Four Pièces Uniques combining mechanical complexity, extreme artisanship and a near-to-impossible case in sapphire crystal. The year is 2017, and the visitors have landed. The MB&F Horological Machine N°6 Alien Nation is an intergalactic vessel piloted by a silvery-skinned captain and his quintet crew, enigmatic explorers ready to brave a new world.
Some might even say that the visitors landed a long time ago, in 1947, to be exact. It was 70 years ago that an unidentified flying object crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico, sparking wild tales of alien visitations and government cover-ups. The nuclear age was slowly but surely giving way to the space age, and science fiction was becoming modern myth.
The first two series of HM6, the Space Pirate and Sapphire Vision, were unmanned vehicles. This year, MB&F decided it was time to put someone in the captain's seat. MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser says, "I first came to love watches because I saw them as these machines that were imbued with life." HM6 Alien Nation is the literal expression of this metaphor. Its alien inhabitants are not passive passengers; they scurry around the HM6 engine, fixing the turbines in the aft, adjusting the gears, hand on throttle, scanning the space ahead. Even when frozen into micro-sculptures of white gold, they are bursting with energy (except for one particularly large fellow, loafing in a corner just out of sight of his captain).
Each of the six aliens is individually modelled and hand-sculpted in white gold by engraver Olivier Kuhn. The arms and necks of the aliens are finer than grains of sand, each alien requiring up to 34 hours to complete. Count more than a month of full-time work for the crew of six.
As would befit spacecraft coming from an alien civilisation with highly sophisticated technology, HM6 Alien Nation is completely transparent, being formed entirely of sapphire crystal with reinforcing elements in Grade-5 titanium. To be precise, 12 separate blocks of sapphire crystal requiring up to 510 hours of machining and polishing. During the process, breakage is unfortunately frequent, often reducing hundreds of hours of work to zero... And then comes the assembly: the 12 crystals must come together perfectly to present a seamless whole.
Alien Nation's crystal-clear skin reveals the radical HM6 engine, the result of 3 years of intense development: a highly complex, totally unconventional construction of 496 finely-finished components. Topped by a 60-second flying tourbillon with retractable shield, the mechanism drives twin hour and minute domes rotating perpendicularly to the movement. Regulating turbines are coupled to the winding rotor. The interior of Alien Nation is shot through with thick bands of high-performance luminous material called AGT Ultra.
There will be four unique pieces of HM6 Alien Nation, differentiated by their accent colors: green, blue, purple and turquoise. Each one is on a mission to seek out a new home on this planet. The truth may be out there, but the course of the MB&F Horological Machine N°6 Alien Nation is locked on Earth.
Technical Specifications:
Engine: Three-dimensional horological engine developed exclusively for HM6 by MB&F with David Candaux
Flying tourbillon with retractable semi-spherical titanium shield
Platinum 950 battle-axe automatic winding rotor matching the version: green for the green version, blue for the blue and turquoise and purple for the purple.
Twin aluminium turbines with Super-LumiNova driven by winding rotor
Power reserve: 72 hours
Balance frequency: 2.5 Hz / 18,000 bph
Number of components: 496
Number of jewels: 68
Functions/indications:
Hours and minutes on separate semi-spherical aluminium indications
Left crown opens/closes tourbillon shield; right crown for time setting and winding
Dual turbines regulate the automatic winding rotor
Specificity of HM6 Alien Nation:
Aliens: manufactured in white gold. There are 5 different aliens inside the movement and 1 on the case.
AGT Ultra (Ambient Glow Technology): Internal circumference highlighted by the 4 slats in solid AGT Ultra. Super-LumiNova: applied on the turbines, dials, friction wheel, the MB&F logo on the top of the movement and the tourbillon's bridge battle-axe. Green Super-LumiNova on the green version and blue on the purple, blue and turquoise versions.
Gaskets: Gaskets matching the AGT Ultra colour. Blue gasket for the AGT blue, green with the AGT green, purple with the AGT purple, and light blue for the turquoise AGT.
Case: Complete sapphire crystal case with some reinforcing elements in grade 5 titanium.
Dimensions: 51mm x 50mm x 22.7mm
Number of components: 95
Water resistance: 30m / 3atm
Strap and Buckle: Grey hand-stitched alligator strap with stiches matching the gasket's colours. Custom designed folding buckle in titanium.
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