MB&F and L’Epée 1839 collaborate to unleash the “Sherman”

Inspired by Maximilian Büsser’s on-going quest to revisit his childhood, the latest collaborative work between MB&F and L’Epée 1839 brings the timely release of the robot-clock: The Sherman

Since its inception in 2005, MB&F has grown to be renowned in the industry as an artistic and micro-engineering laboratory dedicated to designing and crafting small series of radical concept watches. Its recent partnership with L’Epée 1839, Switzerland's only specialised high-end clock manufacture, paves the way for the birth of another remarkable concept timepiece: The robot called Sherman.

Conceived and developed by MB&F and engineered and crafted by L’Epée 1839, the Sherman is not simply a clock inside a robot, but an integral and holistic robot-clock. The mainspring barrel bridge extends down to support his tracks, movement spacers act as shoulders for the arms, and the eyes are bolt heads supporting the regulator. The movement plates and bridges of the clock also make up the skeleton and body of the robot, while the chest display the hours and minutes.

Meanwhile, the transparent blown mineral glass dome on Sherman's head reveals his mechanical brain, which is actually the regulator controlling the precision of the robot's time. Its arms can be manipulated into nearly any configuration, and its hands can be used to hold items like a pen or his winding key. The robot-clock also has caterpillar tracks that are fully functional, allowing it even to roll over the rugged terrain of a typical office desk.

This outstanding concept timepiece is 143mm tall, 109mm wide and 80mm deep, with weight of 0.9 kilogram. Its body comes in various options including the fully palladium-plated (polished silver colour); gold-plated with palladium-plated going train (gearing) and nickel-plated balance wheel; and fully gold-plated body and movement, gem-set with 735 high quality VVS diamonds around the eyes, hour markers and head.

Sherman's mechanics are based on an L'Epée 1839 in-line eight-day movement, which ensures that the friendly tank-treaded table clock can display the correct time on his chest for more than a week before requiring rewinding.  Located under the transparent dome of the robot’s head, the movement’s regulator – consisting of the balance and escapement – features an Incabloc shock protection system to minimise the risk of damage when the robot is moving or being transported. The movement features 148 components, and lasts a power reserve of approximately eight days.

Its movement features the same type of superlative fine finishing found on the finest wristwatches, including Geneva waves, anglage, polishing, sandblasting, and circular and vertical satin finishing. However, finely finishing a clock movement is far more challenging than finishing a wristwatch because of the greater surface areas of the larger components.

Sherman is launched in limited editions of 200 palladium (plated) pieces, 200 gilded pieces (gold-plated) and 50 diamond-set gilded pieces.