MB&F’s HM11 Architect Redefines “Home Appliance”
Max Büsser is nothing if not specific about the influences on the design of his watches. In the case of his latest exotic Horological Machine—the HM11 Architect—it is the Organic movement in architecture, which in the 20th century espoused harmony with nature and balance in form. Many of its practitioners also included surprise and playfulness in their creations. Büsser very clearly touches all these points in his home-like HM11, which may be his most compelling Horological Machine in a decade.
HM11 is composed of four horizontal transepts surrounding a central open tourbillon under a sapphire dome—the atrium of the home. Each of the four transepts houses a separate horological function. An oversized crown with large sapphire inserts is the metaphorical front door to the home. Moving clockwise, the wearer finds a time display, power reserve and a thermometer with a traditional bimetallic mechanism. Markers for all these displays feature a rod and ball motif that might have been plucked from a 20th century modernist fixture.