Grant

L’Épée 1839 × MB&F

Overview

Co-created by MB&F and L’Epée 1839, Grant is a robot with a time display on his shield – and a mission to slow things down, when time runs too fast.

While Grant’s time moves relatively slowly, he can travel quickly over rough terrain (or the messiest desk) on his three operational rubber tracks. Grant can also transform into one of three different modes: lying horizontally over his chassis for a low profile; crouching at 45 degrees; and sitting up 90 degrees. Grant’s time shield can always be set to a comfortable and optimal viewing angle. Whatever the angle, Grant’s highly polished clockwork is on full display, and you can follow every click and turn of the gears. The isochronal oscillations of the regulator keeping time in Grant’s glass-domed ‘brain’ are evidence of the clockwork’s high precision.

Grant's 8-day, in-line manufacture movement features the same superlative fine finishing as found on the finest wristwatches: Geneva waves, anglage, polishing, sandblasting, plus circular and vertical satin finishing.

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the machine

Display

  • Hours and minutes

Engine

  • L’Epée 1839 in-line eight-day movement, designed and manufactured in-house
  • Power reserve: 8 days
  • Balance frequency: 2.5 Hz / 18,000 bph
  • 155 components and 11 jewels
  • Incabloc shock protection system
  • Winding: grenade launcher on right hand pulls out to reveal a double-depth square socket key that both sets the time and winds the movement.

BODY / FRAME

  • Transformer body with three operational tracks and three positions of clock/body.
  • Material: stainless steel, nickel-plated brass, palladium-plated brass.
  • Dome/head: mineral glass.

DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT

  • Flat position: 115 mm (tall) x 212 mm (wide) x 231 mm (long)
  • Vertical position: 166 mm (tall) x 212 mm (wide) x 238 mm (long)
  • Components total: 268
  • Weight: 2.34 kg
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Transformer

Transformer

Grant transforms into one of three different modes: lying horizontally over his chassis; crouching at 45 degrees; and sitting up 90 degrees. Grant’s time shield can always be set to an optimal viewing angle.

Clock regulator

Clock regulator

The clock regulator’s gentle beating and intricate composition are visible thanks to its polished glass dome cover. If the protective dome acts like a skull, then the regulator symbolises Grant’s brain at work.

Caterpillar tracks

Caterpillar tracks

Grant’s rubber caterpillar tracks are fully functional and, with a little help from a friend, he can roll over the rugged terrain of a typical office desk.

inspiration

inspiration

Grant takes his name from the Medium Tank, M3; a medium-sized American tank in use during World War II. In Britain, the tank came in two variations with differing turret configurations and crew sizes and each model was naturally given its own name. The Brits nicknamed the American-turreted tank "Lee”, after Confederate general Robert E. Lee; the British-turreted tank was called "Grant", after Union general Ulysses S. Grant.

The M3 tank had significant firepower (like MB&F’s + L’Epée 1839’s Grant) and was well armoured (unlike Grant). The M3’s drawbacks included a high silhouette and poor off-road performance, both issues rectified in the Grant: low profile (when laying flat) and excellent high-speed off-road performance (thanks to the three tracks).

L’Epée 1839 developed Grant to MB&F’s design using its 8-day, in-line manufacture movement as a structural base. Grant doesn’t just look like a complicated piece of high-precision micro-engineering, he is an incredibly solid piece of complex high-precision micro-engineering with an impressive 268 components going into the construction of his body and clockwork.

L’Epée 1839

Epée 1839 Maximilian Büsser and Arnaud Nicolas CEO of L’Épée 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