MB&F “Longhorn” Editions Kick off the Brand’s 20-Year Anniversary

It has now been two decades since Swiss watch-industry veteran and former Harry Winston Timepieces CEO Maximillian Büsser enlisted a cadre of multitalented “friends” to form MB&F, today one of the world’s most innovative and distinctive independent watchmaking maisons. As the first new releases in a birthday year that promises to be “jam-packed with new timepieces, collaborations, and surprises,” according to the brand, MB&F is introducing two limited editions based on a bold stylistic idea from way back in 2009 that almost never saw the light of day. Here’s what you should know about the new “Longhorn” editions of the Legacy Machine Perpetual and Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback, both strictly limited to 20 pieces.

MB&F Legacy Machine No. 1 "Longhorn" Pièce Unique (2021)

First, the story behind them — and no, they have nothing to do with the University of Texas at Austin or NCAA football. In the design phase for what would become MB&F’s first Legacy Machine (or LM1, the follow-up series to 2005’s original Horological Machine or HM models), Büsser’s team experimented with giving the case longer-than-usual lugs, aka horns. The idea was abandoned because, despite its aesthetic appeal, it posed the conundrum of where the spring bar would be positioned in these “long horns” — closer to the case, or closer to the lug tips, both of which might have posed fitting problems depending on the wearer’s wrist size. 

MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn

The LM1 was hence released with shorter lugs, but the “long horn” concept resurfaced in 2021, when MB&F was discontinuing the original Legacy Machine series and wanted to close it out with one last extra-special release. The answer that had eluded MB&F’s team in 2009 had now become apparent: drill two holes in each lug, one at the tip, the other closer to the case, enabling the customer to decide on which way to adjust the strap to the case. Additionally, the LM1 dial’s familiar color scheme, with white subdials, was reworked to feature a rhodium-plated, silver-tone main dial with glossy black subdials. The first timepiece to combine these elements was literally one of a kind, auctioned by Philllips with partial proceeds going to wildlife charity Save the Rhino International. According to MB&F, the feedback from that unique piece inspired Büsser and Friends to resurrect the silver-and-black colorway, and the extended-lugs design, in a model that would be more accessible, albeit still quite limited.

Enter the two new timepieces that dropped today: the Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn and Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn, both of them award-winning pieces based on the core Legacy Machine and designed in collaboration with one of the original “Friends,” Northern Ireland-based indie watchmaker Stephen McDonnell. Both watches feature stainless steel cases, rhodium-plated openwork dials with contrasting black lacquer subdials and blued hands, and calf leather straps. 

The Legacy Machine Perpetual Longhorn (above) traces its heritage to the original model from 2015, which won the award in its category at that year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie Genève, the annual “Oscars of Watchmaking.” Its 581-piece movement, designed from the ground up by McDonnell, distinguished it from other perpetual calendar timepieces with its ingenious, user-friendly “mechanical processor” that avoids skipping dates and jamming gears by deactivating the calendar’s adjuster pushers during date changes. The pushers themselves are engineered for ideal tactile comfort, and many of the perpetual calendar movement’s functions are dynamically displayed on the openworked dial, including the large, center-mounted balance wheel. The case, measuring 44mm in diameter and 17.5mm thick, itself consists of no less than 69 pieces, including the extended lugs that give the model its name. 

MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn

The Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Longhorn puts a new face on a more recent model, released in its initial version in 2022 (winning the Aiguille d’Or, the GPHG’s grand prize, that year) and revamped in 2024. The first Sequential model was MB&F’s first in-house chronograph watch, notable for its “Twinverter” binary switch that allowed for an unprecedented array of functions including independent, split-second, cumulative and lap-time recordings. McDonnell, who had developed the movement with MB&F, added yet another layer of complexity to it with the 2024 launch of the Sequential Flyback, which added flyback functionality to the ensemble; I cover that watch in my list of 2024 Technical Achievements in Watchmaking. Speaking of complexity, the stainless steel Longhorn case of this model is comprised of no fewer than 88 pieces and measures the same 44mm around as the Perpetual but just a mite thicker, at 18.2mm. The manually wound movement (below) boasts 619 total pieces, including 63 jewels, with exquisite hand-finishing visible from both the open-dial front of the movement and the back (below), on display behind a sapphire window.

Ushering in MB&F’s year-long birthday celebration, the MB&F LM Perpetual Longhorn and LM Sequential Flyback Longhorn are both set to retail at CHF 168,000 (about $183,000 at press time).