HM3 Frog X

• Limited Edition: 10 pieces
• Case: sapphire crystal with turquoise gasket
• Size: 52.7 x 48.3mm
• Movement: designed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht / Agenhor, powered by a Girard-Perregaux base
• Function: “secret message” crown reflects light rays to project the MB&F battle-axe icon
• Water Resistance: 30m
• Dial: separate rotating domes to display the hours and minutes
• Caseback: sapphire crystal
• Hands: luminous numerals
• Strap/Bracelet: hand-stitched alligator leather
• Factory Warranty: two years

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 defiant three-dimensional construction shot MB&F into hyperspace.

One year later, in 2010, the vehicle that transported MB&F into a new universe proved its versatility and cemented its place in the hearts of MB&F lovers everywhere, by morphing into the Tribe’s first (and best-loved) mascot: the HM3 “Frog.”

Two globular “eyes” that rotated to give the hours and minutes. A widely grinning “mouth” revealing the occasional bright flicker of the signature MB&F battle-axe rotor as it swept past a date scale. A glistening “skin” of titanium, rose gold or exotic zirconium. HM3 Frog may have been small as a specimen of amphibious pondlife, but it was mighty on the wrist as it leapt to iconic status at the crossroads of kinetic art and horology.

Now, 10 years after its debut, HM3 Frog makes its comeback, radiantly exposed in a sapphire crystal case, yet still with a hidden message to be discovered. Presenting Horological Machine N°3 “Frog X.”

For the first time, the HM3 engine is showcased in all its glory, used here in its MegaWind iteration that trades the date display for an expanded rotor. Two paper-thin domes, milled out of aluminum to be as light as possible, indicate the hours and minutes, rotating under markers designed to resemble the lateral pupils of a frog’s eyes. Super-LumiNova accents, like the vivid colors that nature endows upon its feistiest creatures, reveal themselves in fluorescing segments under the rotor and on the time-display domes.

If the first HM3 Frog was an animal of land and lake, Frog X brings us into the arboreal realms of the transparent-skinned glass frogs of Central American cloud forests. The transparent case of Frog X is made entirely of sapphire crystal, one of the hardest known minerals, and must be milled with diamond-tipped tools or special high-tech carbide bits. Despite MB&F’s experience with the most advanced sapphire-crystal producers (as demonstrated in earlier MB&F creations such as the HM4 Thunderbolt and HM6 Alien Nation), machining the case of HM3 Frog X still provides a considerable challenge. The separate sapphire domes not only need to be uniform in size, they must also be exactly uniform and consistent in thickness and curve so as not to create any final optical distortions in the reading of the time.

Those looking at the winding and setting crown of HM3 Frog X, expecting to see the usual battle-axe insignia, will be slightly baffled to find a smooth, highly polished disc (although exceptionally observant individuals may notice a slight irregularity in its reflection of light). At just the right angle, with just the right kind of directional light and just the right receiving surface, the final secret of the fully exposed Frog X is revealed. A secret signal, created by sculpting the metal crown at microscopic levels to allow it to reflect light in highly specific ways, is the key to unlocking the MB&F battle-axe.

The HM3 Frog X 10th anniversary limited editions are available in three versions of 10 pieces each with blue, purple or turquoise rotors and matching colors of Super-LumiNova and case gaskets.