T-REX 'Jurrasic Art'

T-Rex is the 11th collaboration between MB&F and Switzerland’s premier clockmaker L’Épée 1839. It was first introduced as a unique piece (Tom & T-Rex), specially customised for Only Watch, the world’s most high-profile charity watch auction.

A minimalist clock-face of Murano glass and steel, suspended between two jointed legs that end in taloned feet — T-Rex bears a slight physical resemblance to the eponymous king of beasts. The name owes more to the aspects of design that reveal themselves to the close observer, such as the confluence of power and presence conveyed in the taut limbs. The literal time capsule formed by the spherical, skeletonised body is a subliminal yet insistent allusion to the fossilised bones that contain all we know of a prehistoric era.

Two slim steel hands arch outwards from the centre of the Murano glass dial, indicating the hours and minutes. Behind the dial is a 138-component movement by L’Épée 1839, crowned by a balance beating at the rate of 2.5Hz (18,000vph), with a maximum power reserve of eight days.

FEATURES

Model: T-REX L’ÉPÉE 1839 × MB&F: JURASSIC ART
Functions: Hours, Minutes
Material: Dial: Murano hand-blown glass
Material: stainless steel, palladium-plated brass and bronze
Finishing: polishing, satin-finishing and sandblasting
63 components
Dimensions: Dimensions: 265 mm (tall) x 258 mm x 178 mm
Weight: approximately 2kg
Components total: 201 (movement + body)
Caliber: L’Epée 1839 movement, designed and manufactured in-house
Power reserve: 8 days
Balance frequency: 2.5 Hz / 18,000 vph
138 components and 17 jewels
Time setting: winding key to both sets the time (in the centre of the dial) and wind the movement (on the barrel axis at the back)
Manufactured: Switzerland

WHY WE LOVE IT

A three-dimensional piece of art that also tells the time. Another fun creation from L’Épée and MB&F, which is closely modelled on the actual skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex; designer Maximilian Maertens studied 3D scans of dinosaur fossils to inject authenticity into the proportions and positioning of T-Rex’s legs.