Take a deep breath
HM7 is back in a titanium case with a green sapphire crystal bezel, limited to 50 pieces.
16 May 2018
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HM7 Aquapod from MB & F began its gestation as a horological jellyfish, and the architecture of its Engine is appropriately biomorphic. Jellyfish are radially symmetric, Aquapod is radially symmetric. Where a jellyfish generates power from food caught in its tentacles, HM7 generates power from its tentacle-like automatic winding rotor.
Where jellyfish have a radially symmetric ring of neurons for a brain, Aquapod has radially symmetric rings displaying hours and minutes. Where jellyfish have a hood or bell on top, HM7 Aquapod has an imposing flying tourbillon regulating the power generated by the rotor, and transforming it into the display of time.
And then there’s that bezel. While Horological Machine No.7 is not a dive watch, it is a timepiece comfortably at home in the water – so MB&F added the one element that all serious aquatic watches possess: a unidirectional rotating bezel. However, unlike every other dive watch on the planet, Aquapod’s bezel isn’t attached to the case, but floats apart like a life buoy.The winding rotor’s tentacles are crafted from a solid block of titanium; their very three-dimensional nature makes machining and finishing extremely challenging. Underneath the tentacles, a platinum mass ensures powerful and efficient winding.
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The 303-component, 72-hour power reserve HM7 Engine was developed in-house by MB&F.
Spherically three-dimensional, all its mechanisms – from the winding rotor at the bottom, past the mainspring barrel and hour and minute displays, to the flying tourbillon on top – rotate concentrically around the centre.
The curves of the high-domed sapphire crystal are mirrored in the shape of the time display rings, which are not simply flat and angled, but are mathematically precise, curved spherical segments.
And, like many jellyfish, HM7 glows in the dark.
It glows where you would expect it to – on the hour and minute numerals – but also around the inside of the movement, to light up that flying tourbillon at night, and in addition, along the tentacle-like winding rotor so that its operation, too, can be appreciated in the dark.
HM7 Aquapod is available in 3 limited editions: titanium with blue ceramic bezel limited to 33 pieces, red gold with black ceramic bezel limited to 66 pieces, and titanium with green sapphire crystal bezel limited to 50 pieces.
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