MELCHIOR | L'Epée 1839

INTRO

Melchior was created by L’Epée 1839 and MB&F, to mark MB&F Ten year anniversary under the theme: "A creative adult is a child who survived".
Melchior is an impressive kinetic robot which may remind you of your childhood dreams, but also happens to be an impeccably finished, 480-components mechanical table clock.

THE STORY

Indeed, with his smart steel and brass armour, enigmatic glint in his eyes, animated brain and muscular, articulated arms – the right one packing a rocket launcher, the left a Gatling gun – Melchior is the robot buddy you would want by your side while trying to thwart Darth Vader. But look again and you will see Melchior is a majestic high-end table clock featuring jumping hours, sweeping minutes, double retrograde seconds and a 40-day power reserve; a tribute to refined, classic clock- and watchmaking.

Conceived by MB&F, and engineered and crafted by L’Epée 1839 – Switzerland's only specialised high-end clock manufacture – Melchior is the result of Maximilian Büsser’s quest to revisit his childhood hankering for a robot friend. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, man’s best friend was his robot,” says Büsser. “As a 10-year-old fan of Star Wars, I knew Luke Skywalker could never have prevailed had it not been for droids like R2-D2 – a loyal, resourceful and brave robot who was always saving his friends. As an only child, I imagined having my own robot companion…Melchior makes that childhood fantasy a reality.”

Christening this roboclock ‘Melchior’ – after a traditional forename in his family – Büsser developed the concept with designer Xin Wang, selecting a high-end L’Epée 1839 clock movement and reimagining it as the mechanical head and torso of a robot. For L’Epée 1839 CEO Arnaud Nicolas, the positive feeling is mutual. “We had a real blast making Melchior with MB&F,” he says. “Melchior is not just a table clock, it is a kinetic sculpture for eternal children and includes lots of small details, the type that we love working on at L’Epée 1839. It was a stimulating technical challenge”.

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INSIGHTS

Indeed, with his smart steel and brass armour, enigmatic glint in his eyes, animated brain and muscular, articulated arms – the right one packing a rocket launcher, the left
a Gatling gun – Melchior is the robot buddy you would want by your side while trying to thwart Darth Vader. But look again and you will see Melchior is a majestic high-end table clock featuring jumping hours, sweeping minutes, double retrograde seconds and a 40-day power reserve; a tribute to refined, classic clock- and watchmaking.

Conceived by MB&F, and engineered and crafted by L’Epée 1839 – Switzerland's only specialised high-end clock manufacture – Melchior is the result of Maximilian Büsser’s quest to revisit his childhood hankering for a robot friend. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, man’s best friend was his robot,” says Büsser. “As a 10-year-old fan of Star Wars, I knew Luke Skywalker could never have prevailed had it not been for droids like R2-D2 – a loyal, resourceful and brave robot who was always saving his friends. As an only child, I imagined having my own robot companion…Melchior makes that childhood fantasy a reality.”

Christening this roboclock ‘Melchior’ – after a traditional forename in his family – Büsser developed the concept with designer Xin Wang, selecting a high-end l’Epée 1839 clock movement and reimagining it as the mechanical head and torso of a robot.

For L’Epée CEO Arnaud Nicolas, the positive feeling is mutual. “We had a real blast making Melchior with MB&F,” he says. “Melchior is not just a table clock, it is a kinetic
sculpture for eternal children and includes lots of small details, the type that we love working on at L’Epée. It was a stimulating technical challenge”.

Time display with hour and minute discs

Melchior's gatling gun winding key

Melchior's brain as the regluator, and double retrograde seconds eyes

Power reserve indicator

SPECIFICATIONS

EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITION

Melchior is limited to 99 pieces and is available in a monochromatic ‘light’ edition or a two-tone ‘dark and light’ edition featuring black PVD-treated components.

DESIGN & DISPLAY

Jumping hours and sweeping minutes: Twin discs forming part of Melchior’s breast
plate, one disc displaying hours, the other disc minutes
Retrograde seconds: Flyback discs mark 20-second intervals behind a steel mask
Power reserve indicator: Dial on abdomen providing intuitive view of remaining energy

DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT

30.3cm x 21.7cm (depending on position of the arms) x 11.2cm
Weight: 6.3kg

MOVEMENT

L’Epée in-house designed and manufactured movement
Balance frequency: 18,000 bph / 2.5Hz
Barrels: 5 in series
Incabloc shock protection system
Power reserve: 40 days

MATERIALS & FINISHING

HEAD
Dome: polished glass screwed via polished and bevelled palladium-plated brass bezel
Retrograde seconds display in stainless steel
Movement mainplate in palladium-plated brass

TORSO
Breastplate (forming hour and minute hands) in palladium-plated brass
Abdomen (power reserve indicator frame) in stainless steel
Ribcage/spine (formed by skeletonised mainplate) in palladium-plated brass

LEGS
Stainless steel

SHOULDERS AND ARMS
Stainless steel; magnet in left arm socket
Right forearm: screwed-in rocket with chrome-plated brass body and stainless steel warhead
Left forearm: Gatling gun in stainless steel with palladium-plated brass
Body and armour finishing includes anglage, mirror polishing, satin finishing, circular
satin finishing, sand-blasting, polishing. ‘Shoulders’, ‘pelvis’ and skeletonised
mainplate treated with black PVD for the two-tone ‘dark and light’ edition