Description
MB&F has set 255 diamonds into the SP One, its 38mm entry into conventional round watchmaking, and priced the result at USD 104,000. The stones total 1.608 carats and are distributed across the whole watch rather than concentrated on the bezel: 165 on the case, 55 on the amphitheatre ring that frames the movement, 14 on the crown and 21 on the buckle.
The SP One is the watch MB&F built when it decided to make something round. Launched as part of the Special Projects line, it takes the brand's signature exposed architecture — a movement suspended in space, viewed from above — and fits it inside a case shape that a Patek customer would recognise. The Pavée is the gem-set expression of that idea, in 18k white gold with a dark blue dial plate inclined at 6 o'clock.
Design
The case is 38mm across and 12mm tall in 18-karat white gold, with sapphire crystals front and back. What makes the SP One unusual is the internal architecture: the movement sits in the middle of the case like a building in a plaza, ringed by a raised band MB&F calls the amphitheatre, so the eye falls into the watch rather than across it.
On the Pavée, that amphitheatre ring is itself set with 55 diamonds, and the case takes another 165, which means the stones trace the geometry rather than simply cover it. The hour and minute display is a dark blue PVD sub-dial inclined at 6 o'clock — the one concession to asymmetry in an otherwise symmetrical watch. The strap is calfskin, closing on an 18k white gold buckle set with 21 more diamonds.
Specifications
- Model: MB&F SP One Pavée
- Case diameter: 38mm
- Case height: 12mm
- Case material: 18-karat white gold
- Crystal: Sapphire, front and back
- Gem-setting: 255 diamonds, 1.608 carats total — 165 on the case, 55 on the amphitheatre ring, 14 on the crown, 21 on the buckle
- Dial: Dark blue PVD, hours and minutes inclined at 6 o'clock
- Movement: MB&F SP One calibre, developed in-house
- Winding: Manual
- Frequency: 2.5 Hz (18,000 vph)
- Power reserve: 72 hours
- Strap: Calfskin with diamond-set 18k white gold buckle
- Price: USD 104,000
- Limited edition: Not stated by either source
What's Exciting
The low beat rate is the detail worth pausing on. At 2.5 Hz the SP One runs slower than almost anything modern — 18,000 vibrations an hour is a pocket-watch cadence, the frequency chronometers used before the industry standardised on 4 Hz for shock resistance. Running that slow is what buys the 72-hour reserve from a single barrel, and it gives the seconds a visibly unhurried sweep. It is a deliberate piece of old-fashioned engineering inside a brand better known for spaceships.
The gem-setting is also more thoughtful than the carat count suggests. Putting 55 stones on the amphitheatre ring — the structural element that gives the SP One its depth — means the diamonds are describing the watch's architecture rather than being applied on top of it. That is the difference between a gem-set watch and a watch with gems on it, and at USD 104,000 against roughly USD 60,000 for the plain white-gold SP One, the setting is carrying real weight in the price.
History
Maximilian Büsser founded MB&F in 2005 after running Harry Winston's Rare Timepieces division, and spent two decades making Horological Machines that looked like nothing else on a wrist — jellyfish, frogs, spaceships — alongside the more traditional Legacy Machines from 2011 onward.
The SP One belongs to Special Projects, the newest branch, and represents the furthest MB&F has moved toward conventional watchmaking: round, 38mm, time-only, wearable under a cuff. The Pavée takes that already-restrained object and adds the one kind of decoration MB&F had largely left alone, which makes it both the dressiest and the most ornamented watch the brand has made.
