For over seven decades, Ahmed Seddiqi has been a cornerstone of the regional horology landscape, cultivating appreciation for fine timepieces and championing independent brands such as MB&F. This collaboration not only recognizes the Seddiqi family’s role in horology, but also celebrates the deep friendship between the two partners.
Reflecting on this relationship, Maximilian Büsser, owner & creative director of MB&F, shares:
“I have been privileged over the last 27 years of their 75-year history, to have counted the Seddiqi family as very close friends. They welcomed me when I was at my most vulnerable, they many times helped me when I was down, and were there to celebrate our greatest achievements together. It is therefore my privilege and honour to celebrate this milestone of Ahmed Seddiqi, with two incredibly rare and special MB&F pieces. Both are based on the ground-breaking Perpetual Calendar developed by Stephen McDonnell. For such an exceptional anniversary, we had to choose an equally exceptional movement”.
First released in 2015, the GPHG award-winning Legacy Machine Perpetual has become a strong favourite amongst MB&F aficionados. The LM Perpetual has also evolved into several EVO editions, designed for an active lifestyle – with enhanced 80 metres of water resistance, a screw-down crown, an integrated rubber strap and MB&F’s patented FlexRing, a proprietary annular dampener providing shock protection.
The LM Perpetual EVO 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Limited Edition
The 75th Anniversary edition of the LM Perpetual EVO – limited to only 7 pieces – is housed in a grade 5 titanium case, engraved with the anniversary theme. It stands out thanks to the same striking blue colour first featured on the LM101 MB&F x H. Moser especially created for Ahmed Seddiqi in 2020. The signature blue colour has been applied for this edition to the sub-dials, contrasting with the anthracite dial plate in the background.
The LM Perpetual Baguette Diamonds 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Limited Edition
The second 75th Anniversary edition – even more limited, with just 5 pieces – inaugurates a first for the Legacy Machine Perpetual series: a refined bezel set with 48 baguette-cut diamonds. The case is crafted in stainless steel, engraved with the 75th Anniversary message. Like its EVO counterpart, it also features the same signature blue colour but applied on the dial plate, with contrasting black sub-dials displaying the time, day of the week, month and date.
CONVENTIONAL PERPETUAL CALENDARS
Created by Northern Irish watchmaker Stephen McDonnell and premiered in 2015, the LM Perpetual calibre was — and still is — one of the most innovative perpetual calendar systems to exist in modern watchmaking.
Conventional perpetual calendars are generally modules comprising the complication, which is fitted on top of an existing movement. The calendar indications are synchronised by a long lever running across the top of the complication and passing through the centre. As the date changes, this long lever transmits information to the appropriate components and mechanisms by moving backwards and forwards. This traditional system is extremely unwieldy, restricting movement construction in several key ways that would make something like Legacy Machine Perpetual a mechanical impossibility.
In the traditional system, perpetual calendars assume that, by default, all months have 31 days. At the end of months with fewer than 31 days, the mechanism quickly skips through the superfluous dates before arriving at the 1st of the new month. Any manipulation or adjustment of the date during changeover can result in damage to the mechanism, requiring expensive repairs. The dates can also jump or skip during changeover, negating the whole point of the perpetual calendar in the first place, which is not requiring adjustment for years. Or decades.
MECHANICAL PROCESSOR
Legacy Machine Perpetual uses a “mechanical processor” consisting of a series of superimposed disks. This revolutionary processor takes the default number of days in the month at 28 – because, logically, all months have at least 28 days – and then adds the extra days as required by each individual month. This ensures that each month has exactly the right number of days. There is no „skipping over“ redundant days, and no possibility of the date jumping incorrectly.
Using a planetary cam, the mechanical processor also enables quick-setting of the year so that it displays correctly in the four-year leap year cycle, whereas traditional perpetual calendar mechanisms require the user to scroll through up to 47 months to arrive at the right month and year. The mechanical processor also enables an inbuilt safety feature that disconnects the quick- set pushers during the date changeover, eliminating any risk of damage
OPENING UP A NEW WORLD OF PERPETUAL CALENDAR AESTHETICS
Legacy Machine Perpetual takes advantage of its fully integrated movement to place the perpetual calendar mechanism on top of the movement main plate so that it can be appreciated from above. Legibility is often an issue with perpetual calendars due to the sheer number of indications, and LM Perpetual addresses this by using skeletonised subdials (except for the time indication) that appear to float above the complication with no apparent support from below.
In yet another innovation, Legacy Machine Perpetual uses what is likely to be the world’s longest balance wheel pinion to connect that elegantly suspended balance, hovering above the top of the movement, to the escapement on the back of the movement.
