Editor’s note: Meet the latest novelty from MB&F, and their first ever chronograph, the new Legacy Machine Sequential EVO. For our detailed hands-on reviews, please head to our dedicated reviews section here. This is not a sponsored post.
In Time, We Trust
There is a quotation by the American author Louise Hay that reads: “Everything you need comes to you in perfect time, space and sequence”.
MB&F has waited for 17 years and has given the evolution of watchmaking some 19 other calibers before it now announces its foray into the world of time measuring devices with the new Legacy Machine Sequential EVO. For all those who have longed to acquire a chronograph from the young and yet legendary independent watchmaker, the Legacy Machine Sequential EVO provides with the perfect time (multiple timing modes including split-second, independent and lap timer modes – a combination never seen before in any existing chronograph), space (a single movement now features two column-wheel chronographs), and sequence (20th calibre announcement).
The perfect device for measuring time, this new tour de force of kinetic wrist art is all about reinventing the classic complication, and along the way just casually throws in a couple of cool other mechanical wonders such as their groundbreaking “Twinverter” binary switch that equips the Legacy Machine Sequential EVO to do things that no other chronographs in the market currently do.
The watch features an “Independent mode” that measures the duration of multiple events with separate starting points and end points (even when the events overlap in timing), a “Simultaneous mode” that measures the individual durations of two events that start simultaneously, but have different end points, a “Cumulative mode” that measures the individual cumulative durations of two discontinuous events, and a “Sequential or lap mode” that measures the individual sub-durations of a single continuous multi-phase event (with provision for sub-durations that last over a minute).
The new MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential EVO comes with either an atomic orange dial plate (orange CVD) or a coal black dial plate (black PVD) and features an impressively 80m water-resistant 44mm diameter and 18.2mm thick — roughly the same thickness as the recent M.A.D.1 Red — zirconium case featuring 74 components, a screw-down crown, an integrated rubber strap and a ‘FlexRing’ shock-absorbing system. It retails for 180’000 USD (sans taxes).
It’s said that “wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances”. Six years from the utterance of the words “I have an idea” by Stephen McDonnell, Maximilian Büsser waited patiently to give MB&F and horology connoisseurs this reinvention of the way we could use chronographs.
Trust time to be measured accurately with the new Legacy Machine Sequential EVO, a welcome major contemporary disruption in the centuries old mechanical world of watchmaking.
More About The Legacy Machine Sequential EVO
The new Legacy Machine Sequential EVO is powered by the manual-winding fully integrated dual chronograph system developed for MB&F by Stephen McDonnell. Besides the game-changing wizardry in the way it works, the movement also features an impressive 72-hours power reserve, beats at the lower frequency of 3Hz, and comprises 585 components and 59 jewels.
There is a fair amount of layering and display information on the dial. It’s a bit busy no doubt, but credit to the designers that once you know how to read it, it’s becomes intuitive and easy to understand. And the non-skeletonised time display at the 6’o clock sub-dial ensures that if you are not using the chronograph, the time is always easily legible.
Given there are two chronographs on the dial, they are symmetrically split into seconds display and minutes display. The left chronograph features seconds displayed at 9 and minutes at 11 — with a start/stop pusher at 10 and reset at 8 — while the right chronograph displays seconds at 3 and minutes at 1 (with a start/stop pusher at 2 and reset at 4’o clock).
I personally prefer the atomic orange dial plate version purely owing to the enhanced legibility and the demarkation of the base with the complications, but there is something to said about the coal black dial plate as well given it’s more stealth and intriguing.
Balancing The Force
The American architect Neri Oxman once said: “I believe in the balance between dreaming and building”. The new Legacy Machine Sequential EVO is the perfect example of the balance between dreaming and building.
Talking a bit more about symmetry, I also appreciate the overall balance in the movement and design. Visually, three pushers on the left mirror the two pushers and one crown on the right. Mechanically, the Twinverter binary switch at 9 inverts the current start/stop status of both chronographs, allowing for a more balanced approach to the workings of a chronograph complication.
I also like the balance in the case material used, that is, the contrast of a rather larger sized watch balancing in the light-weightiness of the device. The zirconium used counters the larger sizing, owing to the fact that it is both lighter than stainless steel and more durable than titanium. In the present day and age, it’s also more appropriate courtesy its hypoallergenic and anti microbial properties.
Last but not the least, I also like that this new ‘wrist device’ that measures the ethos of time also features a balance of being a rather unique and rare object that unlike art that’s meant to be babied, it has the balance of being actually used as a sporty / lifestyle product courtesy the screw-down crown / 80m water-resistance and the ‘FlexRing’ shock-absorbing system — machined from a single block of stainless steel — that sees an annular dampener fitted between case and movement that in turn provides shock protection along both the axes.
Measure Distinctively
“Measuring time isn’t as simple as adding or subtracting minutes from a clock… You must find your own measuring stick” wrote author Lindsay Eagar.
MB&F in partnership with Stephen McDonnell doesn’t simply add a chronograph complication to their LM series of watches. Instead, they approach the complication from a different perspective, finding their own (unique) measuring stick.
With the new Legacy Machine Sequential EVO, MB&F just doesn’t flip the game, it creates a time measuring wrist device that sets the yardstick for measuring other time measuring devices. When it comes to measuring time, it sets the standard. Twice over.
To find out more about the new MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential EVO and their other watches, please head to their website here. All images unless otherwise stated are courtesy are © MB&F SA 2018. All rights reserved. Make sure to check out our reviews of other 2022 novelties here.
