Over the course of its 15-year history, MB&F has collaborated with some of the most talented watchmakers of our generation: Kari Voutilainen , Eric Coudray , Stephen McDonnell , Jean-Marc Wiederrecht , and Stepan Sarpaneva , to name a few. It has also called upon designers and artists, from longtime collaborator Eric Giroud and iconoclast Alain Silberstein to sculptor Xia Hang and contemporary painter Sage Vaughn . Now, for the first time, MB&F is spotlighting the work of a traditional craftsman with the LM Split Escapement ' Eddy Jaquet ' Limited Edition: a series of eight unique pieces showcasing the renowned engraver's extraordinary imagination and skill in depicting Jules Verne 's novels.
Eddy Jaquet is known among elite watch enthusiasts as the man whose artistic touch can transform a watch into a rich narrative tapestry. Longtime MB&F followers will instantly recognize his work. The flowing calligraphy seen on the Legacy Machine movement is handcrafted by Eddy Jaquet; it is the purest expression of his true artistic talent. MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser says: “We have worked with him for years, but having Eddy Jaquet engrave the names on the movements is like hearing Für Elise played on a Stradivarius violin: one cannot imagine a more modest use of such an extraordinary gift.”
The Neuchâtel engraver's most memorable work is characterized by the depth of its scope and ambition; it is classical in style and heroic in its depiction of the human form. In a sense, the underlying theme of the LM Split Escapement Eddy Jaquet Limited Edition was inevitable. Büsser explains: "We're gathered around the table trying to brainstorm, and Jules Verne's stories immediately come to mind, both because I'm a science fiction fan and because the Legacy Machine collection Eddy is working on is essentially the watch I would have created if MB&F had been founded 150 years ago."
Thanks to its large engraving surface, the Legacy Machine Split Escapement (LM SE) was a natural choice for this unprecedented collaboration. In his preliminary research for this series, Eddy Jaquet devoured Jules Verne , reading up to 60 novels and short stories by the prolific 19th - century French author. The eight stories ultimately selected to be illustrated in the limited edition include some of his most beloved works, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , as well as lesser-known works such as The Adventures of Captain Hatteras.
Most notably, none of these illustrations are based on existing artwork. Jaquet conceived them after reading Jules Verne 's original books and examining any secondary films or creative works based on the books. Each engraving is an intricate depiction of key scenes and moments from the stories, synthesized in Jaquet 's imagination and expressly designed to be interpreted through the LM SE movement.
Not only did Jaquet have to push his creativity and engraving skills to the limit, he also had to hone his technique within the demands and limitations of the LM SE movement . The space designated for engraving had to be the dial, which features a flat top surface in the main LM SE series but is actually of variable thickness on the reverse side to accommodate the different movement components. Engraving the dial as if its thickness were uniform across the entire surface was not possible: it was necessary to carefully consider which areas were the thinnest, so as not to inadvertently puncture the artistic canvas if a particular section required high-relief engraving.
On the manufacturing front, several modifications were also made to the original LM Split Escapement to maximize the available engraving space and allow Jaquet to fully express its expertise. Along with larger dials, new skeletonized subdials were also created for the date and power reserve. The bezel was redesigned to be thinner, and the case dimensions were revised to accommodate the larger dial. Because the dimensions of the bezel and case had changed, a new dial crystal had to be crafted, with a less pronounced curve of the dome to accommodate the larger diameter.
To bring out each illustrated scene, Jaquet hand-applied a dark rhodium alloy, tailoring the shading of each detail to the needs of the scene. The fire smoke on the Michael Strogoff dial , for example, required a muted touch, while the subterranean sea depicted on the Journey to the Center of the Earth dial used gradient shading techniques. Between redesigning several components and actually crafting the actual engraved dial, more than 300 hours of extraordinary work were required for each unique piece of the LM SE Eddy Jaquet Limited Edition . The price is expected to be around €170.000.
The eight Jules Verne stories illustrated in the series are:
Twenty thousand leagues under the seas
From the Earth to the Moon
Around the world in eighty days
Five weeks in the balloon
The adventures of Captain Hatteras
Viaggio al centro della Terra
Michele Strogoff
Robur the conqueror
Each of the eight examples is fitted with an 18k red gold case.
