Max Busser and L’Epee 1839 are at it again. This time, they’re debuting a clock sure to creep out about 30% of the US population. It’s not a spider, like we’ve seen that before, and it’s called the Octopod.
Octopod has eight legs as its name suggests, and a large, bulbous crystal skull, containing the L’Epee 1839 movement. The head is formed out of two polycarbonate hemispheres, joined by three bands of palladium-plated brass rings. The head should remind the astute of cephalopods, and also (the press material notes) a little of the underwater vehicles from the movie ‘The Abyss’.
A clock like this isn’t simply a timepiece. It’s a work of art. It is transcendent. It isn’t a toy, exactly, but it brings joy to the person witnessing it, through the glass sphere, through posing the 8 arms, and being able to see the entire movement ticking away, suspended, floating inside the headpiece. Each arm is released by a button in each leg, and can be locked in two positions (standing or extended), and each leg is composed of 31 pieces to enable that articulation.
The movement is a thing to behold. It sits on a glass baseplate with double AR coating, to make it seem even more invisible. The illusion works. The movement is a flying tourbillion, and mesmerizes just to look at it. It has a lower beat rate than a wristwatch, running at 2.5Hz, but has an 8 day power reserve. The tourbillion is located on the minute hand.
Available in three colorways, black PVD, blue PVD, and palladium silver, the Octopod stands 28cm long and 28cm high in a standing position. When positioned in a crouching stance, it’s 22cm tall and 45cm long. There will be 150 of these total, 50 of each color.
This is MB&F’s seventh collaboration with L’Epée, and they just keep getting better and better. It’s unlikely that you or I may ever own one of these clocks, but I’ve had the pleasure of seeing several of them in person, and they are, without exception, wonderful. If you do happen to want the best Octopus clock we’ve ever seen, it will cost you just CHF 35,000 from our friends at MBandF.com
