If you happened to glance at MB&F founder Max Büsser’s Instagram stories in late August, you might have caught a glimpse of a bright blue Christmas ornament perched atop a pair of scrawny chicken feet. For years, the goofy bauble sat on Büsser’s desk.
T-Rex Inspiration from @Maxbusser Courtesy of @maxbusser Instagram
“When young and very talented Maximilian Maertens started his design internship with us just out of the ECAL school of design two years ago, I gave him that art piece asking him to turn it into a ‘dinosaur clock,’” Büsser recalls. “The legs being the dinosaur and the central body the clock. It took him a while to find the right direction—initially too organic, then too robotic—but at some point, he struck it just right as far as I am concerned. The result is probably my absolute favorite co-creation.”
MB&F x L’Épée T-Rex Clock Courtesy of MB&F
Dubbed “T-Rex,” the clock marks the 11th time since 2014 that the brand has joined forces with L’Epée 1839 on a table clock that combines Büsser’s obsession with toys, many nostalgic throwbacks to his 1970s childhood, with the classic movement-making skills of Switzerland’s premier clockmaker.
“It seems to me I have been creating clocks for L’Epée for as long as I remember!” Büsser says. “It is a little mindboggling to realize that they have all come to life in less than six years. It is also a testimony to the incredible team at L’Epée, who not only have welcomed some of my wildest ideas, they have transformed them into real ticking works of art.”
MB&F x L’Épée T-Rex “Engine” Courtesy of MB&F
The “T-Rex” clock was preceded by the one-off “Tom & T-Rex” table clock the longtime collaborators created for this year’s Only Watch auction, a unique piece that was unveiled in July. Now available in three limited editions of 100 pieces each in deep blue, green or red, the nearly 12-inch-high clock contains more than 200 components crafted from palladium-plated brass, bronze, stainless steel and, on the dial, hand-blown artisanal colored glass from the Venetian island of Murano.
The in-house eight-day power reserve movement resides in an open sphere suspended between the dinosaur’s legs. T-Rex retails for $24,525.
