MB&F
Case Yellow gold case 750/1000 with a high domed sapphire crystal, sapphire caseback, calendar correction pushers at 2, 4, 8 & 10 o'clock Strap Original black Alligator leather strap, yellow gold/titanium folding clasp Dial Blue 3-dimensional dial, hour display at 12 o'clock, day indication at 3 o'clock, month indication at 6 o'clock, date indication at 9 o'clock, power reserve indication at 4 o'clock, leap year indication at 7 o'clock Movement Rhodium-plated hand-wound movement, with 2 main spring barrels, power reserve indication, hours, minutes, day, date, month & leap year Ref. 03.YL.BL Movement No. 21/25 Case No. 03Y***** D= 44mmlot
24
MB&F
Legacy Machine Perpetual Calendar
This lot has a reserve price
Starting bid
CHF 70 000
Location
Office, Zurich
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1 day(s)
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Specification
Case
Yellow gold case 750/1000 with a high domed sapphire crystal, sapphire caseback, calendar correction pushers at 2, 4, 8 & 10 o'clock
Strap
Original black Alligator leather strap, yellow gold/titanium folding clasp
Dial
Blue 3-dimensional dial, hour display at 12 o'clock, day indication at 3 o'clock, month indication at 6 o'clock, date indication at 9 o'clock, power reserve indication at 4 o'clock, leap year indication at 7 o'clock
Movement
Rhodium-plated hand-wound movement, with 2 main spring barrels, power reserve indication, hours, minutes, day, date, month & leap year
Ref.
03.YL.BL
Movement No.
21/25
Case No.
03Y*****
D=
44mm
Condition report
Case:
Very good, small signs of wear
Strap:
Very good, small signs of wear
Dial:
Mint condition
Movement:
All functions working properly
Amplitude (Dial on top/Lift angle 52):
Approx 320°
Accuracy (Dial on top):
Approx +5 sec/day
Details
A very rare, attractive, and unusual
yellow gold limited-edition perpetual calendar
wristwatch from the haute horlogerie Swiss watch brand MB&F (Maximilian Büsser and Friends), founded by Swiss businessman Maximilian Büsser in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2005.
Limited edition
launched in 2020. Case made of
18k yellow gold
, diameter 44mm, 17.5mm thick, openworked dial, sapphire caseback. Manual winding movement with
two mainspring barrels
, power reserve up to 72 hours,
14mm flying balance wheel
visible on top of the movement. Functions – indication of time in hours and minutes at 12 o’clock,
perpetual calendar
with date (9 o’clock), day of the week (3 o’clock), and month (6 o’clock) sub-dials,
leap year retrograde indicator
at 7 o’clock, power reserve indicator at 5 o’clock. Black leather strap with 18k yellow and white gold MB&F triple folding clasp, produced by
G&F Chatelain
. Limited edition of
25 pieces
.
Lot essay
The Legacy Machine Perpetual, launched in 2015, is based on a new type of perpetual calendar developed by Northern Irish watchmaker and
movement designer
Stephen McDonnell
. Unlike the traditional perpetual calendar, which calculates the lengths of the months based on the length of the longest months – 31 days – in McDonnell’s perpetual calendar, the length of the shortest month of 28 days is taken as the base duration. The change in concept was intended to make the calendar a little simpler, including a leap year corrector not found in traditional perpetual calendars. Nevertheless, the system of protecting the calendar device from breakage, built into the mechanism by McDonnell and important when trying to make a correction just as pointers switch, led to a serious complication of the mechanism as a whole. Typically, a perpetual calendar caliber has about 200 parts (for example, Patek Philippe’s caliber 240 Q, one of the best in this category, has 275 parts), while McDonnell’s perpetual calendar is
assembled with 581 components
. This is not only evidence of the
great complexity
of the mechanism, but also the reason for the high cost of Legacy Machine Perpetual watches and their focus primarily on an extremely narrow audience of collectors and connoisseurs of fine watchmaking. For the same reason, the release of almost all versions of the Legacy Machine Perpetual is limited.
The design of the Legacy Machine Perpetual is a continuation of the style of all previous MB&F Legacy Machine releases – with a round case,
high domed sapphire crystal
, and balance and spiral set in the centre of the dial under an arched bridge (a so-called ‘
floating balance wheel
’). In 2015, MB&F started the Legacy Machine Perpetual with the launch of two limited editions in 18k rose gold and 950 platinum, each with 25 pieces. Other varieties were offered in subsequent years – in particular, the present reference was
announced in 2020
. In 2021, an upgraded Legacy Machine Perpetual Palladium model (25 pieces) with flat rectangular calendar correctors instead of the cylindrical ones of earlier releases, appeared.
The complexity of the caliber becomes apparent from the very first glance of the watch, as the calendar mechanism is installed on the dial side of the caliber, and the dial is openworked.
The Legacy Machine Perpetual is one of the
most visually appealing designs
in the MB&F collection. The complexity of the caliber becomes apparent from the very first glance of the watch, as the calendar mechanism is installed on the dial side of the caliber, and the dial is openworked. Thanks to its
extremely small production
, as well as a charismatic, easily remembered and
recognisable design
, this watch, like other MB&F releases, finds ardent fans, and therefore rarely appears on the secondary market.
The present example is all the more attractive because of the
yellow gold case
, rarely used by watchmakers in the modern era, at least in comparison with other shades of gold. Particularly interesting is the combination of yellow gold with the dial, which uses a blue tone, the
antagonist colour to yellow
. This is definitely one of the best combinations in terms of contrast and attractiveness.
The watch features a
high level of finish
on the caliber components typical of the MB&F collection, including traditional techniques –
Côtes de Genève
striped finish of the bridges, colimassonage (snailing) finish of the mainplate, jewels set in
gold chatons
, chamfering and polishing, fine polishing of the screw heads,
spherical polishing
of the shafts and pins, and fine straight grinding of the calendar mechanism’s steel components. This certainly enhances the appeal of this lot.
Reasons to bid
The MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual Limited Edition Ref. 03.YL.BL would appear to be a fine purchase for the collector thanks to its unique design, excellent and
elaborated hand finishing
of the case, dial and both sides of the movement, as well as the
unique perpetual calendar mechanism
, invented for MB&F by Stephen McDonnell, which evidently requires great skill and experience of the watchmaker who assembles it. Therefore, it is also a fine purchase for the collector who looks to obtain a complicated mechanical watch, one of the
iconic timepieces of
modern haute horlogerie
. It is easily recognisable and instantly memorable. Its stand-out design is sure to move a person who strives to show independence in creating their own style.
