After pushing the boundaries of horological exploration by blasting into outer space (HM2, HM3 & HM6), launching in to the sky (HM4), and powering down the road and around the track (HM5, HMX & HM8), MB&F plunges into the water with the horological machine No.7, aka HM7 Aquapod.

The organic jellyfish-inspired design of the HM7 Aquapod is counter-balanced by the very mechanical horology within: a central flying tourbillon tops the concentric vertical movement architecture, with indications radiating out from the centre like ripples in a pond.

The idea of an aquatic watch originated from MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser‘s memories of family beach holidays, which included an encounter with a jellyfish. While the encounter was very minor, the seed was planted for a three dimensional timepiece powered by tentacles was anything but brilliant. Even though the concept for the Horological Machine No. 7 came relatively quickly, the design and development of this watch took many years. So many years of development were necessary that, perhaps confusingly, the timepiece HM8 ended up launching before HM7.

HM7 Aquapod began its gestation as a horological jellyfish, and the architecture of its Engine is appropriately biomorphic. Jellyfish are radically symmetric and in the same way, the Aquapod is radically symmetric. Where jellyfish generates power from the food it catches, the Aquapod generates power from its tentacle-like automatic winding rotor. Where jellyfish have a radially symmetric ring of neurons for a brain, the HM7 has a radially symmetric rings displaying hours and minutes. Where jellyfish have a hood or bell on top, HM7 Aquapod has an imposing flying tourbillon regulating the power generated by the rotor, and transforming it into the display of time.

The winding rotor’s tentacles are crafted form a single block of titanium, making the machining and finishing of the material very challenging, and is a testament to the craftsmanship at MB&F. Underneath the tentacles, a platinum mass ensures powerful and effective winding.

Then we head to the beautiful ceramic bezel. While the Horological Machine No.7 isn’t a dive watch, the timepiece is comfortable in the water – so MB&F added the one element that all serious aquatic watches possess: a unidirectional rotating bezel. However, unlike the conventional dive watch bezels, the bezel is unattached from the main timepiece, but floats apart like a life buoy. To create the eye-catching, curved ceramic bezel, the numerals and markers were first engraved by a laser and then filled in by metalised titanium and then polished to a high gloss finish.

The 303-component, 72-hour power reserve HM7 Engine was developed in-house by MB&F. Spherically three-dimensional, all its mechanism – from the winding rotor at the bottom, past the mainspring barrel and hour and minute displays, to the flying tourbillon on top – rotate concentrically around the centre. The curves of the high-domed sapphire crystal are mirrored in the shape of the time display rings, which are not simply flat and angled, but are mathematically precise, curved spherical segments.

Like many jellyfish, the HM7 also glows in the dark. The watch features the conventional luminescent hour and minute markers, but also features a very unconventional luminescent ring of light around the flying tourbillon and along the tentacle-like winding rotor so the watch movement and operation can be appreciated even at night.

The HM7 launches with 33 pieces in grade 5 titanium with blue bezel, and 66 pieces in 18K 5N+ red gold with black bezel. The timepieces are finished with a rubber bracelet moulded in aircraft-grade Fluorocarbon FKM 70 Shore A elastomer with a folding buckle matching the case material.