MB&F for Only Watch MB&F, Horological Machine No.4 Thunderbolt “Flying Panda”. Very fine, unique, aviation-inspired, titanium, sapphire and 18K white gold wristwatch created for Only Watch 2011 in collaboration with Chinese artist Huang Hankang, with detachable solid 18K gold panda, visible movement, two barrels, power reserve indication, two crowns, and a titanium and white gold deployant clasp. Accompanied by MB&F fitted box, Certificate, and the original Huang Hankang watercolor for the HM4.
Case: Multi-piece, two jet turbine-style pods, polished and brushed, sapphire panels for a 360 degree view of the movement, dual crowns for winding and hand-setting, articulated lugs, detachable 18K white gold panda holding gold reins riding on the center section, sapphire crystals.
Movement: Three-dimensional, manual winding with two mainspring barrels in parallel, 50 jewels, vertical gear trains, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, self-compensating balance spring. Case signed MB&F and by the artist Huang Hankang. Dimensions: 54 x 52 mm. Thickness 24 mm.
Estimated Price: 170,000 – 230,000
Realised Price: 170,000
About MB&F
MB&F’s “Performance Art” pieces are limited edition Horological Machines developed in collaboration with selected artists for a specific project. The Machine is the artist’s medium to paint or sculpt it as they will. Performance art is not just a product of its creator’s, but also its place and time. Performance Art is an event comprising time, space, the artist, and a relationship between performer and you the audience.
The artists featured in our Performance Art collection are people whom we admire and respect, and whom we are proud to call Friends. We expect these Machines to surprise, to startle, to astound, and to challenge convention. “After four years developing our radical creations, I gathered enough courage into sharing our Machines with other creators. It takes a certain abnegation to see your creations reinterpreted by another, and the results have taken me by surprise.”
The HM4 Only Watch featuring a miniature flying panda bear is a magical synthesis of children’s dreams and cutting-edge haute horlogerie.
While we dream throughout our lives, there is one specific dream that children experience more frequently than adults: the ability to fly! It isn’t known why dreams of flight diminish from adolescence; however, it may be that adult imaginations become more constrained as they are rooted in the realities of everyday life. Children with duchenne muscular dystrophy suffer from progressively diminished mobility leading to paralysis; however, while their bodies may be trapped, their young spirits can escape in their dreams and imaginations. HM4 Only Watch offers children a flight of fantasy, a reason to smile, and a wild ride through time and space!
HM4 Only Watch features the dream-world scenario of a solid gold panda bear riding on top of the HM4 jet, which he controls with reins made of twisted gossamer filaments made of gold. The panda was hand-carved and then cast in 18k white gold using the “lost wax” technique. And while the HM4 Only Watch is a celebration of the fantasy of children’s dreams, there is also a feature for those obliged to ground their feet in reality from time to time: the panda and his reins have been micro-engineered to be completely detachable so that HM4 transforms from a flying machine into a Horological Machine.