The Final Frontier RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
MB&F writes the concluding chapter to its Horological Machine No 6 series. Nicolette Wong takes a look at the HM6 Final Edition
All good things must come to an end. Even the stars in the night sky will one day wink out of existence. Poetically, it is at the end of their lives that stars burn the brightest. The latest star to go supernova is the MB&F Horological Machine No 6 (HM6), which debuted a mere five years ago in the guise of the HM6 Space Pirate. Today, the HM6 series is one of the most beloved and recognisable in the MB&F universe. Its distinctive case shape and innovative mechanics mean that those in the know can spot an HM6 from a mile away. Of course, the brand wants to end things with a bang—and so it has, in the form of the HM6 Final Edition. As the last child of its line, it is only natural that the HM6 Final Edition bears a strong resemblance to the HM6 Space Pirate. It has the same undulating curves and soft lines that are so characteristic of the HM6 family, at once organic and unmistakably space age. The likeness is no coincidence: the inspiration for the HM6 came from Capitaine Flam, a Japanese anime series about an adventurer, who captained a magnificently bulbous spaceship that sailed through distant solar systems. But while the original HM6 Space Pirate boasts a smooth satin-brushed finish on its aeronautic-grade titanium case, the new HM6 Final Edition bears the marks of five years in hostile alien territory. Its steel body—the same material that all previous final editions were crafted in—has deep vertical grooves that extend from its whirling turbines at the top of the case to the hour and minute spheres
at the bottom. On top of that, both time indicator globes and the oscillating rotor in the movement have been given a blue PVD coating to reflect their proximity to the hottest stars in the universe, whose ultraviolet spectrum radiation means they burn bright blue.
The HM6 Final Edition houses the same high-performance engine that runs in the bodies of all the HM6 timepieces. The movement has exactly 475 components and is the first flying tourbillon to emerge from the MB&F workshop. The flying tourbillon itself, on display at the heart of the watch, is raised significantly higher than the rest of the movement, unlike other flying tourbillons which keep the escapement as close to the main body as possible to maintain chronometric performance. The perpendicular position of the hour and minute hemispheres relative to the movement means that a special conical gear must be used for the angular transition. Such gears are almost never seen in watchmaking, with the exceptions being MB&F’S recently released HM9 Flow, and Parmigiani Fleurier’s Bugatti collection. The HM6 is the fourth Horological Machine to receive the final send off. There are only eight pieces of the HM6 Final Edition available. In addition to the previous editions of the watch, it means that there are exactly 100 HM6S in the world. According to MB&F, while the end of any edition is always a sad affair, it is only by ceasing production of existing pieces that the brand can move on to new and exciting challenges. After all, it is when one door closes that another opens.