MB&F and jewellery designer Emmanuel Tarpin unite on ice-cool watches

Avant-garde horology and high jewellery unite in a collaboration between MB&F and Emmanuel Tarpin, who together have unveiled two limited editions of the Legacy Machine Flying T timepiece.

The LM Flying T ‘Ice’ and ‘Blizzard’ special editions represent the first watch collaboration for independent French jewellery designer Tarpin. After beginning his career at Van Cleef & Arpels, Tarpin created his own brand in 2017, quickly cementing his distinctive and unique aesthetic. 

For MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser – who launched his ‘artistic concept laboratory’ in 2005 with a mission to create radical watches – he was a natural partner. ‘Creative collaborations are often way more about the journey than the products,’ he says. ‘You learn so much by working with individuals you admire but who have a very different style and character.’

New MB&F watches: LM Flying T ‘Ice’ and ‘Blizzard’

The new takes on the LM Flying T draw on Tarpin’s childhood spent between Lake Annecy and the French Alps, with the wintery landscape drawn in blue matte lapis lazuli. A blue balance wheel and two crowns replaced by turquoise paraiba stones bring an icy elegance. ‘Emmanuel is very attached to nature,’ Büsser adds. ‘When he saw our Flying T for the first time he immediately thought of a snow globe (amazingly, I always bring back a snow globe to my young daughters from every city I visit) and took it from there.’

Büsser and Tarpin drew on a shared creative ethos in the design process. ‘Emmanuel has a laser-focused creative process,’ Büsser says. ‘His first gouache rendering was what he had in mind and all the artisans/jewellers worked to make that first drawing come to life exactly as he had imagined it. It was incredibly difficult on an artisanal level. 

‘Also, Emmanuel did not want any yellow or red-gold tones in the movement, so we had to re-machine every single one of those components to follow his request – the result is just perfect. What a talent!’ 

mbandf.com