MB&F has introduced the HM8 Mark 2, a driver’s watch that treats timekeeping less like a dial exercise and more like dashboard instrumentation.
It is the latest automotive-minded Horological Machine from Max Büsser and his team, following the HM5 and HM8 lineage with a more sculptural case, a side-mounted display and a construction that borrows as much from car design as it does from watchmaking.
A dashboard display for the wrist
The HM8 Mark 2 reads time through a speedometer-style window on the side of the case, allowing the wearer to check the jumping hours and trailing minutes without rotating the wrist in the usual way.
The format nods to 1970s driver’s watches such as the Amida Digitrend and Girard-Perregaux Casquette, but MB&F changes the architecture by stacking the discs vertically rather than placing them side by side.
A sapphire prism projects the display outward, making the hours and minutes appear upright even though the discs themselves sit flat over the movement.
The numerals have a near-digital character, created through black metallisation on sapphire discs with the numerals left clear.
Super-LumiNova is applied beneath the discs, which gives the indication a flatter, more graphic glow than a conventional luminous dial application.
CarbonMacrolon bodywork in white or racing green
The case is built around a Grade 5 titanium chassis with CarbonMacrolon body panels, a composite material developed for MB&F and described as eight times lighter than steel.
The shape is pure automotive theatre, with a body profile that recalls the Porsche 918 Spyder and a double-domed sapphire crystal treatment that brings to mind the Fiat Abarth-Zagato Double Bubble.
At 47mm by 41.5mm by 19mm, the HM8 Mark 2 is not trying to disappear under a cuff, but the driver’s-watch concept gives the proportions a functional purpose.
The case is water resistant to 30 metres, with matte finishing across the top surfaces and high-polish treatment along the flanks.
Two versions are available at launch.
- The white CarbonMacrolon edition has a green CVD rotor and light green minute markers.
- The British racing green CarbonMacrolon edition has a red gold rotor and balance wheel, turquoise minute markers and is limited to 33 pieces.
A Girard-Perregaux base with MB&F mechanics above
Inside the HM8 Mark 2 is an automatic Girard-Perregaux calibre used as the foundation for MB&F’s three-dimensional horological engine.
The in-house module handles the jumping hour and trailing minute display, turning a conventional automatic base into something that feels closer to a mechanical instrument cluster.
The movement runs at 4Hz and offers a 42-hour power reserve.
It is made from 247 components, uses 30 jewels and is wound by a 22k gold rotor visible through the watch’s architecture.
Pricing and collector appeal
The HM8 Mark 2 is priced at CHF 68,000 before VAT, with international pricing listed at USD 78,000 and EUR 70,000 before local taxes.
The white version will likely appeal to collectors who want the cleanest expression of the form, while the British racing green edition leans harder into motorsport cues and adds the pull of a 33-piece limitation.
What makes the HM8 Mark 2 compelling is that it does not simply decorate a normal watch with racing colors or automotive branding.
It rethinks the act of reading time through the lens of a driver’s cockpit, which is exactly where MB&F tends to be at its best.
