For a brand known for breaking every rule in traditional watchmaking, MB&F has made an unexpected move. After two decades of creating wildly imaginative timepieces, the Geneva-based watchmaker has introduced its smallest and slimmest creation yet—a 38mm mechanical watch called the SP One.
The design highlights a trio of floating elements, the barrel, the balance wheel, and the dial, seemingly suspended within an amphitheatre-like space. This effect is achieved through the use of dual sapphire domes, which make the components appear to hover on the wrist. The tilted dial and mid-air balance wheel are not just for show; they serve as functional showcases of MB&F’s expertise in conical gearing and movement architecture.
Encased in a smooth, pebble-like form, the SP One represents MB&F’s smallest and slimmest watch to date. Its sleek, bezel-free design and lugs, elegantly detached from the upper case, create a continuous, tactile silhouette. Despite its minimalist proportions, the SP One maintains a strong presence, due to the brand’s layered design philosophy and attention to visual depth.
The watch belongs to a new category at MB&F called “Special Projects.” This collection allows the brand to explore concepts that fall between the avant-garde Horological Machines and the more structured Legacy Machines. The SP One, initially code-named “Three Circles,” began as one of several dormant concepts the team revisited during the early pandemic years, a period when many businesses, including MB&F, were unsure of what lay ahead.
MB&F’s founder and creative director, Maximilian Büsser said, “Success can be toxic, leading to complacency, treating clients poorly, and stifling innovation. Instead of succumbing to these pitfalls, the team ramped up their creativity and plunged their hands deeper in the basket of dormant projects. We asked ourselves: what if we did what no one expected – an elegant, classical watch? Pride doesn’t come from the easy path but from risking it all and potentially facing a huge setback.”
MB&F brought in longtime collaborator Eric Giroud to evolve the initial sketch into a working design. Engineers then reimagined the mechanics to reflect the suspended structure, building the SP One’s movement around the idea of levitation.
Each of the three key elements, the barrel, balance wheel, and dial, is supported by near-invisible bridges, enhancing the effect of weightlessness. There are few visible screws, and the architectural approach is minimal by design. The dial is positioned at 6 o’clock and tilted just enough to showcase the conical gears, a rarely used detail in traditional watchmaking. The balance wheel spins at 2 o’clock, creating a floating effect similar to a UFO. The amphitheatre-style flange frames the entire setup, inspired by Greco-Roman theatres.
The hand-finishing work on the SP One keeps with MB&F’s commitment to artisanal detail. Bridges are treated with anthracite, and the various surfaces alternate between polished, microblasted, and satin textures. Hand-angled wheels and prominent chatons bring a classic sensibility to a very contemporary execution.
The case design furthers the sense of motion and fluidity. It’s thin yet visually dimensional, polished like a river stone. The lugs, emerging from the lower case and rising toward the top, leave a slight gap that reinforces the illusion of lightness. Front and back sapphire glass merges seamlessly into the case, creating an almost borderless view of the watch’s core.
The SP One is powered by an in-house manual-winding movement with a 72-hour power reserve and a frequency of 2.5Hz. It includes hours and minutes displayed on the inclined dial at 6 o’clock, with 191 components and 31 jewels. The sapphire crystal on both front and back features anti-reflective coating, and the watch has a water resistance of 30 metres. It comes with a calfskin strap and a matching pin buckle in white or rose gold, depending on the version.
The SP One is available in two editions: one in platinum with a sky-blue flange (US$ 82,000), and the other in rose gold with an anthracite flange (US$ 76,000). Both reflect MB&F’s ongoing commitment to experimentation, without straying from the values that have defined the brand since the beginning.
