MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback EVO
MB&F LM Sequential Flyback EVO: Because One Chronograph Is Clearly Not Enough
There are chronographs, and then there are watches that look at chronographs and say, “That’s nice… but what if we did everything?”
The MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential Flyback EVO firmly sits in the latter camp. This is not a watch that politely fits into a category. It’s a watch that creates its own category, hands it a manual, and then ignores half the rules anyway.
Let’s rewind briefly. When MB&F launched the LM Sequential EVO back in 2022, it wasn’t just the brand’s first chronograph, it was a full-blown rethink of what a chronograph could actually do. Two independent chronographs. One movement. A mysterious fifth pusher called the Twinverter that behaves like it’s powered by sorcery rather than springs. The industry collectively blinked, scratched its head, and then handed it the Aiguille d’Or. Fair enough.
Fast forward, and MB&F has decided that this already overachieving machine still wasn’t quite complicated enough. Enter the Flyback EVO.
On paper, adding flyback functionality sounds straightforward. In reality, doing it twice, inside a movement that already houses two chronographs sharing a single escapement, is the horological equivalent of deciding your Rubik’s Cube needs more colours. Stephen McDonnell, the watchmaker responsible for this mechanical rabbit hole, not only pulled it off, he reportedly had to make components by hand just to prove it could be done. Which tells you everything you need to know about the mindset at play here.
Visually, the watch leans hard into the EVO aesthetic. The Grade 5 titanium case is all curves and confidence, with no traditional bezel and a domed sapphire that puts the movement front and centre. The aquamarine dial plate is unapologetically bold, but in that very MB&F way where it somehow feels justified rather than flashy. There’s also a slightly tilted time dial now, angled toward the wearer, because if you’re going to build a mechanical marvel, you might as well make it easier to read.
Despite the theatrical looks, this is very much an EVO, which means MB&F wants you to actually wear it. You get 80 metres of water resistance, a screw-down crown, an integrated rubber strap, and the brand’s FlexRing shock absorber designed to protect the movement when life gets a bit less gallery-opening and a bit more real-world. It’s still wildly exotic, but it’s exotic with a gym membership.
Now, about what it actually does.
Each chronograph can be run independently, started together, stopped together, alternated back and forth, or used sequentially as a lap timer. The Twinverter pusher flips the state of both chronographs in one go, which sounds confusing until you try it — at which point it becomes weirdly logical. Add flyback into the mix, and suddenly you can reset and restart timing without breaking rhythm, which is exactly what flyback was invented for in aviation. Except here, it’s been given an MB&F-level glow-up.
The clever bit is that none of this comes at the expense of performance. Thanks to internally jewelled vertical clutches and an architecture designed to avoid energy loss, the Sequential calibre does what most chronographs struggle with: it runs accurately without draining power like a teenager discovering video games.
Let’s be clear: nobody needs this watch. But that’s entirely beside the point.
The LM Sequential Flyback EVO exists because someone asked, “What’s the most intelligent, over-engineered, yet strangely usable chronograph we can possibly make?” — and then refused to compromise. It’s playful, serious, and borderline ridiculous in exactly the right proportions.
If most chronographs are calculators, this is a mechanical multi-tool with a PhD. It won’t be for everyone. It will confuse your friends. It will almost certainly never time anything more adventurous than a cup of coffee. And yet, it might be one of the most genuinely interesting chronographs ever put on a wrist.
MB&F didn’t just add flyback to the Sequential. They doubled down on an idea that was already wildly ambitious — and somehow made it better. And honestly? That kind of madness deserves to be celebrated.
If you’ve got a spare CHF 168,000 rattling around down the back of the sofa — plus VAT, naturally — then MB&F would be delighted to hear from you. This is what the evolution of a watch should look like: something that becomes far more than the sum of its parts.
As a proud owner of the M.A.D.2, even though the two watches sit at opposite ends of the horological spectrum, everything that comes out of Max Büsser’s universe feels imbued with a sense of purpose and personality that few others manage to achieve. They’re not just watches you own — they’re watches you experience.