Leave it to Maximilian Büsser – the founder of the avant-garde brand MB&F to come up with the idea of bringing together two different master watchmakers - one a legendary innovator from the Vallée de Joux and another a famed perfectionist – to create the Legacy Machine Thunderdome.

The Legacy Machine Thunderdome is a one-of-a-kind timepiece that epitomises expert craftsmanship with its rotating spherical mass rising above the blue guillochage. Bringing order to the chaos is the time indicated on an inclined dial of the stretched lacquer showcasing a wonderful thought of “proving that even the wildest horological whirlwinds can be tamed into the logic of hours and minutes.”

Apart from its out-of-the-world aesthetics and machinery, the Legacy Machine Thunderbolt features the proprietary new MB&F 'Triax'. It is a triple-axis rotating escapement that has a striped-down construction and two-cage configuration that allows a magnificent view of the Thurderdome's beating heart. With the innermost structure completing one turn in 8 seconds, the intermediate cage rotating once every 12 seconds, and the outermost cage making one full rotation every 20 seconds, the high speed rotation of the tri-axial rotating mechanism consumes a lot of energy. To tackle this problem, Coudray inculcates the Potter escapement (named after Albert H. Potter) for the first time in a mobile rotating mechanism hence controlling the rate at which energy escapes from the escape wheels.

With an exceptional dial-side showcase of expert craftsmanship, it comes as no surprise that the rear of the watch would be any less. Once turned on its back, the caseback features exceptional levels of finish, courtesy Kari Voutilainen. He has for the first time, in an MB&F creation, applied his own propriety finishing technique on the ratchet wheels. “Not even someone with years and years of finishing experience could replicate this finish,” says Voutilainen. “Not without specific training, specific tools and specific techniques.”

Technical Specs: 

Engine

Movement developed for MB&F by Eric Coudray and Kari Voutilainen.Regulating mechanism featuring 3 fast rotation axes revolving at different speeds and on different planes. The rotation speeds of the axes starting from the centre are respectively 8 seconds, 12 seconds and 20 seconds. The combined weight of the multi-axis mechanism is nearly 1g. Manual winding with three mainspring barrels. Bespoke hemispherical 10mm balance wheel with traditional regulating screws and helical hairspring, visible on top of the movement. Superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th-century style; bevelled internal angles highlighting hand craft; polished bevels; Geneva waves; hand-made engravings.

Power reserve: 45 hours

Balance frequency: 3 Hz / 21,600bph

Number of components: 413

Number of jewels: 63

Functions & indications

Hours and minutes displayed on a 58° vertically tilted dial

Power reserve indicator on the back of the movement

Case

Material: launch edition in platinum 950 and The Hour Glass editions in tantalum

Dimensions: 44mm x 22.2 mm

Number of components: 20

Water resistance: 30m / 90' / 3ATM 

Strap & buckle

Blue hand-stitched alligator strap with platinum or tantalum folding buckle matching the case

The MB&F Legacy Machine Thunderdome is available in two limited editions; 33 pieces in platinum 950, with light blue guilloché dial and 10 pieces in tantalum for The Hour Glass (5 pieces with an aventurine dial and 5 pieces with a dark-blue guilloché dial).