Hands-On MB&F HM7 Aquapod Review
I have been a fan of the Swiss Independent MB&F for a long time. I was not disappointed when I had the chance to review the HM9 Flow. With the Horological Machine line, Max Busser, founder of MB&F, has created watches unmatched in terms of uniqueness and engineering.
The Horological Machine No. 7, or HM7 Aquapod, almost looks like something from outer space. The first thing I thought when I got my hands on the watch for this review was, this thing looks like a UFO (or UAP as the U.S. Government currently refers to them). I was intrigued to learn that the inspiration for the HM7 was very terrestrial, or I guess oceanic, in origin. Apparently Mr. Busser was inspired to create a watch that looked like a jellyfish after his wife was stung by one while at the beach vacationing. This interesting anecdote just adds to the playfulness of the HM7. But, with that being said, the watch is still a serious, serious watch, with all the technical achievement we have come to expect from MB&F.
With it’s sea-inspired origins, you’d expect the HM7 to be a dive watch. And it is. Kind of. The HM7 pays tribute to diving watches with a unidirectional sapphire bezel around the outside of the case. The bezel floats around the case like a halo, only attached at four points by pieces of metal. this gives the watch more of an otherworldly look and feel, that we are big fans of. The watch is water resistant to 50 meters, so it might not actually be the best piece to dive with. But you aren’t buying this watch to take on your next deep sea dive.
At 53.8 mm in diameter and 21.3 mm in height, the HM7 is BIG. The dual crowns are placed in between the case and bezel, so they don’t add any additional size to the case. Speaking of the two crowns, the left crown winds the watch while the right crown is for setting the watch. This set-up not only makes the watch easy to operate, but gives the watch a nice symmetry.
The watch runs on a vertical movement with a central tourbillon. The movement is automatic and has a power reserve of approximately 72 hours. The extreme domed crystal showcases the depth of the vertical movement and tourbillon very well. It reminds me a bit of another of my favorite watches, the Vianney Halter Deep Space Tourbillon.
The domed crystal, a massive bubble, also shows the time, which is displayed by two stacked, rotating time indicators, with minutes on top and hours on bottom. The minutes and hours displays rotate at different speeds to show the time. There is a central line indicating the exact time. This actually makes the HM7 an extremely legible watch when it comes to time-telling. Something that can’t be said for a lot of avant-garde watches currently in production.
One of the coolest parts of the watch is the lume. The green lume on the minute markers and hour markers shines extremely bright, but MB&F didn’t stop there. MB&F also included blue lume on the outer wall where the central tourbillon is housed. In addition to this looking extremely cool, the glow lights up the tourbillon, making it more visible in the dark. The HM7 also has a line of lume on the teeth-like metal rotor in the caseback. When the rotor is spinning, the whole caseback illuminates from the lume.
The HM7 I reviewed had a rose gold case and was limited to just 66 pieces. As you might be aware, most MB&F pieces are extremely limited in quantities and can have waiting lists of years. The MB&F HM7 Aquapod retails for $152,000 USD.
