Hands-On Debut: The All-New MB&F Special Projects Collection & SP One Watch

The all-new MB&F Special Projects Collection and its SP One debut watch might just be the first release in my 12 years of covering the brand about which I did not immediately know what to say or how best to approach it. While the MB&F Horological Machines used to be bombastic, futuristic, and/or organic in their designs, Legacy Machines used to be historic watchmaking with a retro-futuristic flair — and so much beyond. The SP One? Both and yet none of those things all at once.

Photography by Ed Rhee of aBlogtoWatch.

So, where is the MB&F Special Projects Collection coming from? According to the brand, “As MB&F approached its 20th Anniversary, the team was reminded of the brand’s spirit, which, according to any management book, epitomizes doing everything wrong: no business plan, no market research, just a will to create the unexpected and go against the grain. So why not plunge into that basket of dormant projects and create a new collection of undefinable timepieces?”

One of the epic Horological Machines — with a shaped movement inside.

Clearly, the MB&F Special Project One — a.k.a. MB&F SP One — lies between the Horological Machines and Legacy Machines. Initially, it was code-named “Three Circles” (a better name than SP One, if you ask me), with a trinity of levitating elements, specifically the mainspring barrel, balance wheel, and dial. Where it all goes “wrong” (maybe that’s harsh and I should say “odd”) for me is that Horological Machines have always proudly placed their so-called shaped movements into cases that followed those movement lines — and vice versa, shaped cases, no matter how crazy, always had either a full movement or at least a module or some other technical solution to follow its shape.

Here? With the MB&F SP One? It looks like we have a distinctive movement shaped like the letter “Y” and put inside a familiar-looking round case. And, frankly, over the last two or so decades, we have seen more than enough of this approach from other high-end watchmakers — and what rendered MB&F special all along was that it specifically did not go down this route.

There is still plenty of “MB&F magic” to go around, though. For one, the SP One displays virtually perfect proportions — it is stunningly beautiful even upon first glance. The trinity of circles stands against the 38mm pebble-like case in sublime harmony, which is to say that it would be very difficult to alter the diameter of any of these components, even just by a hair, and not see it all fall apart aesthetically. On the wrist, it sits and wears as decent as any slim, 38mm wide, dressy watch would, which is great, but somehow the case seems to lack that extra touch that the similarly classic Legacy Machines almost always used to have.

The MB&F Special Projects One collection debuts with a suspended movement. The brand describes it as a hand-wound in-house caliber, fitted with a suspended single barrel, that provides 72 hours of power reserve. The dial is tilted a bit away from the plane of the movement (and the caseback) to show off the brand’s expertise in conical gearing that is, indeed, a rare and cool thing in mechanical watchmaking.

Gone is the polished and arched flying arm we have seen on Legacy Machines as the balance wheel is instead secured by a stubby balance cock (not a bridge because it has just one end fixed to a plate). The wheel is of the brand’s trademark design with variable moment of inertia screws recessed into its periphery. It is heavily openworked, as is the mainspring barrel that mimics the balance wheel’s design — it is especially cool how they appear to be the same size, too. It is very rare for watch movement components of drastically different functionality to have coordinated shapes and sizes, precisely because they fulfill very different roles. So that’s another MB&F touch right there.

While the beauty, both inside and out, is certainly there, and the brand has definitely applied itself through nuanced details like the tilted time display, the balanced design of the movement, and the beautiful proportions of it all, it will take some time to get used an MB&F with a (sort of) shaped movement inside a rather common-looking case style. It is very pretty and technically fascinating, but the “entry-level” Legacy Machine LM101 from a decade ago has this one licked, in my opinion. And this got me thinking: It might be me who’s got something wrong going on, as just about every new MB&F I have ever covered went beyond the previous ones in some way, shape, or form. Maybe I should have myself checked.

The MB&F SP One debuts in two editions, in 18k rose gold with an anthracite flange ring priced at $76,000 USD excluding taxes, and in .950 platinum with a sky-blue flange ring priced at $82,000 USD excluding taxes. You can learn more at the brand’s website.