MB&F unveils three LM101 cloisonné enamel jungle dials by Gabriel Colliard, eight pieces each

MB&F has released three LM101 watches with cloisonné enamel dials painted by independent artist Gabriel Colliard. Each edition is limited to eight pieces, for 24 watches in all, and the pace of about one dial a month means the series will not be complete until well past two years from now.

The platinum-cased trio is priced at CHF 98,000, EUR 107,000 or USD 131,000, all figures excluding tax.

The three dials are distinguished by one dominant colour and one animal each. The red scene carries two scarlet macaws, the blue is graced with a monkey, and the green depicts a crocodile. MB&F suggested the single-hue scheme after Colliard's first proposals drew on a broad 1950s-inspired palette.

Colliard studied fine arts in Argentina, moved to Switzerland in 2003 and began as a polisher. Seeking to bring his artistic work closer to watchmaking, he trained in enamelling in Limoges, France, then worked in specialist workshops and at Patek Philippe before going independent with his own atelier.

MB&F gave the enameller carte blanche on the compositions, and the exchange ran both ways. Colliard worked around and beneath the LM101's mechanical elements while the manufacture modified the dial to suit him. The dial plate was thinned to accept multiple layers of enamel.

The floating sub-dials for the time and power reserve functions were removed and swapped for longer hands. With no markings left anywhere on the dial, reading the hour becomes a matter of approximation, as it was on the LM101 collaboration with H. Moser & Cie.

The Legacy Machine family launched in 2011 as a look back at 19th-century watchmaking, rendered through MB&F's three-dimensional lens. The LM101 itself arrived in 2014, compressing that approach into a relatively compact 40mm case with the time at 2 o'clock and the power reserve at 6.

Above them hangs the balance wheel, suspended across the dial from 9 to 11 o'clock, with sculptural bridges and off-centred displays that made the canvas a challenge. Enameller Eddy Jaquet faced the same thing when hand-engraving scenes from Jules Verne on the LM Split Escapement.

Cloisonné enamel begins with fine gold wires bent by hand to outline the scene, forming tiny compartments that are filled with enamel and fired repeatedly to build colour and depth.

The single-colour brief made the task harder. Without strong contrasts separating each element, the artist relied on subtle differences in tone, opacity and transparency to create depth. And although the dials share a composition, no two can turn out identical: as Colliard puts it, “the fire always has the final say”.

The reverse side carries its own treat. The ratchet wheel, visible through the back, receives the same cloisonné treatment, echoing the colours and motifs of the front. The calibre behind it is the first movement MB&F's in-house engineering team conceived entirely on its own, with Kari Voutilainen overseeing the finishing.

For this release the manual-winding movement's power reserve has been increased from 45 to 60 hours. The 14mm suspended balance wheel runs on a Straumann double hairspring, and the calibre itself is decorated to historical pocket watch standards with Geneva waves, hand-polished bevels, gold chatons and countersunk blued screws.

The arcs and escapement assembly on this dial are taken from the EVO version of the LM101, minus the skeletonised escape wheel, even though the case remains the classic one. Water resistance is 30 metres. The watch measures 16.55mm thick and rides on a brown alligator strap.

The buckle is a steel deployant with a white gold cover rather than platinum. The movement beats at 18,000 vibrations per hour across 23 jewels and shows hours, minutes and power reserve.

The enamel takes over the dial

What makes these editions unusual is that the dial is not a separate plate but an integral part of the movement, laced with openings of different sizes for the hands, the balance bridge arches and the escapement. Painting enamel onto that structure is far more demanding than working a blank surface.

Colliard came to this through years of gradual specialisation, and his polisher's background shows in how precisely he has accommodated the mechanics. MB&F's suggestion to work in one hue per scene is the sort of restraint that pushes an enameller toward transparency and opacity as the only levers left.

We have covered independent watchmaking across our watches jewelry section, and this collaboration fits a line MB&F has run for years, pairing artistic handcraft with Legacy Machine designs through engraver Eddy Jaquet and others. What shifts here is the scale of the dial work itself.

What the run looks like

Every example is therefore near-guaranteed to be a unique painting even within its own edition.

The price is USD 131,000. More information is available from MB&F directly.