About a year ago we saw the HM9 making its presence felt and it turned out to be a timepiece that imbibed the principles of aerodynamics seen in automotive design from the 1940s and ’50s. This year, the watchmakers are out with the MB&F HM9 ‘Flow’ Red Gold, which is essentially a build-up on the HM9 – featuring 18k 5N+ red gold finishing.
Curvilinear forms were first seen in the late 1940s and 1950s, when automotive designed moved from boxy iterations to more aerodynamic forms. Based on the aesthetics from this era, we have the HM9 Flow – which walks through the doors opened by the HM4 Thunderbolt and HM6 Space Pirate timepieces.
Old Wine, New Color
Like the HM9, which was divided into the ‘Air’ and ‘Road’ timepieces, the new HM9 Flow Red Gold comes in the two versions. The Air version is dedicated to the aircraft industry and the dial takes cues from the instruments found in the cockpit. The Road version takes its inspiration from automobiles and hosts a dial that is akin to the speedometer on a dashboard.
The design of the watch reminds us of jet engines and under the hood is an in-house developed, complex manual winding movement. Crafted using 49 components, the manual-winding in-house movement comes with two fully independent balance wheels with planetary differential. The hours and minutes can be read on the vertical dial display.
Horological Machine N°9 Flow
The 18k 5N+ red gold: ‘Air’ edition with aviation-style dial and NAC-finish movement is limited to 18 pieces only. Likewise, the ‘Road’ edition with speedometer dial and rhodium-plated movement is limited to 18 watches. Five sapphire crystals treated with anti-reflective coating are used in the watch.
Thanks to the patented three-dimensional gasket system, the watch is water resistant to 30 meters. The movement provides 45-hours of power reserve, which is a decent expectation from this timepiece. The case measures 57mm × 47mm × 23mm and like most MB&F creations, suits an ample wrist size. Pick this watch up for $198,000.