MB&F Legacy Machine No.1 – An Authentic Three-dimensional Watch

MB&F Legacy Machine No.1 Watch

If you know anything about Maximilian Büsser, you know he doesn’t exactly do conventional. His MB&F HM4 Thunderbolt looks like a fighter jet. The HM3 is more amphibian in nature, with bulbous dials that resemble an Amazonian frog. But now, the MB&F has decided to take a step back in time to come out with the Legacy Machine No.1 (LM1).

The movement of the LM1 is where MB&F wants you to focus most of your attention. The design of the movement was conceived by master watch movement architect Jean-François Mojon and his team. He worked closely with MB&F to bring to life the idea of having a large prominent balance wheel inspired by the golden-age of pocket watches.

MB&F Legacy Machine No.1 Watch-2

The most fascinating part of the watch is its balance wheel that appears right in the front, in fact it seems to float above the dial! As if that wasn’t enough eye-candy, at the bottom of the face is what’s said to be the world’s first vertical power reserve indicator, with the remaining power shown on a curved dial standing proud.
On the back of the watch, large rubies set in sunk gold chatons pop against Geneva waves that evoke the styling of an antique pocket watch. The ruby bearings are also practical: They reduce wear on the device by accommodating larger pinions and by holding more lubricating oil for the mechanism.
Available in 18 carat red and white gold, the 44mm wide and 16mm high watch sports a high domed sapphire crystal with a two sided anti-reflective coating and a sapphire caseback with anti-reflective coating on one side. As is always the case with luxury timepieces, it’s not going to be cheap. Price is $92,000. [MB&F]

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$75,000 Clic Gold – World’s Most Expensive Eyeglasses

Clic Gold 18-carat glasses

World’s most expensive eyeglasses comes from Clic Gold. Along with renowned jewelry designer/co-inventor, Hugh Power, Clic Gold launched their 18-carat glasses with the price tag of $75,000!
Clic Gold’s 18-carat glasses includes superb designs and comes with fashionable exclusive looks. It is use a magnetic front connection system, and the other details include: 18-carat gold extendable sidepieces and an 18-carat gold expandable back made to fit everyone. It is made to be custom fit to the wearer, so that it sits properly on the nose bridge and the weight will be evenly distributed out and around through the headband, so they won’t be heavy on your face. A solid gold pin is used in place of a screw to keep the hinge in place. And, when you are not wearing them, the glasses are meant to hang around your neck, like jewellery.
Each piece took over 50 hours to handcraft. A limited edition of 300 pieces will be made available in the collection. Your order will take 6 to 8 weeks to process, and Clic Gold will soon be accepting orders.

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The World’s Most Expensive Book-Birds Of America

John James Audubon’s Birds Of America – The World’s Most Expensive Book

A rare copy of John James Audubon’s early 19th century illustrated book Birds of America sold at auction on Tuesday night in London for £7.3 million ($11.5 million), a record for any printed work. With its 435 hand-colored illustrations of birds drawn to size, the volume is one of the best preserved editions of Audubon’s 19th-century masterpiece. The sale at Sotheby’s auction house had been anticipated for months by wealthy collectors.

Born in Haiti in 1785, Audubon grew up in France and emigrated to the U.S. at 18. He had been fascinated by birds since childhood and was determined to illustrate America’s breeds more realistically than ever before. Using a technique which would shock modern wildlife artists, Audubon hunted them down and shot them before propping them up on wires to paint. Each drawing would take about 60 hours to complete.

Overall, 119 copies of Birds of America are known to exist, with 108 owned by museums and libraries. The book contains 1,000 illustrations of about 500 breeds of birds and took Audubon 12 years to complete. Because each picture is so valuable, there have been fears the volume will be broken up and sold as separate works of art. However, experts believe that’s unlikely. The tome is probably more valuable intact.

While the Audubon volume holds the record for a printed book, a 72-page notebook of Leonardo da Vinci’s handwritten notes and illustrations went for even more. Known as the Leicester Codex, the collection was bought by Bill Gates in 1994 for $31 million.

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