MB&F Unveils the SP One: A New “Special Projects” Collection

Time machines – that is what MB&F founder Maximillian Büsser once thought of calling his now-famous Horological Machines. While this anecdote is apocryphal, it is easy to see how it might be taken for fact – it speaks to the dream behind the brand. Regardless of the name, 20 years ago, Büsser revealed a vision of kinetic sculptures that told the time when he debuted his brand, MB&F. It is perhaps more accurate to say that the machines told stories about time, and they still do, even now in the form of MB&F’s latest, the SP One. This, the SP part, is the third proper family in the MB&F assortment, after the Horological Machines and the Legacy Machines.

The SP in SP One is indicative of what this watch is because it stands for Special Projects, of course. Let us spare a moment to consider what MB&F itself says about the SP One. “We asked ourselves: what if we did what no one expected – an elegant, classical watch?” according to Büsser. The concept came to life in the midst of the pandemic, when MB&F decided that life is too short to live cautiously. Some years later, Special Projects is going to become another pillar for the Genevan firm.

It is no surprise that a brand with very specific aesthetics tied to specific collections would want some breathing room. Neither the Horological Machine nor the Legacy Machine, abbreviated as the HM and LM respectively, could accept just any sort of watch, much less the “elegant,” and “classical,” sort. However, in principle, there are no real hard lines that block MB&F from creating any sort of horological machine that it wants. If you consider the breadth of HM models over the past 20 years, that much should be clear. Every HM watch, and LM watch too, is a special project, in this way of thinking. However, the nature of the SP One speaks to its own identity – if MB&F tried to reimagine the LM as a HM, this might be one interpretation. Another goes back to Büsser’s words: what would a contemporary dress watch look like if given the MB&F touch?

Well, the watch looks like no classical watch we can think of, even if it is a time-only manual-winding 38mm watch cased in precious metals. Looking at the watch here, that description seems threadbare… The distinctive Y-shaped movement architecture places barrel, balance wheel and dial on show – the brand’s release even calls the case an “amphitheatre,” for the kinetic ballet. The three-dimensional movement, complete with conical gearing just to show off that tilted dial, calls attention to itself with its substance. Impressively, there are all kinds of hand-finishing touches here, including engraving – exactly what you might expect from a classical dress watch.

Another question that lends itself to speculation is where does the SP go from here? SP Two is no doubt already in progress and how it fits in with a shockingly prolific output (see the Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti, a couple of M.A.D. watches and the Legacy Machine Longhorn editions) is something members of the Tribe will wonder about. For our part, we think the SP watches are yet another effort by MB&F to expand membership in the Tribe, but not because it is chasing growth. Many collectors like MB&F but most need a lot of luck to get one – when a specific sort of watch sparks the right feeling. If SP watches keep a relatively standard form, this collection might be what we have all been looking for.

This story was first seen as part of the WOW Legacy 2025 Issue

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