Watch brands like to own colors and take years to develop a certain hues that give a clue to a marque and model with a mere glimpse from under a shirt cuff.
For MB&F, that color is purple, and it has crept into almost every collection, giving a regal opulence over recent years to the Legacy Machine X, HM3 Frog and even the M.A.D.1S.
Purple editions do not often appear in the first iteration of a new line, but pop-up seasonally to add a touch more glamor.
The latest addition is in the form of an HM8 Mark 2, a hypercar-inspired design that first arrived in a choice of white or British racing green before getting an update in a 33-piece limited edition in blue and white.
Finally, the purple edition has arrived, again limited to 33 pieces.
Both the blue and purple watches have a slight sparkle, which comes from the same metallic pigments that are used in metallic car paint.
HM8 Mark 2 cases are made from hand-shaped sapphire crystal, titanium and CarbonMacrolon, a material that is both light and solid, and can be coloured, polished, bead-blasted, lacquered or satin-finished.
They measure a wearable 47mm x 41.5mm x 19 mm.
Under the hood is a three-dimensional horological engine which has a jumping hour and trailing minutes module, developed in-house by MB&F, running from a Girard-Perregaux base movement.
It is is wound with a 22ct gold battle axe rotor with the workings of the movement all on show through crystal portals in the case’s top and bottom.
The time is displayed with digital displays of hours and minutes on what might be thought of as the watch’s supercar-size exhausts.
Others have described them as the eyes of WALL-E, from the 2008 Pixar movie.
The display is actually an optical illusion because the hours and minutes are actually on rotating discs that sit flat with the movement and are projected upright by prisms.
The HM8 Mark 2 Purple retails for CHF 68,000 + Tax.
