MB&F Unveil Legacy Machine Thunderdome Timepiece

Called the LM Thunderdome, the watch has been in the works for almost half-a-decade and is the result of a collaboration between two of the biggest names in the watchmaking world, Eric Coudray and Kari Voutilainen.

Over four years ago, Maximilian Büsser, the founder of MB&F, conceived of the idea to combine the talents of two gifted horology experts to create an exceptional timepiece – and the LM Thunderdome is the fruits of that partnership.

As the name suggests, the watch has a heavily domed display case, but its pièce de résistance is the striking three-axis tourbillon that sits right at the centre of the dial.

Eric Coudray, who is known for creating wild and complex mechanisms, was tasked with making the “craziest, most cinematic three-axis tourbillon ever”, resulting in the new ‘TriAx’, a spherical tourbillon complication with three axes that revolves at different speeds, on different planes, in a record-breaking 8 seconds for the innermost structure.

Kari Voutilainen, meanwhile, lent his expertise to coming up with the eye-catching aesthetics of the watch, including creating the guilloché pattern on the plate and the off-centreed watch dial.

Production of the LM Thunderdome is limited to just 33 pieces in platinum with a light blue guilloché dial, priced at $280,000.

In addition, 10 more tantalum-cased pieces are being made for retailer The Hour Glass, five with a dark blue guilloché dial and five with aventurine dials.