MB&F MusicMachine made in cooperation with Reuge.
It was only a month or so ago in BaselWorld that the well-known and much-loved MB&F unveiled its newest piece – the MusicMachine. While the brand is renowned for its cutting-edge timepieces, the ever-creative Max Busser couldn’t help but want something a little different to wow the world with this year. He conceived of a spaceship like music box built in collaboration with the world’s finest hand-made music box company, Reuge.
Hand craftsmanship of thousands of precisely placed pins and teeth enables the cylinders to play the tunes.
The MB&F MusicMachine is an elaborate feat of engineering and hand craftsmanship that recalls the MB&F watch line and embodies the MB&F concepts. The spaceship music box has dual propellers and twin silver cylinders mounted on landing gear. Each of the cylinders on MusicMachine plays three tunes. One cylinder plays space-inspired songs: ‘Star Wars’, the ‘Imperial March’ from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, and the ‘Star Trek’ theme song. The other cylinder plays Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ and ’John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ – all tunes synonymous with MB&F’s radical, nonconformist attitude.
33 white and 33 black versions are being made.
To build the machine, Reuge uses 1,400 precisely placed pins that strike the teeth of the comb cylinder. Just 66 pieces will ever be made – 33 each in white and black – to the amazingly affordable tune of just about $13,200. A look at Reuge says they are all sold out – but a resourceful person may find one at retail, since “sold out” from the manufacturer means it is sold to the retailer. If not, we just may have to wait for the next music machine. Meanwhile, our colleagues at TheWatchesTV captured it live for us in this video.
