MB&F’s HM11 Architect is one of the brand’s most literal explorations of horology as habitable space, a 42mm grade 5 titanium machine arranged like a futuristic house around a flying tourbillon atrium.
A 1960s Architectural Experiment for the Wrist
The watch takes its visual language from experimental architecture of the 1960s, favoring curved organic volumes over conventional case geometry.
Four parabolic sapphire-fronted rooms extend from the central dome, each with a different purpose, while the double-domed sapphire roof exposes the flying tourbillon at the center.
The construction is demanding rather than merely theatrical, with a 92-component case and 19 gaskets needed to seal the many sapphire interfaces, including the transparent crown assembly.
Four Rooms, Four Mechanical Functions
One chamber handles hours and minutes, using rod-mounted orbs for the hour markers and a display that feels more like an instrument panel than a dial.
A second chamber shows the power reserve through a sequence of orbs that grow in size as the display progresses, while a third houses a mechanical thermometer calibrated from -20 to 60 degrees Celsius or 0 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
The final chamber functions as the time-setting crown, preserving the watch’s architectural symmetry rather than attaching a conventional crown to the side.
A Movement Wound by Turning the House
The HM11 is manually wound, but not in the usual way, as the entire case can be rotated to wind the movement.
Inside is an in-house calibre with 364 components, 29 jewels, a 2.5Hz frequency and a 96-hour power reserve, with the flying tourbillon positioned as the central structural and visual anchor.
At 23mm thick, this is not a discreet watch, though the 42mm diameter makes the footprint more wearable than the architecture might suggest.
Limited Editions in Blue and Red Gold
MB&F is producing the HM11 Architect in two 25-piece editions, differentiated by a blue or red-gold dial floor.
The price is CHF 198,000 before taxes, listed at approximately USD 230,000 or EUR 207,000 plus VAT at launch, placing it firmly among the brand’s most ambitious Horological Machines.
It is water-resistant to 20 meters, which is secondary to the point here, but still notable considering how many sapphire openings and gasketed junctions are involved.
The HM11 Architect is for collectors who want MB&F at its most sculptural, with a watch that treats timekeeping less as a flat display and more as a miniature built environment.
