luxury MB&F
Traditional machine No. 2: Philippe Dufour One of my favorite timepieces is always Duality by Philippe Dufour. I like the story of his inspiration from the pocket watch designed by the famous Albert Gustave Piguet. He became the technical director of Lemania in the late 1930s and created the famous 2310 chronograph. Dufour created a pocket watch with two oscillators for his graduation design from the watch school, and the results were averaged by a differential mechanism, which clearly proved his genius.
Since the defining theme of my Legacy Machines is that the balance wheel occupies the center position on the dial, I thought, why not have a watch with two balance wheels, and their results are averaged through the differential? I have always been curious why Dufour only made eight watches for Duality. At today’s auction, Duality traded at a price of nearly $1 million, which seemed very interesting. One day, I had the opportunity to talk to him about this. He replied: “No one knew about watches, and no one wanted a watch. I made eight and no one asked for the ninth.”
LM2 not only has one but two customized 11 mm balance wheels flying above the movement and dial. The planetary differential used by LM2 has a great advantage because its two balance wheels move at their natural rate. The differential provides the average of two completely independent frequencies; this results in less change in the total speed.
Of course, he is very humble. He also revealed that the correct adjustment of these watches is definitely a nightmare. Basically, you have to set one balance to make it run slightly slower, and the other balance to make it run slightly faster, so that they compensate each other in the event of an impact or position change. In any case, I continue this project to pay tribute to duality. Interestingly, one of the challenges in designing a movement is to place the balance wheels far enough away from each other so that they do not resonate. Finally, Jean-François Mojon and I learned that adjusting these watches is not a joke, but it is definitely an interesting thing.
Legacy Machine Perpetual: Stephen McDonald
LM Perpetual is a classic perpetual calendar complication of the 21st century, but has undergone many improvements to eliminate the shortcomings of traditional perpetual calendars; Legacy Machine Perpetual’s 581 components, fully integrated and specially manufactured movement are designed for user-friendly and trouble-free use: Thanks to the innovative “mechanical processor”, there is no longer skipping dates or stuck gears, and the adjuster pusher automatically deactivates when the calendar changes, so there is no problem.
When I founded MB&F, I signed a contract with a company called Swiss Time Technology (STT), a complication and movement expert who will manufacture all the components and assemble the movement for my first watch. But one day, I received a notification that STT has been sold, and I need to check their information about my actions. Surprisingly, Peter Speake-Marin is with me. He helped me when I was on duty for the first time, but usually he would not attend meetings with suppliers. Somehow, because of providence, he was with me that day. fake watches for sale
The people at STT greeted us and explained that they were simply not capable of handling my movements. They asked me to take the unassembled parts and leave. I think you know that I am not a “despicable person”, but this is an example of true humility in my life. My life savings are in these places; if no one is to assemble them, they are meaningless. I keep saying, “Please don’t do this. It will ruin my brand even before it starts.” They remained polite, but firmly refused. Suddenly, I felt Peter’s hand on my arm. He looked at me and said in English: “We will solve it.” Then he led me out of the room.
After a while, we carried these trays of watch parts in my car. Peter is frantically calling every watchmaker he knows who might assemble a movement. But they kept rejecting him. To everyone, he simply and directly said: “You owe me”, and then he hung up the phone. I cannot express my gratitude to Peter Speake-Marin. If it weren’t for him, the story would have ended here. Yes, I am keenly aware that I also “owe him a lot of time”.
The next day, Peter and Laurent Besse, they worked on this project from the beginning. I stood by the table with four crazy watchmakers and they answered Peter’s call frantically. One of them said: “Wait, you want us to assemble these movements. But there is no plan. Some components are still missing.” Peter added: “We will fix it.” They sighed collectively, each carrying some kits. start working. One of them is Stephen MacDonald, who teaches at WOSTEP, the most famous watch school in Switzerland. But he has never received any formal training. He is a pure self-learner. Soon, he became the watchmaker in charge of the entire project. He teaches classes during the day and night, and he will study my movements. If a certain part is missing, or if he thinks it can be done better, he will manufacture these components in his home workshop. I am really impressed with him. To say that he was an important part of making my first watch a reality is an understatement. We soon became friends, and I learned that he was a theology student at Oxford University. I like that he has a kind of introspection and sensitivity, which for me is a sign of a really smart person.
After cutting to a few years. I launched Legacy Machines, and to my surprise, they opened up a whole new customer base and started a new adventure in my life. I am catching up with Peter Speake-Marin, and we recall the beginning of copy MB&F with the humor of people who avoided potential disasters. The topic turned to Stephen, and Peter said, “Well, what happened to Stephen is such a shame.” Stephen signed a contract to start a campaign for an individual who had quit.
