MB&F Debuts HM6 RT in Red Gold
MB&F refers to its watches as “Horological Machines” to set them apart from your run-of-the-mill timepiece and the resulting pieces are indeed special. So special that the latest model from the company founded by Maximilian Büsser, the HM6 RT “Space Pirate,” took the “Best of the Best” prize at the recent Red Dot international design competition. Now the “Space Pirate” is even more special since it’s available in a case of red gold.
Red or rose gold tones are created by adding copper to yellow gold, with the color becoming redder as more copper is added to the mix. Rose or pink gold is called 3N or 4N gold with red gold, which generally consists of 75% gold and 25% copper, referred to as 5N. MB&F calls their red gold, which is 5N gold mixed with a bit of palladium to retard tarnishing, 5N+.
Büsser has always been inspired by science fiction and that fascination shows in the design of the HM6 case which resembles a spacecraft. The specific spacecraft providing the inspiration for this watch is the Comet from the Japanese anime series “Captain Future.”
The most striking thing about the HM6 is its use of curved lines for a softer appearance. Another eye-catcher is the way the case is topped by five sapphire domes, the two on the bottom showing hours and minutes. The two on top show the twin turbines of the three-dimensional automatic movement while the center dome displays a 60-second flying tourbillon. A titanium cover that was specially developed to guard the tourbillon against sunlight may be manually operated by a crown at the 9 o’clock mark.
Even more outlandish than the look of the red gold MB&F HM6 RT “Space Pirate” is the price: $230,000. Since only 50 of the original models were made, this one is also likely to be an extremely limited edition.