Hodinkee
Introducing: The MB&F; Horological Machine HM12 'The Guardian' Is The Robot And Watch Combo Of Your Dreams (Live Pics)
What We Know If there's a brand known to constantly exist in a state of one-upping itself when it comes to new designs, it's most certainly MB&F;. And, just as expected, following a slew of radical Horological Machine designs, this new Horological Machine 12 manages to go in a completely new direction. No, your eyes aren't fooling you. This new creation is a robot and a watch combined, in three editions of 12 pieces each: blue, green, and purple. If the Horological Machine 11 drew upon the architecture of the 1960s, the HM12 "The Guardian" looks a decade or two later, when a massive pop-culture obsession with science fiction and robotics would lead to generations of kids obsessed with properties like Transformers, Gundam, and the resulting toys that followed. If there's ever criticism of some of Max Busser's more playful ideas coming across as much too toy-like, the HM12 completely doubles down on that idea with this new design that takes the idea of a robotic action figure to the horological extreme. Here, Max's vision is implemented by another Max, Maximilian Maertens. A name familiar to collectors of the brand, Maertens has been responsible for many of the clock and music box creations for MB&F;, as well as the little Minimilian figures given to owners of MB&F; watches. There's a lot to break down here, so let's start with the watch itself. It is, ever so purposefully, designed to resemble a face, but its construction reveals so much jam-packed into the futuristic, spacesh...
