Light shatters as it hits the gleaming armor sculpted from stainless steel. A solitary blue needle on its chest swings wildly as the mercury climbs and dips and then soars again. Strapped with a super magnifying shield on the right and a Super LumiNova stun gun, it is ready for combat. Its face is inscrutable, shielded by titanium face guards but you glimpse the mechanical brain above, whirling relentlessly in a mad spin.

Meet MB&F’s latest fantastical horological machine HM12 The Guardian, a stunning duo comprising the HM12, a wristwatch with flying tourbillon and jumping hour, and The Guardian, a formidable looking robot that doubles up as a watch stand.  And no, before you ask, you can’t have one without the other.

MB&F HM12 The Guardian (©Revolution)

“They are conceived and sold as a set,” MB&F founder Max Busser declares. “We won’t sell one without the other.”

In other words, this is high horology meets Transformer universe, making it one extremely covetable big boys’ toy — if you are playing in the big league.

The Galaxy of MB&F Horological Machines

The HM12 The Guardian continues the lineage of horological machines at MB&F that began just over 20 years ago when Max Busser first set up the company in 2005.

MB&F founder Max Busser wearing his HM12

The very first horological machine was the HM01, released two years later, which was more micro-engineered art for the wrist than wristwatch. It was also a labour of love between friends — Max, designer Eric Girourd, movement engineer Laurent Besse and independent watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin. Accordingly, it smashed expectations, shattered conventions and established the playbook for the fledgling brand and its holorogical machines that came after, all 11 of them leading up to this year’s HM12. (There was an additional HMX, outside of the numbering, which pushed the count from 10 to 11.)

2007: MB&F Horological Machine No.1

Some of the greatest HM hits include the HM4 Thunderbolt which won the GPHG Concept and Design Watch Prize in 2010 and Max Busser’s declared favourite; and HM6 Space Pirate, with sapphire spheres, turbines and flying tourbillon. Of course, who can forget HM3 Frog and HM10 Bulldog, both collector favourites and the former, particularly iconic for its bulbous time-telling aluminum eyes and hinged jaws that indicate power reserve? It’s been 21 wildly imaginative years of horological machines that pulled inspiration from different worlds — aviation, science fiction, the oceans, you name it.

For this year’s HM12, Max Busser and friends went back to basics to tap on that all-omniscient figure in a boy’s world growing up: the robot. Here it takes on a Transformer-like persona, thanks to input from MB&F’s new creative director and Busser’s successor Max Maertens, who grew up in the 80s where Autobots and Decepticons vie for supremacy. The HM12 is also the first HM project wholly led by both Busser and Maertens after years of collaboration with Giroud, whom the brand assures us is still working on other MB&F projects.

MB&F HM12 The Guardian with blue face shields partially extended (©Revolution)

In the end, work on the movement and case took four years, longer than expected, and the project did not make the 20^th anniversary celebrations. But time is not of the essence in this instance; perfection is.

Says Busser, “We kept on improving on it, adding stuff, making it cooler, making it crazier. And so, we missed the deadline, which was last year. This was supposed to be the 20th anniversary watch. Now, it’s going to introduce the third decade by looking back, back to the roots, back to the best of the last 20 years.”

Meet the HM12 Guardian

HM12 The Guardian rightfully comes in two parts as per MB&F terminology. HM12 designates the wristwatch that doubles up as the face of the robot, while The Guardian refers to the accompanying stand that comes in the guise of a robot.

The dial face of MB&F HM12 The Guardian in sleek titanium

The HM12 wristwatch itself comes in a Grade 5 titanium case with two faces, so to speak. On the front, it is full-on futuristic robot mode, with a high contrast palette of brushed metal, sapphire glass and black subdials. On the right at 3 o’clock is the trailing minutes, while the left dial at 9 o’clock shows the jumping hour. The first part of the double-winding micro-rotor comes in the shape of MB&F’s signature battle axe and sits at 6 o’clock, doubling up as a rather menacing mouth of the robot. A flying tourbillon sits at the crown, the avowed “brain” of the machine that makes a full dramatic rotation once every 60 seconds.

The flying tourbillon sits at the crown (©Revolution)

The trailing minutes on the 3 o’clock and the jumping hours on the 9 o’clock (©Revolution)

A front of the double-winding micro-rotor comes in the shape of MB&F’s signature battle axe and sits at 6 o’clock (©Revolution)

No doubt about it, it all resembles a robot face, and a pretty cool one. But wait, MB&F has another nifty trick up its sleeves. After all, every robot needs its transformer mode. Wind the left-hand crown clockwise and watch a face shield slowly protract over the dial face, from partially to its entirety, should you wish so. Wind anti-clockwise, and the shield retracts. When the shields reach their stop, the crown automatically disengages.

MB&F HM12 The Guardian comes in three colourways, pictured here, the green iteration which shows a green face shield

The entire mechanism is wholly mechanical, with more than 200 components that are polished and chamfered. Crucially, the shield system operates completely independently from the movement itself. During development, one watchmaker was dedicated to working on the movement, while another worked on the shield system in parallel. Although this all has no real impact on timekeeping, which is adjusted via the right crown, we can surely agree that it makes it all the cooler. But what makes it a watch lover’s prize is on the back of the watch, which shows an entirely different face.

View of the caseback (©Revolution)

In some ways, it is more Legacy Machine than Horological Machine, with a traditional, restrained, hand-finished aesthetic. The brides are frosted, angles are polished, with snailing on the twin barrels that double up as eyes on this second ‘face’. The rear rotor, meanwhile, is a stunning guilloche dome made of 22k 5N rose gold. Guillochage on a curved surface is no small feat, and the challenging task was accomplished with some help from friends, specifically Kari Voutailainen and his team at Brodbeck Guillochage. As with its predecessors, the HM12 caliber is shaped to follow the case and was developed in-house.

The twin barrels double up as eyes on this second ‘face’

Stunning guilloche on the gently domed rear rotor that is made of 22k 5N rose gold (©Revolution)

On the wrist, the HM12 is a mighty presence at 49.3 x 43.6mm, and 13.8mm thick. But thanks to the combination of fixed lugs at 6 o’clock and mobile lugs at 12 o’clock, it wears very comfortably even for smaller wrists. A quick release system lets you remove the strap so that you can mount it easily on The Guardian.

MB&F HM12 The Guardian (©Revolution)

More than mere stand, The Guardian comes with a handy magnifying glass that masquerades as a shield on its right arm, an integrated UV torch disguised as a ray gun on its left arm, and a mechanical thermometer at its heart. The robot base also has a drawer for storing the watch strap. The entire contraption stands at a commanding 38cm tall and weighs a hefty 15kg.

MB&F HM12 The Guardian (©Revolution)

They come in three colorways, purple, blue and green, and there are just 12 sets of each available. “These are the first and final editions ever,” says Busser.

MB&F HM12 The Guardian in three colorways: green, blue and purple

“The cost price was gigantic compared to what we expected, so I took a decision put it down to the price it is today, which is virtually half, so it’s selling at a loss,” Busser reveals.  “We can’t make more. If we make many more, we lose more. But we’ve created the ultimate collectible here.”

As extremely limited, highly covetable collectibles go, he is on the mark. Busser’s parting shot — “If you’re going to sacrifice your margin, at least make something which really is valuable for the future.”

Well, if this is a sign of the next decade welcoming MB&F, it sure looks mighty formidable.

Tech Specs: MB&F HM12 The Guardian

Movement In-house automatic movement with double winding rotor; flying tourbillon and 84-hour power reserve

Functions Instantaneous jumping hours, trailing minutes, face shield function and flying tourbillon

Case 49.3mm x 43.6mm x 13.8mm; Grade 5 titanium; 84 components; Super-LumiNova highlights; mobile lugs at 12 o’clock and fixed lugs at 6 o’clock; three sapphire crystals on the top, bottom and at 12 o’clock with view of the tourbillon

Dial Jumping hours at 9 o’clock; trailing minutes at 3 o’clock; flying tourbillon at 12 o’clock; mechanical face shield system operated by the crown

Strap Velcro strap with quick-release system to detach the watch and mount it on The Guardian

Guardian Robot Developed by L’Epée 1839; mechanical thermometer; integrated magnifying glass on right arm; integrated UV torch on left arm; drawer in robot base for strap storage; 22cm diameter x 38.2cm height; approximately 15kg

Availability Limited to three editions of 12 pieces each in Green, Blue and Purple

Price CHF 280,000 excluding taxes