This Once-Delicate Hyperwatch Is Now a Full-Blown Sports Watch

Wear it anywhere, turn heads everywhere.

MB&F

Published September 9, 2025

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MB&F is a brand known for its “horological machines” — over-the-top mechanical watches with avant-garde designs, crazy complications and mind-boggling construction.

What the brand isn’t really known for is producing robust sports watches that can be worn anywhere. However, there is an exception. Within its slightly more traditional Legacy Machines line, MB&F has given select watches what it dubs the “EVO” treatment, outfitting them with more wearable cases, more comfortable straps, custom shock absorbers and higher water resistance to make them more durable and versatile.

Now, MB&F has added another EVO edition to its lineup, transforming its simplest Legacy Machine from a delicate instrument into a full-blown sports watch you can truly wear anywhere.

An MB&F wristwatch with a white strap and a polished silver case resting on a textured stone surface. The watch face is green with two smaller black sub-dials, one for the hours and minutes and the other for the power reserve. The watch features a prominent, intricate mechanical component in the center, showcasing part of its movement. The strap has a silver buckle. — The LM101 is now officially a sports watch.

EVO-lution

The LM101 is MB&F’s most basic Legacy Machine. Of course, when it comes to MB&F, no watch is truly basic. Perhaps the purest distillation of the brand’s signature “flying” balance wheel technology, the watch offsets its centrally mounted floating oscillator with subdials displaying the time at 2:00 and the power reserve at 6:00, all set against a colorful backdrop in the form of a CVD-colored dial plate.

For the new EVO version, the LM101 maintains its case dimensions of 40mm across and 49mm lug-to-lug — one of the smallest offered by MB&F — but swaps the previously available steel and gold material options for lightweight and rugged titanium. Thickness remains a chunky 16.5mm due to the massively domed crystal, which is needed to cover the floating balance.

Despite an array of sporty upgrades, the LM101 EVO is still visually dominated by its centrally mounted flying balance wheel.

MB&F

The case is also now equipped with the brand’s proprietary FlexRing shock absorber, a ring-shaped steel dampener that sits between the movement and case to protect against shocks on both vertical and horizontal axes.

The watch also gains a screw-down crown, which helps boost its water resistance rating up to 80m from 30m, meaning you can easily swim with this watch. Hell, you could even dive with it, though I can’t imagine anyone ever doing so.

The final functional EVO upgrade is the strap, which switches from alligator leather to rubber that’s integrated into the case. You can choose between a white or dark gray strap, both of which are fitted with a folding titanium clasp to match the case.

A close-up of a person's wrist wearing an MB&F wristwatch with a black strap and a copper-colored dial featuring visible mechanical components. The person is gripping a black pole, and the background shows a blurred body of water. The person is also wearing a simple gold ring on their ring finger. — Yes, you can 100 percent swim with this MB&F.

In addition to the sporty upgrades, the LM101 EVO also gets some aesthetic tweaks that further differentiate it from the non-EVO versions. The subdials are now black instead of white, and the power reserve indicator has been skeletonized. Their hands are white gold instead of blued steel, and the Roman numeral markers on the clock face have been jettisoned in favor of stick indices.

The bridge holding the balance wheel has been resculpted to appear more fluid and sporty — it kind of reminds me of the T-1000 from Terminator 2. Even the escape wheel has a new design that mimics the brand’s “battle axe” imagery seen on some of its other models.

Underneath the caseback’s box sapphire crystal, we see the Cal. LM101 — the brand’s original in-house movement. The manual-wind calibre has been tweaked to now offer a greater power reserve of 60 hours, up from 45, and its bridges have been given an edgier, NAC black coating. Otherwise, it’s still hand-decorated within an inch of its life with Geneva waves, hand-polished bevels, gold chatons and countersunk blued screws.

Close-up of the back of a mechanical MB&F wristwatch showcasing its intricate movement with visible gears, screws, and jewels. The case is made of titanium, as indicated by the engraving, and the watch has a grey rubber strap with a textured pattern. The words "Legacy Machine," "Titanium," "22 Jewels," and "Swiss Made" are engraved on the metal parts surrounding the movement. — The movement has an absurd amount of hand-finished details, along with NAC black-coated bridges for an edgier vibe.

Pricing and availability

Lastly, the LM101 EVO debuts two new dial colors, both of which are decidedly vibrant and sporty. You can choose between Salmon and Peacock Green, both of which were created using chemical vapor deposition. Both look fantastic, and I’m not sure which I prefer.

While not a limited edition per se, MB&F has stated that it only plans to make a few dozen examples of the LM101 EVO per year. If you’re interested in being one of the lucky few to obtain one, you can pick one up on MB&F’s online shop for CHF 62,000 (~$77,810) — though both have already been waitlisted.

A luxury wristwatch with a polished silver case and a sunburst copper-colored dial. It features an exposed mechanical movement with visible gears and a central balance wheel. There is a small black subdial at the 2 o'clock position displaying the time with white hour markers and hands, and another smaller black subdial at the 6 o'clock position indicating a 60-hour power reserve. The watch has a black rubber strap embossed with "MB&F.

MB&F LM101 EVO

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	MB&F Cal. LM101 manual-wind
Water Resistance	80m

$77,810 at MB&F

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.