FEATURED: Geneva Watch Days 2021 - The MB&F & L’EPEE 1839 desk warrior - ORB

They say a few things are best left to your imagination and MB&F leaves no stone left unturned to let the imagination run wild. We've witnessed the Starfleet Explorer, a torpedo-shaped rocket clock with the Destination Moon and that not so creepy three legged insect, the Tripod. For their 14th collaboration, MB&F x L’Epée 1839 have introduced what one could call a clock that represents a futuristic model of an eye. Introducing Orb...

The word orb comes from the Latin orbis, meaning “circle” or “disk”. However, another fun fact that I very recently discovered is that orbs are also used today in fanfiction to mean eyes. Apparently “Cerulean orbs” designate blue eyes, “chocolate orbs” for brown eyes and so on. Certainly a nod to perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when we first lay "eyes" on the Orb.

With its perfectly formed shiny sphere, and its dial taking the place of the iris and the pupil,  nothing is ever quite what it seems with the collaborative clocks of MB&F x L’Epée 1839. This minimalistic structure is composed of four elytra (that’s the technical word for a beetle’s protective wing covers, in case you were wondering) that not only open up, but can also swivel like a transformer to display the Orb in a variety of different positions.The possibilities here are multiple. Place it on its saucer so it doesn’t roll away,  display it completely closed or with one, two or three opened elytra or then just open all four elytra which allows you to display the clock without the saucer.

Now unlike many of the other MB&F x L’Epée clocks, the movement, being the beautiful L’Epée 1839 hour-striking movement with an eight-day power reserve, is not perceivable from the outside. But with that perfectly formed sphere you have a direct view into the mechanical heart of the Orb. This new hour-striking development however is based on a similar mechanism thats was used in the L’Epée 1839’s historic carriage clocks. In France, these are known as “Officer’s clocks” as legend has it that when Napoleon almost lost a battle because one of his officers was late, he ordered all of his military chiefs to carry a carriage clock with them at all times.The eight-day calibre can be seen just slightly through the curved aluminium dial covered by a domed mineral glass, which has a hole in the centre to allow the setting of the time with a special key.

The two barrels, one for the time and the other for the striking of the hours, are wound separately. Much like a church clock, the hour mechanism doesn’t just chime the passage of the hour, but indicates the actual hour. A function that can be repeated on demand via a button on the side of the clock, or turned on and off if required.

Available in limited editions of 50 pieces, each in white or black, with its hourly striking mechanism, for all you desk warriors, Orb could either be a beautiful indication of the time as it passes or a constant reminder - "I've got my eyes on you"!