Dubai Watch Week 2025: MB&F's HM11 Returns With A Bold New Art Deco Identity
5 min read
The world of MB&F has always blurred the line between horology and architecture, but the HM11 series takes that idea into an entirely new dimension. When the first HM11 appeared in 2023, it arrived as a hybrid object that felt equal parts timekeeper, design house, and futuristic sculpture. The original concept emerged from the minds of Maximilian Büsser and Eric Giroud, drawing heavily from the neo-futuristic architecture of the 1960s and 70s. Curves, volumes, and shapes flowed with an almost organic rhythm, echoing a moment in history when radical architects imagined homes that looked as if the landscape itself had breathed them into existence. Into this world came the HM11 Architect, a piece conceived with a simple yet provocative question: what if a house was a watch?
A Watch Conceived as a Living Space
That question guided every detail of the HM11 Architect. Rather than a traditional watch case, the object on the wrist became a miniature design house complete with rooms, corridors, an atrium, and even a front-door-like crown. A central flying tourbillon rose under a double sapphire dome like a skylight, supported by a quatrefoil bridge that recalled clerestory windows. Four symmetrical volumes extended outward and each one represented a room with a specific purpose.
The time display felt almost domestic in its layout, indicated by rod-mounted orbs in aluminium and titanium. Another room translated power reserve into a sequence of five growing spheres, the largest polished aluminium orb marking full charge. A third room housed a mechanical thermometer using a bimetallic strip that tracked temperatures from minus twenty to sixty degrees Celsius or zero to one hundred and forty Fahrenheit. What looked like an empty room quietly concealed the time-setting mechanism, its transparent module opening and turning with a soft click; the crown acted like the key to the house.
Even the act of winding was reimagined. Instead of twisting a crown, the owner rotated the entire case by forty five degree increments, each turn delivering seventy two minutes of power. Ten rotations brought the movement’s full autonomy of ninety six hours. The physical engagement, the sensation of twisting a small architectural object rather than nudging a crown, deepened the connection between wearer and machine. The grade five titanium case, the double domed sapphire roof, and the massive sapphire crown supported by eight gaskets pushed engineering into a new realm.
Inside, an in house manual movement beat at two point five hertz and floated within the case thanks to four high tension suspension springs laser cut from hardened steel. The first HM11 appeared in two twenty five piece editions with plates and bridges in either ozone blue or rose gold tones, and anyone who handled it felt the same sensation: this was a watch that behaved like micro architecture.
The Evolution Toward Art Deco
The story moves forward with the HM11 Art Deco, which introduces a fresh design language without altering the foundations that made the original so compelling. Berlin based designer Maximilian Maertens approached the era not through theory but through memory, particularly the façade of the Rex cinema in Paris, which stood in contrast to the more fluid Art Nouveau that surrounds it. That single impression became the guiding compass for a new aesthetic. The HM11 Art Deco shifts the ambience from organic curves to rhythmic verticals, sunburst graphics, and stepped motifs reminiscent of nineteen thirties skyscrapers and poster art.
A New Design Language Takes Shape
The dial adopts a two tone structure that separates rings and surfaces with deliberate graphic clarity. Displays that once relied on conical rods now unfold in radiant sunbeam patterns. The temperature scale adopts a period inspired font. Bridges take on a more vertical, architectural posture, their profiles evoking carved stonework and the measured cadence of Art Deco façades. Even the small roof elements are reworked with fine grooves that echo stepped skyscraper crowns, creating a visual rhythm that runs around the watch.
The bridge redesign aligns the tourbillon axis with the base plate to create a clean visual line running across the watch. The crown gains layered steps reminiscent of vintage poster geometry. Together these refinements shift the watch’s personality entirely. Place the two HM11 chapters side by side and the contrast becomes unmistakable. The Architect feels like a soft, organic experiment, while the Art Deco stands tall and structured, like a miniature city rendered in titanium and sapphire.
Two new Art Deco editions appear in grade five titanium and are limited to ten pieces each. One pairs a blue dial plate with three N yellow gold toned bridges and a white lizard strap. The other combines a green dial plate with five N rose gold toned bridges and a beige lizard strap. Both maintain the compact forty two millimetre case, curved titanium feet for stability, and a manual movement beating at two point five hertz with ninety six hours of power reserve. Winding still happens by rotating the entire case, and water resistance remains twenty metres.
Inside the Creation Process
Two small stories reveal how key decisions shaped the final watch. Early dial prototypes used a solid ring, but this made orientation difficult. The answer was a skeletonised frame with laser cut apertures measured at just two tenths of a millimetre. Production was reorganised so this delicate step occurred before finishing. The frame later received diamond cut accents, micro blasting, and circular satin finishing. Another moment came when the designer requested a stained glass effect for the hands. Rubies were tested but proved impractical, so transparent enamel became the solution. Dozens of trials produced a shade that reads clearly in both direct and transmitted light.
Finishing defines much of the Art Deco personality. The upper cage bridge carries numerous inward angles finished by hand, while the lower cage mirrors the same drawing. Peripheral bridges alternate polished and satin faces in a sequence that guides light smoothly across the watch. Sapphire elements receive precise groove cutting, hand finishing, and anthracite metallisation around their edges to conceal gaskets and structural parts. The underside stays micro blasted, while the upper surfaces alternate textures guided by the new Art Deco graphics. A stepped outer ring threads the theme together.
Two Personalities, One Foundation
Despite their differences, both HM11 expressions connect back to the same idea, a watch that feels like a place to inhabit. Whether one is drawn to the organic warmth of the Architect or the structured vertical energy of the Art Deco, the HM11 remains a rare example of architecture scaled down to the wrist, made mechanical and alive.
