LM Perpetual EVO & LM Perpetual Baguette Diamonds: 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Limited Editions
2025 marks the 75th anniversary of Ahmed Seddiqi, MB&F’s longstanding retail partner in Dubai. To commemorate this important milestone, the two partners have chosen to craft not just one but two Limited Editions, both powered by MB&F’s award-winning Perpetual Calendar calibre: 7 LM Perpetual EVO pieces and 5 LM Perpetual Baguette Diamonds pieces, both featuring signature blue highlights.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!For over seven decades, Ahmed Seddiqi has been a cornerstone of the regional horology landscape, cultivating appreciation for fine timepieces and championing independent brands such as MB&F. This collaboration not only recognizes the Seddiqi family’s role in horology, but also celebrates the deep friendship between the two partners.
Reflecting on this relationship, Maximilian Büsser, owner & creative director of MB&F, shares:
“I have been privileged over the last 27 years of their 75-year history, to have counted the Seddiqi family as very close friends. They welcomed me when I was at my most vulnerable, they many times helped me when I was down, and were there to celebrate our greatest achievements together. It is therefore my privilege and honour to celebrate this milestone of Ahmed Seddiqi, with two incredibly rare and special MB&F pieces. Both are based on the ground-breaking Perpetual Calendar developed by Stephen McDonnell. For such an exceptional anniversary, we had to choose an equally exceptional movement”.
First released in 2015, the GPHG award-winning Legacy Machine Perpetual has become a strong favourite amongst MB&F aficionados. The LM Perpetual has also evolved into several EVO editions, designed for an active lifestyle – with enhanced 80 metres of water resistance, a screw-down crown, an integrated rubber strap and MB&F’s patented FlexRing, a proprietary annular dampener providing shock protection.
The LM Perpetual EVO 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Limited Edition
The 75th Anniversary edition of the LM Perpetual EVO – limited to only 7 pieces – is housed in a grade 5 titanium case, engraved with the anniversary theme. It stands out thanks to the same striking blue colour first featured on the LM101 MB&F x H. Moser especially created for Ahmed Seddiqi in 2020. The signature blue colour has been applied for this edition to the sub-dials, contrasting with the anthracite dial plate in the background.
The LM Perpetual Baguette Diamonds 75th Anniversary Seddiqi Limited Edition
The second 75th Anniversary edition – even more limited, with just 5 pieces – inaugurates a first for the Legacy Machine Perpetual series: a refined bezel set with 48 baguette-cut diamonds. The case is crafted in stainless steel, engraved with the 75th Anniversary message. Like its EVO counterpart, it also features the same signature blue colour but applied on the dial plate, with contrasting black sub-dials displaying the time, day of the week, month and date.
LEGACY MACHINE PERPETUAL IN DETAIL
CONVENTIONAL PERPETUAL CALENDARS
Created by Northern Irish watchmaker Stephen McDonnell and premiered in 2015, the LM Perpetual calibre was — and still is — one of the most innovative perpetual calendar systems to exist in modern watchmaking.
Conventional perpetual calendars are generally modules comprising the complication, which is fitted on top of an existing movement. The calendar indications are synchronised by a long lever running across the top of the complication and passing through the centre. As the date changes, this long lever transmits information to the appropriate components and mechanisms by moving backwards and forwards. This traditional system is extremely unwieldy, restricting movement construction in several key ways that would make something like Legacy Machine Perpetual a mechanical impossibility.
In the traditional system, perpetual calendars assume that, by default, all months have 31 days. At the end of months with fewer than 31 days, the mechanism quickly skips through the superfluous dates before arriving at the 1st of the new month. Any manipulation or adjustment of the date during changeover can result in damage to the mechanism, requiring expensive repairs. The dates can also jump or skip during changeover, negating the whole point of the perpetual calendar in the first place, which is not requiring adjustment for years. Or decades.
MECHANICAL PROCESSOR
Legacy Machine Perpetual uses a “mechanical processor” consisting of a series of superimposed disks. This revolutionary processor takes the default number of days in the month at 28 – because, logically, all months have at least 28 days – and then adds the extra days as required by each individual month. This ensures that each month has exactly the right number of days. There is no “skipping over” redundant days, and no possibility of the date jumping incorrectly.
Using a planetary cam, the mechanical processor also enables quick-setting of the year so that it displays correctly in the four-year leap year cycle, whereas traditional perpetual calendar mechanisms require the user to scroll through up to 47 months to arrive at the right month and year. The mechanical processor also enables an inbuilt safety feature that disconnects the quick-set pushers during the date changeover, eliminating any risk of damage
OPENING UP A NEW WORLD OF PERPETUAL CALENDAR AESTHETICS
Legacy Machine Perpetual takes advantage of its fully integrated movement to place the perpetual calendar mechanism on top of the movement main plate so that it can be appreciated from above. Legibility is often an issue with perpetual calendars due to the sheer number of indications, and LM Perpetual addresses this by using skeletonised subdials (except for the time indication) that appear to float above the complication with no apparent support from below.
In yet another innovation, Legacy Machine Perpetual uses what is likely to be the world’s longest balance wheel pinion to connect that elegantly suspended balance, hovering above the top of the movement, to the escapement on the back of the movement.
LM PERPETUAL EVO & LM PERPETUAL BAGUETTE DIAMONDS
75th ANNIVERSARY SEDDIQI LIMITED EDITIONS
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Two Limited Editions
– LM Perpetual EVO limited to 7 pieces with signature blue sub-dials;
– LM Perpetual Baguette Diamonds limited to 5 pieces with signature blue dial plate.
Engine
Fully integrated perpetual calendar developed for MB&F by Stephen McDonnell, featuring dial-side complication and mechanical processor system architecture with inbuilt safety mechanism. Manual winding with double mainspring barrels.
Bespoke 14 mm balance wheel with traditional regulating screws visible on top of the movement. Superlative hand finishing throughout respecting 19th century style; internal bevel angles highlighting hand craft; polished bevels; Geneva waves; hand-made engravings.
Power reserve: 72 hours
Balance frequency: 18,000bph / 2.5Hz
Number of components: 581
Number of jewels: 41
EVO edition: screw-down crown and FlexRing annular dampener fitted between case and movement, providing shock protection along the vertical and lateral axes.
Functions/indications
Hours, minutes, day, date, month, retrograde leap year and power reserve indicators.
Case
EVO edition: grade 5 titanium
Baguette Diamonds edition: stainless steel with 48 baguette-cut 1.5-carat diamonds bezel.
Engraving: 75th Seddiqi anniversary engraving on the case-back.
Dimensions: 44 mm x 17.5 mm
Number of components: 70 (EVO edition) or 69 (Baguette edition)
Water resistance: 8ATM / 80m / 270 feet (EVO edition) or 30 m / 90′ / 3 ATM (Baguette edition)
Sapphire crystals
Sapphire crystals on top and display back treated with anti-reflective coating on both faces.
Strap & buckle
EVO edition: rubber strap with titanium folding buckle.
Baguette Diamonds edition: white hand-stitched alligator strap with stainless steel folding buckle.
MB&F – GENESIS OF A CONCEPT LABORATORY
Founded in 2005, MB&F is the world’s first-ever horological concept laboratory. With over 20 remarkable calibres forming the base of the critically acclaimed Horological and Legacy Machines, MB&F is continuing to follow Founder and Creative Director Maximilian Büsser’s vision of creating 3-D kinetic art by deconstructing traditional watchmaking.
After 15 years managing prestigious watch brands, Maximilian Büsser resigned from his Managing Director position at Harry Winston in 2005 to create MB&F – Maximilian Büsser & Friends. MB&F is an artistic and micro-engineering laboratory dedicated to designing and crafting small series of radical concept watches by bringing together talented horological professionals that Büsser both respects and enjoys working with.
In 2007, MB&F unveiled its first Horological Machine, HM1. HM1’s sculptured, three-dimensional case and beautifully finished engine (movement) set the standard for the idiosyncratic Horological Machines that have followed – all Machines that tell the time, rather than Machines to tell the time. The fiercely unconventional Horological Machines have explored themes as diverse as space and science fiction, aviation, supercars, the animal kingdom and architecture.
In 2011, MB&F launched its round-cased Legacy Machine collection. These more classical pieces – classical for MB&F, that is – pay tribute to nineteenth-century watchmaking excellence by reinterpreting complications from the great horological innovators of yesteryear to create contemporary objets d’art. Certain Legacy Machines have also given birth to EVO editions, featuring increased water and shock resistance compatible with collectors’ active lifestyles. MB&F generally alternates between launching contemporary, resolutely unconventional Horological Machines and historically inspired Legacy Machines.
As the F stands for Friends, it was only natural for MB&F to develop collaborations with artists, watchmakers, designers and manufacturers they admire.
This brought about two new categories: Performance Art and Co-creations. While Performance Art pieces are MB&F machines revisited by external creative talent, Co-creations are not wristwatches but other types of machines, engineered and crafted by unique Swiss Manufactures from MB&F ideas and designs. Many of these Co-creations, such as the clocks created with L’Epée 1839, tell the time while collaborations with Reuge and Caran d’Ache generated other forms of mechanical art.
To give all these machines an appropriate platform, Büsser had the idea of placing them in an art gallery alongside various forms of mechanical art created by other artists, rather than in a traditional storefront. This brought about the creation of the first MB&F M.A.D.Gallery (M.A.D. stands for Mechanical Art Devices) in Geneva, which would later be joined by the M.A.D.Gallery in Dubai – along with MB&F Labs, which showcase a more compact selection of artists in locations like Singapore, Taipei, Paris and Beverly Hills.
There have been distinguished accolades reminding us of the innovative nature of MB&F’s journey so far. To name a few, there have been no less than 9 awards from the famous Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, including the ultimate prize: the “Aiguille d’Or”, which rewards the best watch of the year. In 2022, the LM Sequential EVO was awarded the Aiguille d’Or, while the M.A.D.1 RED won the ‘Challenge’ category. In 2021, LMX won the Best Men’s Complication and the LM SE Eddy Jaquet ‘Around The World in Eighty Days’ was awarded in the ‘Artistic Crafts’ category. In 2019, the prize for Best Ladies Complication went to the LM FlyingT; in 2016, LM Perpetual won the Best Calendar Watch award; in 2012, Legacy Machine No.1 was awarded both the Public Prize (voted for by horology fans) and the Best Men’s Watch Prize (voted for by the professional jury). In 2010, MB&F won Best Concept and Design Watch for the HM4 Thunderbolt. In 2015 MB&F received a Red Dot: Best of the Best award – the top prize at the international Red Dot Awards – for the HM6 Space Pirate.
ABOUT AHMED SEDDIQI
Driven by the vision of its founder, Mr. Ahmed Qassim Seddiqi, and the passion of the Seddiqi family, Ahmed Seddiqi has established its legacy across luxury retail over the years.
The first Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons boutique opened in Bur Dubai in 1950.
Since then, the retail footprint has expanded to a network of boutiques across the UAE.
Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons is recognised as a pioneer amongst retailers in the region, led by its commitment to service excellence, horology expertise, portfolio curation, and creating unique experiences for its customers.
Their craftsmanship is not just something that they sell, it is fundamental to who they are as a company. Their technical expertise, gained over generations, gave them an intricate mechanical knowledge of watches and jewellery. From detailed watch servicing to understanding movements inside and out, they do blend the meticulous skill of craftsmen with the refined taste of seasoned retailers.
As Ahmed Seddiqi celebrates its 75 years anniversary, the company unveiled a refreshed identity that honours its legacy while looking into the future. Subtle yet purposeful changes reflect who they are today: a house of heritage, expertise, and evolving elegance.
ABOUT DUBAI WATCH WEEK
Founded in 2015 by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, Dubai Watch Week is a global platform dedicated to preserving watchmaking culture, fostering education, and facilitating creative dialogue. The event brings together collectors, brands, artisans, and the public in an open celebration of horology.
The seventh edition will be held from 19–23 November 2025 at Burj Park, presented under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
