What Can the New MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback Platinum Do?

If the LM Sequential EVO’s chronograph wasn’t impressive enough, MB&F has taken it further with an added flyback functionality.

The Legacy Machine (LM) Sequential EVO was unprecedented in several ways when it was released in 2022. It was MB&F’s first chronograph and 20th calibre. Its ‘Twinverter’ binary switch enabled multiple timing modes for the twin chronograph. It ended up winning the GPHG ‘Aiguille d’Or’.

However, Stephen McDonnell, one of the original MB&F Friends and mastermind of the 2015 LM Perpetual, initially had bigger dreams for the LM Sequential. The original prototype movement was designed with a flyback system, but nine months of prototyping and six re-design efforts went by, and reality hit. The flyback function had to be put on the back burner. The dream didn’t end, and two years of continuous testing later, the LM Sequential Flyback Platinum was born, just as McDonnell envisioned it.

The LM Sequential Flyback Platinum has a layout similar to the LM Sequential EVO, with two chronograph displays. The first has a seconds display at 9 o’clock and a minutes display at 11 o’clock. The second has a seconds display at 3 o’clock and a minutes display at 1 o’clock. Using the start/stop and reset pushers on their respective sides, each of these chronographs can be started, stopped, and reset independently.

At the 9 o’clock position is the fifth pusher: the Twinverter, or in McDonnell’s words, the “magic button”. It acts as a binary switch, controlling both chronograph systems to invert each chronograph’s current start/stop status. In simpler terms, hitting the Twinverter can start the chronographs simultaneously if they are both in the stop status. It can also stop the running chronographs. If one side is running and the other is in stop mode, the Twinverter will stop one and start the other.

As the flyback was first invented for pilots in the 1930s to accurately time flight paths from one waypoint to another, the new addition marks the Sequential’s entrance into the world of aviation. In the case of the LM Sequential Flyback Platinum, which has both the flyback function and other timing modes, a pilot can track the overall flight time on one chronograph and time each leg with the other. It can also be used in various other modes for everyday scenarios. Independently, it’ll prove helpful in raising personal productivity, such as when cooking a meal (timing for different ingredients) or at the gym (timing the entire routine and individual stations). One push on any reset button can trigger the flyback function, conveniently resetting and restarting the timing sequence if the corresponding chronograph is running.

Alternatively, use it in a simultaneous or split-second mode when two competitors are starting a race simultaneously. Press the Twinverter at the start of the race and hit the stop pusher for the corresponding chronograph/runner to mark each individual’s end time. In the event of timing more competitive sports, the sequential mode (or lap-timer mode) can be used to measure individual lap times. Start one chronograph, then use the Twinverter pusher upon completing a lap. This will launch the second chronograph to time the second lap. Reset the first chronograph and use the Twinverter to interchangeably launch-stop the next lap.

The manners in which the flyback functionality proves helpful vary beyond the above examples, and it’s all possible thanks to its unique design, which allows two independent chronographs within a single movement to be linked to a common escapement and oscillator. A few secret innovations and solutions enable this while maintaining energy efficiency and precision: internally-jewelled vertical clutches and their associated control system, and special jewelled rollers incorporated into the flyback mechanism.

On the front, the new MB&F LM Sequential Flyback Platinum has been given a more classic Legacy Machine styling. It is furnished with a sky blue dial plate in an expansive 44mm platinum case with screwed lugs and white lacquered inclined dials. Limited to 33 pieces, the other highlights of the watch include an astounding 72 hours of power reserve, a manually wound movement that has retained a 3Hz frequency and gorgeous hand finishings.

Discover MB&F Legacy Machines at The Hour Glass.