MB&F has introduced the SP One Pavée, a diamond-set version of the Special Project One that was launched last year. The new model keeps the case dimensions and mechanical architecture of the original but adds 255 diamonds across the case flange, case flanks, crown and buckle, positioning the piece as MB&F’s clearest step yet into jewelry watch design.
The SP One’s origin story matters here because the Pavée treatment is built directly onto that existing structure rather than a new case. The line traces back to a 2018 sketch by Max Büsser called “Three Circles,” conceived during a review of dormant Special Projects ideas and developed with designer Eric Giroud. The concept called for three floating elements: a barrel, a balance wheel and a dial, arranged so each appears suspended without visible support. That sketch became the first SP One, and the Pavée is its second chapter, applying a diamond-set treatment to the same gravity-defying display rather than reworking the underlying case design.
Case Design and Diamond Setting
The case measures 38mm in diameter, 41.9mm lug-to-lug, and stands 12mm thick, a height that accounts for the ultra-domed sapphire crystal covering the dial. Constructed in 18k white gold, the rounded, bezel-less form has been described as pebble-like, almost UFO-shaped in profile. Because the design carries no conventional bezel, MB&F set its diamonds on the internal flange instead, an area the brand calls an “amphitheatre.” Fifty-five brilliant-cut diamonds line this flange, framing the floating movement and directing light onto the mechanical display beneath the crystal.
The case sides carry a double row of 165 pavé-set diamonds, a setting technique in which stones sit close together to produce a continuous, unbroken surface of sparkle rather than isolated points of light. This is used here to emphasize the rounded volume of the case rather than to maximize visible carat weight. Fourteen further diamonds highlight the crown at 10 o’clock, and the white gold pin buckle carries its own double row of 21 stones. In total, the diamond count across the case, flange, crown and buckle reaches 255 stones, all set without the type of dense, all-over pavé coverage that tends to obscure a watch’s underlying architecture.
Movement Architecture and Dial Layout
Visible through the domed crystal, the three principal components share a single circumference and appear to float independently of one another, with much of the mechanical structure that supports them hidden from view. The oversized balance wheel, oscillating at 18,000vph (2.5Hz) and built to MB&F’s own signature form, sits at 2 o’clock. The skeletonised single mainspring barrel occupies 10 o’clock, its exposed unwinding motion doubling as a visual indicator of the 72-hour power reserve. Time is read on a tilted sub-dial at 6 o’clock, finished in dark blue with applied, polished indices and openworked hands.
Underneath, the in-house manual-winding movement uses a Y-shaped bridge layout with 189 components and 31 jewels. A conical gear train drives the dial-side display, and the finishing follows traditional decorative practice adapted to a contemporary case: hand-angled wheels, beveled and polished edges, and prominent gold chatons sit against rhodium-finished bridges and micro-blasted surfaces, a combination of hand-executed and modern finishing techniques that reflects current movement architecture trends among independent makers.
Strap and Overall Construction
The case is fitted with a light-blue calfskin strap secured by hand-polished lugs with brushed tips, a detail that keeps the case’s transition into the strap consistent with the rest of the finishing. Water resistance is rated to 30m, in keeping with a design intended for dress and occasion wear rather than daily utility. The sapphire crystal, on both the dial side and the display back, carries an anti-reflective coating to keep the view of the floating mechanism clear under varied lighting.
For a brand built on a reputation for kinetic sculpture and unconventional case architecture, the SP One Pavée represents a specific and fairly narrow expansion: applying a restrained diamond-setting language to an existing three-dimensional design rather than introducing an entirely new form. It gives MB&F a genuine entry point into jewelry watch territory without abandoning the mechanical transparency the SP One was built around, and it will be worth watching whether the brand extends this treatment to other Special Projects references going forward.
