More complicated, more cosmic and its case, even more made of sapphire crystal. Here its is – HM6 Alien Nation.

 

The very first Horological Machine with the number of 6 was introduced back in 2014 and it was called the Space Pirate. In those days, I thought it was the most ‘out of the world’ type of wristwatch. Then, in 2016 I was stunned by MB&F again with the new HM6, called Sapphire Vision. It was absolutely superb and spectacular watch to look at. For this year though, MB&F come out with the ultimate Horological Machine, which is full of sapphire crystal and aliens.

MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser says, “I first came to love watches because I saw them as these machines that were imbued with life.” HM6 Alien Nation is the literal expression of this metaphor. Its alien inhabitants are not passive passengers; they scurry around the HM6 engine, fixing the turbines in the aft, adjusting the gears, hand on throttle, scanning the space ahead. Even when frozen into micro-sculptures of white gold, they are bursting with energy (except for one particularly large fellow, loafing in a corner just out of sight of his captain).

Each of the six aliens is individually modelled and hand-sculpted in white gold by engraver Olivier Kuhn. The arms and necks of the aliens are finer than grains of sand, each alien requiring up to 34 hours to complete. Count more than a month of full-time work for the crew of six.

The whole body of the HM6 Alien Nation is fully transparent, due to the case made of sapphire crystal supported by Grade-5 titanium elements. It is extremely time consuming process of treatment and polishing this kind of material. 12 separate blocks of sapphire crystal must be perfectly machined in order to fit together and create the integral case. The whole process takes up to 510 hours!

The heart of this spacecraft consists of 496 parts. You can see the 60-second flying tourbillon through the main dome. The hours and minutes can be seen through a down-left and down-right domes, just between the alien, which seems to be the spacecraft operator.

The HM6 Alien Nation comes in four versions, varied by their colours : blue, green, purple and turquoise.