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Dear Friends,
A few years ago, if you had asked me whether I’d ever be interested in creating something other than timepieces, I’d have answered “no way!” – I felt there was already so much to do with watchmaking. And there still is!… But then we opened the M.A.D.Gallery. As new “Mechanical Art Devices” came in month after month, we discovered new forms of mechanical art, along with the amazing artists and designers who create them. This unpredictable melting pot opened a creative door that I had not anticipated. Meeting all those incredible craftspeople from around the world gave me the desire to experiment outside horological machines…
Our first experiment was unveiled during Baselworld, just two months ago. At the world’s largest watchmaking fair, we launched the first MB&F Machine that does NOT give time: the MusicMachine. A bit of a surprise, lots of fun… and an astounding success, judging by the unanimous praise from the media, the public and our retail partners. The first in a series of creative experiments to come!
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What do you think when you hear the word “music box”? Chances are, you imagine a very traditional wooden box, with beautiful marquetry – and when you open the lid, a ballerina starts to revolve inside while the mechanism plays Mozart or Bach.
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The MusicMachine is on a mission: to change that perception! With its dual propellers and twin silver cylinders mounted on sleek outrigger landing gear, MusicMachine looks like a spaceship hailing from a galaxy far, far away.
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Conceived and designed by our team at MB&F, this unconventional machine was brought into earthly existence by Reuge, the only remaining high-end manufacturer of music boxes on the planet. Interestingly, there are many historical links between the music box and watch industries: Reuge has supplied musical complications for timepieces since their very origin back in 1865, many of the techniques involved in the manufacturing process are similar, geographically the village of Sainte-Croix is part of the watchmaking region…
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MusicMachine’s twin cylinders each play three melodies (click here to listen). On the left, there is a sci-fi vibe with themes from ‘Star Wars’, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Star Trek’. On the right you get rock classics from my teenage years with Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.
Hats off to Reuge, who broke with a few music box conventions to remain faithful to our original concept. For a start, they created two independent movements configured as mirror images of one another, meaning the component design and architecture had to be completely inverted. They configured MusicMachine’s two 72-note combs vertically, instead of horizontally, to look like air vent grills on either side of the vessel’s main body. These combs are plucked by pins on the horizontal cylinders powered by twin mainspring barrels resembling pistons under the winding propellers. Outside of these propellers are the circular-fan shaped air regulators controlling the speed at which the cylinders revolve.
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MusicMachine is in a limited edition of 33 pieces in white and, for those tempted by 'the dark side', 33 pieces in black. You’ll find all the details on our website, including a short video presentation by TheWatchesTV.
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Talking about website, you may have noticed: our previous site – launched in 2008 – just went through a major evolution, in several stages. First up was the new desktop version of the site, followed by an optimisation of the M.A.D.Gallery section. Then it was time for a totally redesigned, simplified mobile version, viewable on your phone.
Our Friends at SUMO interactive made it all happen. The new site involves a lot more than just new graphic design: our main objective was a more ergonomic, intuitive, user-friendly interface. This meant simplifying the previous navigation, which had become a complex array of menus and submenus, by bundling together related information – you now scroll a bit more but have fewer clicks to go through. A big dropdown menu gives you quick access to all sections.
With our growing family of Machines, we also wanted to give each Machine its own identity. Another improvement is the section with our retail partners, who are now easy to locate all the way through to Google maps. For the geeks out there, the site is developed in HTML5, it uses jQuery for animations and effects, LESS for dynamic stylesheets and all that stuff runs on the PHP framework ZEND 2.
Last but not least, our other activities are well represented: the homepage gives you previews to items from our long-standing blog, “A Parallel World”, and the M.A.D.Gallery… but don’t take my word for it: please go and have a look for yourself. As always, we welcome your feedback!
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This week on the MB&F blog A Parallel World, we take off on a big ego trip. But it's not about us. Rather, we are cruising below the Seven Seas in the EGO compact submarine. In fact, EGO is a semi-submarine, since only the central cabin of this personal aquatic vessel is submerged, with large panoramic windows providing intimate vistas onto the underwater world.
EGO’s submerged cabin is sandwiched between two lateral hulls on the ocean surface to provide a stable, buoyant trimaran structure. So after a hard day’s work counting all those fish down below, you can lay on one of the four metre long hulls up above to enjoy a leisurely tanning session.
Find out more about the EGO submarine on A Parallel World.
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Along with the rest of the MB&F team, I wish you a beautiful, energizing summer. Stay tuned for a lot more action this autumn – and in the meantime, keep the great feedback and the cool wristshots coming on Facebook and Instagram!
Very best regards,
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Maximilian Büsser
Owner & Creative Director
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