A few days ago, we were invited to a rather mysterious presentation by Maison Boucheron: The JwlryMachine.
The well-kept secret, revealed to us with a Hitchcockian mise-en-scene, the JwlryMachine is a watch.
What project could have brought together Boucheron, the prestigious French jewelry house founded 152 years ago, and MB&F, the young Swiss laboratory at the cutting edge of technology, whose Horological Machines invaded our planet barely five years ago? The answer lies in one word: the JwlryMachine, a stunning high-jewelry version of MB&F’s Horological Machine N°3 (HM3).
The catalyst: the Horological Machine N°3
The original HM3, in gold and titanium, stunned the watchmaking world when it was unveiled in 2009. The layout of the kinetic energy motor on the upper part of the watch, where the astero-axe-shaped rotor – one of MB&F’s hallmarks – and the permanently oscillating balance are clearly visible. Transmitted by oversized ceramic ball bearings, the time indications are displayed in two cones that rise majestically from a sculptural three-dimensional case. This combination of futuristic art and remarkably technical timepieces is a feat of micromechanics. MB&F’s engineers and watchmakers machine, hand-finish and assemble the 304 components of its engine to tolerances of the order of one micron.
The JwlryMachine: all the magic of Boucheron
Even though the HM3 was never designed to be set with diamonds, Maximilian Büsser had been planning to work with Boucheron jewelers for several years. “I’ve always been impressed by their immense expertise and creative passion,” he says. “They are resolutely avant-garde, and each of their jewels is a virtuoso achievement.”
For the JwlryMachine, the artisans of the great Parisian jeweler conceived the HM3 as a splendid three-dimensional owl set with gems, presented in an 18-carat white gold version with amethyst, diamonds and blue and violet sapphires, or in an 18-carat red gold livery with pink quartz, pink tourmalines, diamonds and pink sapphires.
The owl’s eyes are made of large, brilliant cabochons set in cones, while its sparkling wings, which surround the precious HM3 movement to protect it, are entirely paved with brilliant-cut stones. Covered in feathers, its chest is sculpted and engraved in a single block of amethyst or rose quartz. Amazement knows no bounds as the owl’s heart seems to beat through its chest – an illusion created by the subtle perception through the translucent stone of the oscillations of MB&F’s emblematic solid gold rotor with its astero-axe shape.
A perfect match
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Boucheron’s master craftsmen have designed the splendid owl-set body as a complex gold structure, consisting of five segments that fit the HM3 with micrometric precision to compose a perfect chord. This jewel expresses the quintessence of Boucheron’s art, whose legendary interpretations of nature’s strangest and most extraordinary creatures feature in the Cabinet des Curiosités, the company’s collection of rare pieces.
Commenting on the first meetings devoted to this project, Boucheron CEO Jean-Christophe Bedos notes: “MB&F was very sensitive to the excellence embodied by Boucheron. A collaboration between our two houses was therefore destined to give birth to an exceptional creative concept, dazzlingly concretized and underscored by a delightful sense of humor”.
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