MB&F partner with jeweller Emmanuel Tarpin on two winter themed watches

By Joshua Hendren

A considered piece of wristwear is always appreciated on Christmas Day, especially when it comes highly limited and smothered in diamonds. Enter MB&F’s two new Legacy Machine FlyingT models, designed in partnership with the ultra-exclusive French jeweller Emmanuel Tarpin.

Inspired by winter landscapes, the new watches (Ice and Blizzard) are limited to just eight pieces each and follow a partnership with Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Bulgari’s product creation executive director, who also bejewelled the LMFlyingT, MB&F’s first and only model for women.

“We are not jewellers, we are watchmakers,” says MB&F founder, Maximilian Büsser. “We would put diamonds on our timepieces, but it was really the bare minimum. So, I started to see jewellers, great jewellers, to ask them if they would like to put their artistry and jewellery into our FlyingT – much like giving them a blank canvas to paint.”

A wintertime trip to Lake Baïkal in Southern Siberia, where Tarpin witnessed the lake freeze from the edge inwards until it was completely frozen, inspired the first model, Ice. In a nod to the random formation of icy stalagmites, the timepiece features an asymmetric diamond setting that crawls across a matte lapis lazuli dial domed under a sapphire crystal.

The second model, Blizzard, brings to life Tarpin’s childhood memories of skiing in the Alps. Replicating a blizzard of snow in brilliant-cut diamonds, this LM FlyingT also features the same lapis lazuli dial but with closed-set diamonds as if coated in delicate snowflakes.

“I do very few collaborations; I much prefer to focus on my own creations,” explains Emmanuel Tarpin. “But we had a chat and then met in person and we got on really well. I found the project to be extremely interesting and working with Max was just spontaneous and easy, even if this was my first time working on a watch.”

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