MB&F has created yet another “out of this world” timepiece, as part of their Horological Machine line of watches. The sixth watch in the line, called the HM6 Space Pirate is probably their most outrageous watch to date, and I absolutely love it!
The name of the watch is very fitting, as its design has been inspired by 1970’s Japanese Manga cartoons. The watch itself could be mistaken for a spaceship with the top dome acting as the spaceship’s central command pod/bridge, the front two domes being the gunners’ domes, and the rear two being some sort of hyper-drive space turbines. It is a fantastic looking watch.
To me, the Horological Machine No. 6 watch design does look like something I’ve seen before from MB&F; the design has elements from HM3 Frog and HM4 combined to give us this beautiful work of art. According to Max Busser, the company’s founder, the idea for the watch came while he was watching a French version of the Japanese cartoon, called Capitaine Flam, or Captain Future, from the 1970’s. Captain Future was originally an American cartoon from the 1930’s, taken over by the Japanese in the 1970’s; there’s a clip from the cartoon below.
Like most of the Horological Machine watches, the HM6 is more of a showcase of the technical prowess of the company, rather than a time telling machine. The watch features five domes, covered with AR coated sapphire crystals. The center pod houses a 60 second flying tourbillion that comes with a retractable cover, which can be opened and closed with the crown. This cover is the equivalent of a radiation shield on a spaceship. The two pods at the rear feature turbines that move with the winding rotor, and the front two pods house the hour and minute spheres. Pretty simple design eh?
The watch case has been made with the design philosophy called biomorphism. Biomorphism is an idea from the 1960’s and 1970’s, it takes shapes found in nature (like animals) and incorporates them into industrial design, giving us fluid sculpture-like products.
This particular watch comes in a titanium case and is limited to 50 pieces, with polished and brushed aluminum parts on the case. The case measures 49.5mm x 52.3mm x 20.4mm. The watch is powered by a self-winding automatic movement with 72 hours of power reserve and consists of 475 components and 68 jewels.
The limited edition titanium MB&F Horological Machine No. 6 Space Pirate watches are priced at $230,000 each. Via: MB&F
