Chegado ao mercado - relógio MB&F HM3 Frog Zr

"Violeta é o novo preto", sentencia a MB&F, ao lançar mais uma declinação do seu modelo Frog. Desta vez, ele é baptizado de Zr. E porquê? Zr é o símbolo químico do zircónio, um metal de transição próximo do titânio, mas mais caro do que ele. É usado, por exemplo, na protecção de motores de reacção, para suportar temperaturas muito elevadas.

O MB&F HM3 Frog foi lançado em 2010 e tem sido declinado desde então em edições limitadas. Desta vez, haverá apenas 18 exemplares do Zc, com caixa em zircónio revestido a PVD negro, rotor violeta em ouro.

O HM3 Frog Zr estará à venda em exclusivo nos retalhistas da marca em Los Angeles, Greenwich, Cidade do México, Paris, Londres, Interlaken, Kiev, Singapura, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Taichung, Macau e Costa Rica.

Da marca:

Until recently, the world's rarest frog was thought to be Isthmohyla rivularis, which was rediscovered in 2008 in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Now, however, that tiny tree frog's place in the record books has been taken by a new amphibian, one with a black satin skin tough enough to take anything the jungle can dish out: MB&F's Frog Zr, a numbered limited edition of just 18 pieces.

Zr is the chemical symbol for zirconium, a transition metal resembling titanium. Titanium on steroids! To give an idea of just how tough zirconium is, the blades and vanes in modern jet engines and gas turbines can only support the incredibly high temperatures and stresses they generate thanks to a protective ceramic layer of zirconium and yttrium oxide. Ninety per cent of all zirconium produced is used in nuclear reactors, and zirconium alloys are used in space vehicles for their resistance to the extreme heat of atmospheric re-entry.

The Frog Zr is one amphibian that can stare adversity in the eye . . . and not blink first!
MB&F introduced the HM3 Frog to bring some playfulness into high-end watchmaking. It certainly did just that and the Frog Zr is no exception. Underneath its apparently tough guy zirconium exterior, the flamboyant purple 22K gold rotor animatedly spinning on the dial, reflecting intriguing hints of green and yellow, sends a crystal clear message that the Frog Zr also has a healthy sense of fun.
The bulbous domes housing the hours and minutes of the Frog Zr are not just there to make an in-your-eye statement - although they certainly do that - they enable the wearer to easily read the time from a wide variety of angles without having to turn the wrist. And, as with its brothers, the Frog Zr differs substantially from HM3 in that it is the aluminium domes that rotate under the sapphire crystals in the Frog Zr, whereas the hour and minute hands rotate around stationary cones on HM3.

Those hour and minute domes are machined from solid aluminium, chosen for its optimal strength-to-weight ratio, to a thinness of just 0.28mm and they tip the scales at just 0.5g, thus reducing rotational energy requirements to an absolute minimum. The fabrication of the semi-spherical sapphire crystal domes was just as demanding, because the slightest imperfection in the sapphire would introduce a disconcerting magnification effect - and the Frog Zr doesn't need any help in the disconcerting department!

The Frog Zr may portray the time in a playful manner, but there is nothing playful about the meticulous attention to detail regarding the fine hand-finishing of the 304 component highly-tuned 36-jewel engine purring within its space-grade zirconium case. It is a case replete with carefully thought-out detailing including clover-head screws, an engraved arrow indicating the easy to read over-sized date and a display back revealing the dual ceramic bearings that drive the domes.

While we did say that the Frog Zr was extremely rare, we should have specified that was on earth, because zirconium is relatively abundant in S-type stars and it has been detected in the sun and in meteorites. But if you jump to it, you won't have to go that far.

The Frog Zr is a limited edition of 18 pieces in zirconium with a purple 22K gold rotor.

Ficha técnica:

Movement:
Three-dimensional horological engine designed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor;
Powered by a Girard-Perregaux base
Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph.
Purple 22K rose gold battle-axe shaped ‘mystery’ automatic winding rotor
Hour and minutes information transmitted via ceramic ball bearings to rotating domes.
Number of jewels: 36 (all functional)
Number of components: 304

Functions:
Hour on one dome (aluminium dome rotating in 12 hours)
Minutes on second dome (aluminium dome rotating in 60 minutes)
Date around the movement

Case:
Zirconium; limited edition of 18 pieces
Screwed-down crown
Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 47mm x 50mm x 16mm
Number of case components: 53

Sapphire crystals:
Domes and both display backs with anti-reflective treatment on both faces.

Dials:
Rotating aluminium domes – 0.58g, stationary hands

Strap & Buckle:
Black hand-stitched alligator strap with 18K white gold & titanium custom designed deployment buckle

'Friends' responsible for HM3 Frog Zr
Concept: Maximilian Büsser
Product Design: Eric Giroud – Eric Giroud Design Studio
Technical and Production Management: Serge Kriknoff/MB&F
Production logistics: David Lamy/MB&F
Movement Development: Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and Nicolas Stalder of Agenhor
Movement fabrication: Georges Auer/Mecawatch, Salvatore Ferrarotto/APR Quality
Hand-finishing of movement components: Jacques-Adrien Rochat and Denis Garcia of
C-L Rochat
Ceramic ball bearings: Patrice Parietti/MPS
Movement assemblage: Didier Dumas and Georges Veisy/MB&F
Case and buckle construction and production: Dominique Mainier and Bertrand Jeunet of
G&F.Châtelain
Sapphire domes: Martin Stettler/Stettler Sapphire
Sapphire plates: Denise Boileau/Montavon
Dials: François Bernhard and Denis Parel of Nateber
Strap: Olivier Purnot/Camille Fournet
Presentation case: Frédéric Legendre/Lekoni and Isabelle Vaudaux/Vaudaux