MusicMachine 1 Reloaded
Reuge x MB&F
Back in 2013, MusicMachine 1 opened the floodgate for MB&F to collaborate with external creators on projects outside the scope of the wristwatch. MusicMachine 1 Reloaded revisits this first-ever Co-Creation.
Overview
Back in 2013, MusicMachine 1 opened the floodgate for MB&F to collaborate with external creators on projects outside the scope of the wristwatch; it initiated a new category – “Co-creations” – that invited MB&F to a world beyond that of miniaturized horology. And it did not tell the time: rather, it was a music box created with REUGE that uprooted everything we thought we knew about music boxes, from the design all the way to the music. MusicMachine 1 featured all the traditional, time-honoured elements of a superlative high-end music box, but configured in MB&F’s individualistic manner. It was a music box for today.
“How you make a music box is still something that is mind-boggling for the mere mortal,” says MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser, who remains awestruck by the mechanics of the machines. High-end mechanical music boxes share many similarities with their horological counterparts, both technically and aesthetically, with similar fine finishing techniques. For MusicMachine 1 Reloaded, energy is derived from coiled springs and transferred by gear trains; the unwinding speed is carefully regulated, thanks to fan regulators similar to those found in traditional minute repeater watches. This puts in motion two cylinders, which contain the “scores” of the melodies, materialised by 1,400 precision-placed pins. When the cylinders revolve, the pins pluck the teeth of steel combs, each containing a bespoke selection of 72 hand-tuned notes. Each comb forms a unique pair with its corresponding cylinder; neither can play properly without the other.
About MusicMachine 1 Reloaded
REUGE was founded in 1865 in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland and is today the premier manufacturer of music automatons on the planet with more than 155 years of expertise and experience. Between 2013 and 2015, MB&F and REUGE released three MusicMachines, each playing different songs – untraditionally, modern music – and each model was a success. Maximilian Büsser and his Friends decided it was time to redesign the first MusicMachine and issue another edition.
“The original design was done by young Chinese designer Xin Wang,” says Büsser. “But we had Maximilian Maertens, who is designing a lot of new crazy cool stuff with us, work on this one with the idea of being a little bit more streamlined, a little bit more open.”
With its dual propellers and twin silver cylinders mounted on sleek outrigger landing gear, MusicMachine 1 Reloaded still looks like a spaceship hailing from a galaxy far, far away. Just slightly different than before.
Like the original version, each of the cylinders on MusicMachine 1 Reloaded plays three tunes, all personally selected by Maximilian Büsser. The left cylinder plays the Star Wars theme, “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back, and the theme from Star Trek. Back on earth, the right cylinder plays Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water,” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Reaching out and touching people
“When it comes to design and creativity, MB&F is the specialist,” says the Reuge team. “However, when it comes to execution and excellence of product – the technical, engineering, and manufacturing side – we are comfortable. The ability to have a creative design that can reach out and touch people is amazing, while we know that we can produce the complementary quality when it comes to the technology.”
Reuge x MB&F
Blue, red or black
MusicMachine 1 Reloaded is a limited edition of 33 pieces in blue, 33 pieces in red, and 33 in black.
- Main body: aluminium with lacquer finish
- Matte sections: protective varnishing
- Gloss sections: white UV-resistant lacquer; black lacquer or ‘chrome’ anodised finish depending on version
- Resonant amplifying base by JMC Lutherie: 350-year-old resonance spruce with 21st century composite materials like NomexTM honeycomb Kevlar.
- MusicMachine 3 features two 3.72 movements (3 refers to the number of melodies on each cylinder; 72 refers to the number of notes on each comb); one movement is ‘right’ configured; one movement is ‘left’ configured (they rotate in opposite directions)
- Main plate: polished brass decorated with Geneva waves. The main plate holds both movements; each movement includes a mainspring, cylinder, comb, and regulator
- Start/stop and repeat/continue functions
- 3 melodies per cylinder
- Length of each melody: 35 seconds
- Power reserve per cylinder: 15 minutes
- Dimensions (with soundboard base): 400 x 340 x 280 mm
- Total weight: approximately 6 kg
Discover the models available
Inspiration
REUGE created MusicMachine 1 Reloaded based on a futuristic spaceship design proposed by MB&F whose founder, Maximilian Büsser, is a keen fan of all the great sci-fi films and TV series.
In collaboration with ECAL design graduate Max Maertens, MB&F evolved Xin Wang’s original spaceship design while cleverly incorporating all the essential music box features such as musically tuned combs, pinned cylinders, winding mechanisms, mainspring barrels, regulators, and an acoustically optimised case.
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