2019-07-04

MB&F Horological Machine N°7 PLATINUM RED

The Aquapod is back and this time it’s red, platinum red and boasting some cool new time-reading features!

Made from one the most precious metals and with a bold new color along with 3D floating hour and minute numerals, MB&F’s mechanical marvel, the HM7 once again emerges from the deep.



Sitting at the very top of the list of notable watchmaking materials, Platinum has been used for the first time by MB&F who have chosen it for the newest member of their HM7 family.

Its bright silvery-white tones make for a striking contrast against the Aquapod’s crimson unidirectional rotational diver’s bezel.



Also used for the first time in any MB&F creation is red, not really a color that sprigs to mind when thinking of the ocean or marine life —

but it is particularly pertinent with regard to jellies (jellyfish that is, not the transparent brightly colored wobbly puddings served at kid’s parties) –



as the deeper you descend into the ocean, the less color you see. We know well that blue is the last color that remains visible –

but red is in fact the first color to disappear, being on the lowest end of the visible light spectrum and thus most easily absorbed by water.



This is why you find a higher concentration of red sea creatures in the deepest waters as being red makes them almost invisible to predators.

Deep-sea jellies often have red stomachs as a form of protective camouflage, as their transparent bodies would otherwise allow predators to spot them via their stomach contents.



The HM7 Aquapod Platinum Red is not really a deep sea diver itself but it is certainly a mechanical creature that came from the deepest recesses of MB&F’s horological mind –

with free-floating numerical appendages and unprecedented transparency surrounding its beating heart: a 60-second flying tourbillon – it is an incredible jelly indeed.



Unlike previous Aquapods, which indicated the hours and minutes via rotating rings with transferred numerals, the HM7 Platinum Red features 3D numerals sculpted in Titanium.

Titanium was specifically selected for its lightness, in order to ‘’have as little additional marginal load on the engine as possible’’ got it?



However, this mechanical advantage came at a cost, since Ti is exponentially denser and stronger (which is to say, harder to machine) than the Aluminum that made up the time-indication rings on previous Aquapods.



The stems attaching the hour and minute numerals to their respective mounting rings are rendered black with a coating of DLC, completing the surreal floating effect that one associates with the sight of a jellies drifting in the ocean currents.



In keeping with a jelly’s transparency, the HM7 Platinum Red has replaced the ‘’battle-axe’’ tourbillon bridge of previous Aquapods with a clear Sapphire crystal component.

The flying tourbillon of the HM7 engine is displayed like never before, highlighted by a halo of high-luminosity AGT just like a real jelly glows in the dark abyss.



Apart from the AGT ring surrounding the flying tourbillon, luminous material is found in the laser-engraved markings of the unidirectional diver’s bezel and on the surface of the hour and minute numerals.



Now to the engine which is all too obvious why MB&F refer to it as such when seen here.

This complex self-winding, 391-component engine of HM7 Platinum Red was developed entirely in-house at MB&F. Geeks can get the low down from MB&F’s site embedded, below.



The HM7 Platinum Red will be made in a limited series of 25 pieces, each presented with three interchangeable divers straps (red, white and black) crafter from aircraft-grade rubber, whatever that is.



Thoughts? Humbling-ly stunningly creative; any chance of a poor man’s version; you know Stainless steel, a 2824 and perhaps produced somewhere where there’s a cheap labor force - I guess not! ;)

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