Legacy Machines are marvelous reinterpretations of significant horological inventions by the greatest watchmakers in history. So the contemporary look endowed by the otherworldly appearance of Legacy Machine No.2’s dual flying balances, suspended high above the dial from four gracefully arcing arms, may at first appear paradoxical.
The Legacy Machine No. 2, known as LM2, is the second in MB&F’s expected series of five Legacy watches. Each piece is an exercise in time travel, with founder Max Büsser posing the question, “If I were alive a hundred or more years ago, I wonder what kind of watches I’d be making?”.
Each is inspired from icons of watchmaking’s history, both timepieces and their creators, and seeks to challenge today’s generation of watchmakers by reimagining these antique timepieces in creating components and movements that most people would simply say cannot be done.
But make no mistake, the LM2 is a timepiece tracing its lineage back over 250 years to three of the greatest watchmakers who ever lived: Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747– 1823), Ferdinand Berthoud (1727– 1807) and Antide Janvier (1751– 1835). One thing these innovators had in common was their use, or attempted use, of dual regulators in a clock movement.
All mechanical movements have a balance wheel, which lives in a component called a regulator. Its job is to regulate the watch or clock’s ability to keep time accurately, despite constant movement and change in angle. It then powers the gear train which makes the hands move.
A complication known as a tourbillon is widely used today to address the issue. In the early 1800s, all three of these watchmakers experimented with the more-is-better approach, using two balance wheels to do the job. Easier said than done, this created an additional problem, how do you take those two different inputs and average them out?
The regulators were connected to a differential, which takes the inputs, averages them, and then sends power to the gear train, in itself a hugely complex feat of engineering. Most of these efforts included an additional movement. That such a very few dual regulator movements were created by them, and so few since, helps explain the complexity and challenge of the design.
Upon seeing the first prototype of the LM2, Max says “I was as stunned as when I discovered the Duality. That is what I am looking for in a watchmaking creation: Generating a rush of adrenaline whilst mixing tribute to the great masters and personal creativity.” The Legacy Machine 2 is available in 18k white or yellow gold, and in a limited edition of 18 in platinum with the blue dial.
[Perpetuelle]
