In 2009, MB&F was four years into its creative expression of mechanical art. Horological Machines N°1 and N°2 had established the guiding principles of the Maximilian Büsser & Friends collective: audacious design, transformative micromechanics, untrammeled imagination. Then came Horological Machine N°3; HM3 had everything that HM1 and HM2 had before — the design, the micromechanics, the imagination — but its...

In the post-war years of the late 1940s and 1950s, aerodynamic principles were just beginning to take root in the field of automotive design. The boxy, carriage-like shapes of previous decades were melting into something more streamlined. At the same time, curvilinear forms became more prominent, carrying the immediate promise of power and speed. The sophisticated computer modeling and wind-tunnel...

After pushing the boundaries of horological exploration by blasting into outer space (HM2, HM3, HM6), launching into the sky (HM4), and powering down the road and around the track (HM5, HMX, HM8), MB&F plunges into the water with Horological Machine N°7, aka HM7 Aquapod. The organic jellyfish-inspired design of HM7 Aquapod is counter-balanced by the very mechanical horology within: a...