Arachnophobia

L'ÉPÉE 1839 × MB&F

Overview

Designed by MB&F, Arachnophobia is as extreme as it comes… but the eye-catching three-dimensional sculpture is also an impeccably finished cum-table-clock-cum-wall-clock, engineered and manufactured by L’Epée 1839.

The spider’s body is outfitted with a black dome with white numerals depicting the hours and minutes. The head houses the regulator with its oscillating balance wheel, while the other end contains the mainspring barrel, which powers the movement.

Attached to the abdomen are eight legs articulated where they join the body by ball-and-socket joints. The legs can be rotated so that Arachnophobia can stand tall or splayed flat. A third position provides an optical treat for fans of large arachnids: the front legs can be moved forward while the six others maintain the standing position, an interesting and alarming posture that says, look out!

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Arachnophobia In Situ

the machine

Display

  • Hours and minutes: curved hands rotate to indicate hours and minutes on a polished, central dome featuring MB&F’s signature numerals.

Engine

  • L’Epée 1839 movement, designed and manufactured in-house
  • Balance frequency: 18,000 bph / 2.5Hz
  • Power reserve: 8 days
  • 218 components and 11 jewels
  • Incabloc shock protection system
  • Mechanism in palladium-plated or gold-plated brass
  • Key winding and time setting on underside of clock
  • Movement finishing includes Geneva waves, anglage, polishing, sand-blasting, circular and vertical satin finishing

Dimensions and weight

  • Height (legs extended): 203 mm
  • Clock diameter (legs flat): 405 mm
  • Movement dimensions: 75.3 x 134.9 x 63.8 mm
  • Weight: gold-plated version 1.96 kg; black version 0.98 kg
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The body

The body

Hours and minutes are read on a polished dome representing the spider's body, with rotating curved hands indicating hours and minutes in MB&F’s signature numerals.

Table or wall clock

Table or wall clock

To really make a statement, L’Épée has also developed an innovative system enabling Arachnophobia to be either clipped to a wall or standing on a table.

The head

The head

The spider’s head houses the regulator with its oscillating balance wheel and a set of jaws in case it gets peckish at night.

inspiration

inspiration « Maman » by Louise Bouregoise, Zürich, Switzerland

Arachnophobia was inspired by Maman (mother in French), a giant spider sculpture created by Louise Bourgeois (1911 - 2010) in bronze, stainless steel, and marble. Measuring 9.27 x 8.91 x 10.24 metres (more than 30 x 33 feet), the monumental sculpture has been installed in a variety of locations around the world.

MB&F developed the highly unusual concept with L’Epée 1839, selecting a high-end L’Epée clock movement and re-imagining it as the mechanical head and torso of a spider. The body is outfitted with a black dome with white numerals depicting the hours and minutes. The araneae’s self-sufficiency is to be admired: the finely-finished, highly-visible movement boasts a power reserve of eight days.

L’Epée 1839

Epée 1839

Dedicated to making high-end clocks, L'Epée has been a prominent Swiss Manufacture for over 180 years. Founded in 1839 by Auguste L’Epée in France’s Besançon region, the company originally focused on producing music boxes and watch components. The brand was synonymous at the time with entirely hand-made pieces.

From 1850 onwards, the Manufacture became a leading light in the production of ‘platform’ escapements, creating regulators especially for alarm and table clocks, as well as musical watches. It became a well-known specialist owning a large number of patents on exceptional escapements and the chief supplier of escapements to several celebrated watchmakers of the day. L'Epée has won a number of gold medal awards at international exhibitions.

L'Epée 1839 is now based in Delémont in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Under the impetus of its CEO Arnaud Nicolas, it has developed an exceptional table clock collection, encompassing a full range of sophisticated clocks.

www.lepee1839.ch