Watchmaker MB&F has collaborated with renowned engraver Eddy Jaquet to create eight sensational new timepieces depicting the novels of Jules Verne.
In the course of its 15-year history, MB&F has partnered with some of the most talented artists of our generation, from long-time collaborator Eric Giroud and the iconoclastic Alain Silberstein to sculptor Xia Hang and contemporary painter Sage Vaughn. Now, for the first time, MB&F is putting the work of a traditional artisan in the spotlight, with the LM Split Escapement ‘Eddy Jaquet’ Limited Edition, a series of eight unique pieces featuring the extraordinary imagination and skill of the well-known engraver in depicting the novels of Jules Verne.
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Neuchatel-based Jaquet is already well-known among watchmaking aficionados for his ability to turn a watch into a rich storytelling tapestry. This includes his previous work with MB&F, which includes the flowing script you’ll see on the brand’s Legacy Machine engines. Because of its wide expanse of surface available for engraving, the Legacy Machine Split Escapement (LM SE) was a natural choice for this newest collaboration.
Of Verne’s 60 novels and short stories, eight stories were selected to be illustrated in the limited edition, with some of the 19th-century French writer’s best-loved work, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, but also some of the lesser-known stories, such as The Adventures Of Captain Hatteras. Each engraving, located on the dial plate of the LM SE engine, is an intricate tableau of scenes and key moments from the stories, synthesised in the imagination of Jaquet and expressly designed to be interpreted through the medium of the LM SE engine.
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Several adjustments were made to the original LM Split Escapement so as to maximise the available engraving space and allow Jaquet to exhibit his savoir-faire to the fullest. New, openworked date and power-reserve subdials were created, along with wider dial plates. The bezel was redesigned to be slimmer, and the case dimensions reworked, in order to make space for the wider dial plate. Because the bezel and case dimensions were changed, a new dial crystal had to be produced, with a less pronounced curve to the dome, since its diameter was now increased.
To fully bring out each illustrated scene on each of the eight timepieces, each of which is presented in 18K red-gold case, Jaquet applied a dark rhodium alloy by hand, adjusting the shading of each detail according to the exigencies of the scene. The smoke of the fire on the Michel Strogoff dial, for example, required an attenuated touch, while the underground sea depicted on the Journey To The Centre Of The Earth dial incorporated gradient-shading techniques.
Between the redesign of a number of components and the actual execution of the engraved dial itself, over 300 hours of additional labour were required for each unique piece of the LM SE Eddy Jaquet Limited Edition.
But the effect, we think you’ll agree, was worth the effort.
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