, Huang Hankang, on the sapphire glass display panel.

Case

Grade 5
titanium and sapphire with a detachable 18k white gold panda holding gold reins

Dimensions
(without panda): 54mm wide x 52mm long x 24mm high

Number of
components: 65

Articulation
of the lugs: 3°

Functions

Hours,
minutes, and power reserve indicator

Hours and
minutes on the right dial; power reserve indicator on the left dial

Separate
crowns for time setting and winding

Engine

Three-dimensional
horological engine developed 100 percent by MB&F

Manual
winding with two mainspring barrels in parallel

Power
reserve: 72 hours

Balance
frequency: 21,600bph/3Hz

Number of
components: 311

Number of
jewels: 50

Sapphire crystals

Five
sapphire crystals: 2 for the dials, 2 for the display panels (top and bottom),
and 1 for the central case section

Strap and buckle

A black
hand-stitched calfskin strap with a titanium/white gold custom-designed
deployment buckle attached to articulated lugs

Painting

The HM4 Only Watch is accompanied by the
original watercolour that artist Huang Hankang painted to express his message
with MB&F’s Horological Machine No. 4.

MB&F

Europe Watch Company

Only Watch