Here at Dubai Watch Week (DWW), the theme of the event is “Where the world reunites for a moment in time”. It’s the perfect description of what DWW represents, not a gathering (which is too casual), not a meeting (which makes you think of endless hours spent in conference rooms), but a reunion. Reunions are usually held between friends or family, people who know and enjoy the company of one another, and the prefix “re” tells you that this is not the first time they’re doing it. One of the most exciting launches at DWW, revealed just yesterday, is a high-jewellery collaboration between Bulgari and MB&F, and the story both begins and ends with a reunion in Dubai.
At first glance, you might not see the immediate connection between Bulgari and MB&F; you might not be able to identify the points that a historic Italian luxury maison has in common with a 16-year-old Geneva-based indie watch brand. Look deeper, however, and you’ll see that they’re both critically and commercially acclaimed, they both have a penchant for exuberantly designed watchmaking, and — perhaps most saliently — they both have incredible creative forces behind them.
Take a closer look at Legacy Machine FlyingT Allegra. Can you find the elements that come from Max Büsser (MB&F founder), and can you find the ones that come from Fabrizio Buonamassa (head of product creation at Bulgari? The core of the piece is pure Max, of course, pure MB&F. The first FlyingT was Max’s tribute to the women in his life: his mother, his wife, his daughters. He conceived the piece to be simultaneously elegant yet full of vitality, which to him represented the epitome of femininity.
The Bulgari influence makes itself felt in the reworking of the entire case, with the aim of emphasising its curves and drawing focus to the pure geometry of its form. The lugs are barely visible, having been reduced to discreet points that are hidden beneath the diamond-set bezel. While two out of three of the launch editions of FlyingT already featured full-set dials and bezels, this particular high-jewellery execution of FlyingT, Allegra, dares to go one step further, using coloured stones, some featuring Bulgari’s signature cabochon cut, to transmit irrepressible Italian flair and elan.
Legacy Machine FlyingT Allegra comes in two versions, one in white gold and one in pink gold, limited to 20 pieces each, highlighting the exceptional nature of this collaboration. They are, by the way, almost all sold already, barely a day after the official launch.
I said that the LM FlyingT Allegra story started with a reunion in Dubai, because it was precisely at Dubai Watch Week a few years ago that Max and Fabrizio first got talking about perhaps doing a watch collaboration. This first initial hint of potentially working together grew into a full-blown project that was launched (where else!) at Dubai Watch Week, bringing the story full circle.
