MB&F HM4 Thunderbolt — Red Gold
RESERVED€135,000.00
SPECIFICATIONS
THE STORY
Horological Machine No.4 Thunderbolt is the moment MB&F stopped referencing watches altogether. Maximilian Büsser and designer Eric Giroud built the case out of a childhood obsession with aircraft: two titanium-and-sapphire pods sit side by side on a machined chassis, the right pod reading hours and minutes, the left showing the power reserve, each tilted upward like engine nacelles. It looks like pure styling, but it is structure — the movement was drawn from a blank sheet to fit the form, 311 components and 50 jewels driven by twin barrels through two vertical gear trains, all wound by hand. No more than 100 were made across five versions, and it took the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève in 2010. This example pairs red gold with titanium: the warm-metal reading of an otherwise coldly aeronautical machine.
CONDITION
Movement timing was recorded on our bench before this watch was offered — the figures are below. A full condition report for this specific example, covering case, dial and service history, is available on request.
Mechanical Movement
Before it left our bench, this movement was put on a timing machine and read in six positions. Here is how it performed.
| Rate | Beat error | Amplitude | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Averageacross six positions | +2 s/day | 0.3 ms | 295° |
| Deviationsteadiest to least steady | 3 s/day | 0.3 ms | 38° |
Average is the mean across dial up, dial down and the crown at up, down, left and right. Deviation is the spread between its steadiest and least steady position — a read on how consistently it keeps time, not just how fast it runs.
