$230,000 Horological Machines: HM6 Space Pirate Watch

By: | November 17th, 2014

Horology is the study of time and horological machines are timepieces or in 20th century parlance: watches

Avant Garde Watch Maker MB&F

Max Busser of MB&F is the creator of the new eyecatching HM6 Space Pirate watch which has 475 components and 68 jewels and is known as a “tourbillon, a kind of turbine with rotors. A tourbillon was:

developed around 1795 and patented by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801, a tourbillon aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage, to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece is stuck in a certain position.

The following is a close up of a tourbullon. It is a mesmerizing, interstellar experience that may hypnotize you.

Horologist Busser Channels Japanese Animation

Busser describes his time piece specimen as “nature inspired” with components drawn from the biomorphic design school. According to Busser, the HM6 was inspired by a 1970’s Japanese animation cartoon.

HM6 is made of titanium alloys and aluminum and has four corners with a 360° sphere that is capped top and bottom by transparent sapphire crystals. Two sapphire domes house the hour and minute indicators, two housing dampening turbines for the winding rotor and a central dome housing the flying tourbillon as well as a retractable UV shield. There are four spheres that show the inner workings of the watch. The watch took three years to develop and a limited edition of  50 units will be manufactured at $230,000 each.

This video is an interview with Busser in which he explains how the HM6 was conceived.

Related articles on IndustryTap:

References and related links:

David Russell Schilling

David enjoys writing about high technology and its potential to make life better for all who inhabit planet earth.

More articles from Industry Tap...