The anniversary year begins with serious Legacy Machine Perpetual and Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback models.

 

Two new models launched in 20-piece series share a stand-out approach to the color palette and both use Longhorn lugs. The Longhorn concept was introduced in 2009 when MB&F was working on the LM1. The idea fell through at the prototype stage: they couldn't decide how to make the lugs comfortable.

 

For the tenth anniversary of the LM1 in 2021, the watchmaker saw the idea through in a unique piece auctioned off to support the nonprofit Save the Rhino International.

 

They solved the original problem by making two sets of lug holes (at the end of the lugs and closer to the case) so that the strap could be adjusted to where the fit feels best. This solution has been carried over to the new limited editions in steel with black counters on their dials.

 

MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn
MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn
MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn
MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn

Both of the novelties are fresh versions that house movements developed for MB&F by the Northern Irish watchmaker Stephen McDonnell. The watch designer born in Belfast helped the brand conceived by Maximilian Büsser get off to a terrific start.

 

McDonnell studied theology at Oxford University's Pembroke College, but pivoted to repairing broken watches when he returned to Northern Ireland. He went on to enroll in the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program (WOSTEP).

 

McDonnell thought outside the box to come up with solutions for two of the watch industry's most important complications: the perpetual calendar and the chronograph. Surprisingly, these two projects were also the first movements that McDonnell constructed entirely by hand.

 

MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn
MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn
MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn
MB&F 20th Anniversary Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn

The resulting perpetual calendar completed in 2015 was awarded the Calendar Watch Prize at the GPHG in 2016, and his Legacy Machine Sequential Evo chronograph received the best-in-show Aiguille d'Or prize in 2022.

 

The perpetual calendar movement comprising 581 components integrated a "mechanical processor" that changed the way months of different length are counted: McDonnell took a 28-day month as the basis and added extra days for longer months instead of subtracting.

 

His chronograph movement used a "Twinverter" binary switch for multiple timing modes: independent timing, split-seconds, cumulative “chess match” mode, and sequential (lap timer). By the way, the new model adds a flyback function to this list.