MB&F Debuts the LM101 EVO

There’s a style of watch that I’ve grown particularly fond of over the last few years, and I sometimes find it hard to articulate why. The high end, exotic independent on a rubber strap calls to me like the Sirens. There’s something about the mix of high and low that appeals to me, I think, as it does with everything else I like, from Monty Python to the films of Bong Joon-ho. I also just find a good rubber strap to be one of the most comfortable ways to wear a watch, particularly (but not exclusively) in the warm weather months. And so I’ve nursed a years-long appreciation for Hublot (who basically invented this idea) and have a watch box disproportionately tilted to watches that give me the same feeling (a pair of Arcanauts, and a Bel Canto that lives on rubber year round spring to mind).

It should not be surprising, then, that MB&F’s EVO line has become a personal favorite. The EVO series of watches take Legacy Machine pieces (conceived as MB&F’s collection inspired by classical watchmaking) and give them a sporty treatment, replacing leather straps with rubber, and adding water resistance and screw down crowns. It makes a ton of sense to create “everyday wear” versions of these watches (if you’re spending into the six figures on these pieces, I imagine you’d want to wear them more frequently, right?) and making them more casual and sporty in appearance is such a natural idea it’s almost hard to believe these haven’t existed from the beginning. Nevertheless, EVO versions of the Legacy Machine Perpetual and Legacy Machine Sequential have reportedly been huge hits for the brand.

This year’s Geneva Watch Days saw the introduction of the LM101 EVO, which as you’d surmise is a sporty take on the classic, elemental Legacy Machine. The LM101, originally launched in 2014, is the most compact and thin of the LM series watches, and the one that most succinctly describes what the collection sets out to do in the first place. Inside a 40mm case (in titanium, for the EVO watches), you have a dial surface that features a power reserve, an offset dial displaying the current time, and a dramatic, 14mm flying balance wheel set atop all of it, protected by a dramatically domed sapphire crystal. It is at once space age in its aesthetic, while exploring ideas of classical watchmaking.

For the EVO version, MB&F ups the water resistance to 80 meters, incorporates a screw down crown, and of course provides an integrated rubber strap. The other EVO specific feature is what the brand calls a FlexRing, which is a shock absorbing system that is meant to protect the movement during active use. The caliber, as always with the LM101, is manually wound movement with 60 hours of power reserve, meticulously decorated in the style of classic pocket watch movements.

There are two dial variants for the new LM101 EVO, salmon and green. The salmon is a metallic copper color and very nicely done, but it’s the green dial that is the real standout. “Green” is actually a misnomer, I think, as the color shifts wildly depending on the angle of view and the light. It can be dark or light green, blue, or even purple depending on how you happen to catch a glimpse of it. The effect is similar to that of the Grand Seiko SBGC275 in that literally the entire dial seems to shift in color, rather than a progressive change in the general hue or shade. It’s a tough concept to convey but when you see it in person, you know you’re looking at something that’s just a little different from what you’re used to.

These watches wear absolutely wonderfully on a rubber strap, and have exactly the kind of casual sporty vibe you’d want in a watch like this. Basically, they seemed perfectly matched to the ludicrously appointed MB&F suite at the Beau Rivage where we had a chance to play with them for nearly an hour, one of the most enjoyable of our Geneva Watch Days experience. I’m not sure if that feeling would translate to my current daily life here in Concord, NH, where I lack many of the comforts of that Beau Rivage suite, particularly the view of Lake Geneva and the Jet d’Eau. Regardless, it’s a bit of a moot point, as we were told that this year’s production run of the LM101 EVO has already sold out, and given the general popularity of the LM101, it’s likely these watches will be at the end of a multi year waitlist for even the brand’s best clients.