MB&F’s latest brainchild brings together the world of horology and music mechanics in a delightful space-age music box.
A special chord was struck in the hearts of several watch patrons this year when a horological maestro and a 150-year-old music box manufacturer married their skills in celebration of Baselworld’s 41st anniversary. The exquisite result, Music Machine, a sleek, spacespace-like object that looked nothing like a watch but emitted crystal-clear chimes shocked and alarmed onlookers (and listeners) alike.
“It is the tension between the futuristic look and the 19th-century technique that gives this piece its appeal,” says Maximilian Busser, founder of the Geneva-based MB&F. “REUGE’s (possibly the last high-end bespoke music box manufacturer in the world) artisanship is totally unique…” What catches the eye at first are twin brass-hand finished cylinders seated on top of the main hull. Each cylinder sports 1,400 pins on its surface that have been painstakingly placed in a specific location, and have been shaved and polished to precision. As the cylinders rotate (in opposing directions) these pins pluck the teeth of a vertical comb on the bottom of either side (each featuring 72 notes) to produce a tune.
The cylinders have been crafted to play three different melodies each, which last 35 seconds and have been chosen by Busser: the left offers May The Force Be With You with the Star Wars theme, Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back and Star Trek’s theme track, while the right plays a Floyd classic: Another Brick in The Wall, Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water and John Lennon’s Imagine.
Limited to 66 pieces – 33 in black (for Darth Vader fans) and 33 in white – the three kilo-heavy Music Machine whose body is constructed from lacquered walnut takes 250 to 300 hours to manufacture and is priced at CHF12,300.
Text by Aashmita Nayar