MB&F Horological Machines: Twenty Years of Kinetic Wrist Sculpture

Key Highlights

• All 13 MB&F Horological Machines gathered in one exhibition for the first time, from HM1 (2007) to HM12 The Guardian.
• Exhibition titled Horological Machines – Two Decades of Kinetic Wrist Sculptures, opening at the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery in Geneva on 23 June, free and open to the public.
• Each machine presented in a bespoke display box by Paris-based agency Pavillon Noir, exploring the creative spark behind each design rather than its technical specifications.
• After Geneva (until 4 July), the exhibition travels to other M.A.D.Gallery and MB&F Lab locations worldwide through the end of 2026.
• A dedicated exhibition catalogue documenting the technical characteristics of all 13 machines will be available.
• MB&F was founded in 2005 by Maximilian Büsser and has accumulated over 10 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève awards, including the Aiguille d’Or.

What Sets It Apart

For GCC collectors with a serious interest in what independent watchmaking can actually produce, this exhibition is the most complete single argument MB&F has ever assembled.

Twenty years of Horological Machines, from HM1’s sculptural three-dimensional case in 2007 to the machine-and-companion concept of HM12 The Guardian, have never occupied the same space simultaneously. The exhibition does not position itself as a product showcase. It reads as a document of creative thinking: why each machine exists, where the initial image came from, and how a mechanical resolution was found afterwards. For collectors in the Gulf who encounter MB&F through its M.A.D.Gallery in Dubai, this Geneva showing offers a depth of context that no single boutique visit can replicate.

The Creative Logic Behind Each Machine

The Horological Machines begin with an image, never a complication.

Pavillon Noir, the Paris-based agency responsible for the display architecture, has built each box around the generative idea behind its machine rather than the resulting calibre. HM2, HM3 and HM6 draw from science fiction. HM5, HMX and HM8 translate the visual language of sports cars and automotive engineering into wearable three-dimensional form. HM7 and HM10 enter biological territory: a jellyfish and a bulldog, respectively. Aviation, architecture and other visual worlds account for the remaining machines. The consistent logic is inversion: image first, mechanics second. This is what separates the Horological Machines from MB&F’s own Legacy Machine line, which, as seen in pieces like the LM Sequential Flyback EVO, begins from established horological complications and applies contemporary engineering to them.

HM12 The Guardian and the Current State of the Line

The exhibition closes with MB&F’s most recent statement.

HM12 The Guardian functions simultaneously as a mechanical timepiece, a kinetic sculpture and a character: a robot companion integrated with the watch itself. It is a logical culmination of the Horological Machine ethos taken to its fullest point so far, where character design and watchmaking merge into a single object. Discontinued machines that many collectors may only know from archive photography are also on display, making this a genuinely rare access point for the brand’s full creative history, including pieces that no longer pass through any retail channel.

Where MB&F Stands After Two Decades

Maximilian Büsser left his role as Managing Director at Harry Winston in 2005 to build something with no direct precedent in the industry.

MB&F now holds over 10 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève awards, including the Aiguille d’Or, the prize for the best watch of the year, most recently awarded to the LM Sequential EVO in 2022. The brand has also won the Red Dot: Best of the Best award for the HM6 Space Pirate. Its gallery model, which places mechanical art objects in a gallery context rather than a traditional retail environment, is present in Geneva, Dubai and through MB&F Lab locations in Singapore, Taipei, Paris, Beverly Hills and Silicon Valley. The Horological Machines exhibition, which travels after its Geneva opening through the end of 2026, fits within this institutional approach: for MB&F, the display of an object is as considered as the object itself. For collectors attending Watches and Wonders in Geneva or those passing through the city in late June, the exhibition at 11, rue Verdaine runs from 23 June to 4 July, Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 18:30, Saturday 10:00 to 17:00, with free admission.

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