MB&F Turns the LM101 Into a Cloisonné Animal Kingdom

MB&F’s Legacy Machine 101 has always had a theatrical sense of depth, with its flying balance rising above the dial like a mechanical sculpture.

For the new LM101 Gabriel Colliard series, that stage becomes a miniature animal kingdom, rendered in cloisonné enamel by the Argentinian artist and enameller Gabriel Colliard.

The result is a three-watch series that pushes the LM101 away from its familiar subdial layout and into full-scene decorative watchmaking.

At a glance

• MB&F has unveiled three LM101 Gabriel Colliard cloisonné enamel models, each limited to eight pieces.
• The Macaw, Monkey and Crocodile versions replace the usual subdial arrangement with a complete enamel dial scene.
• Each watch is priced at CHF 98,000 excluding VAT, with all 24 dials requiring at least two years to complete.

A Legacy Machine used as a canvas

Colliard has more than a decade of experience working with high-end Swiss watch brands, including Patek Philippe, and MB&F gave him broad creative freedom for this project.

He returned to one of his preferred subjects, the natural world, creating three compositions named Macaw – Red, Monkey – Blue and Crocodile – Green.

Each dial plate carries a single cloisonné enamel image, which required MB&F to remove the normal time and power-reserve subdials from the LM101 architecture.

The hands have been lengthened so the watch remains readable against the more elaborate background, a practical adjustment that also keeps the dial from feeling visually interrupted.

Three animals, three colour worlds

Macaw – Red depicts two scarlet macaws against a vivid red sky, with a golden coastline below and a dark forest meeting the ocean at either side of the scene.

The challenge here is tonal control, since the composition has to suggest landscape, shape and depth while staying anchored in one dominant colour.

Monkey – Blue shows a monkey moving out from a fruit-filled forest toward a lake in the distance.

On this dial, Colliard uses different pigments to create shadow and light, while the gold cloisonné wires define the main outlines and separate the enamel fields.

Crocodile – Green takes a slightly different approach.

Rather than using the gold wire purely as a boundary, the composition incorporates it into the crocodile itself, with the body and tail scales expressed in gold rather than enamel.

That choice gives the green model a more stylised texture and sets it apart from the other two pieces.

The movement and case remain unmistakably MB&F

All three editions use a 40mm platinum case with a height of 16.55mm, shaped in part by the domed sapphire crystal required to clear the tall flying balance.

The movement is manually wound and was developed in-house with the assistance of Kari Voutilainen.

It offers a 60-hour power reserve and can be viewed through the exhibition caseback.

For these Colliard editions, MB&F adds a bespoke ratchet wheel with enamel decoration matched to the colour scheme of the dial.

Details & Specifications

The LM101 Gabriel Colliard series works because it doesn’t try to hide the tension between old-world enamel craft and MB&F’s machine-age architecture.

For collectors drawn to métiers d’art but less interested in convention, these platinum LM101 editions make that contrast the point.