Here is the second collaboration between MB&F and Stepan Sarpaneva – MoonMachine 2 – a horological creation that occupies the same elusive space as moonlight, somewhere between illusion and reality. MoonMachine 2 brings us the world’s first projected moonphase display.
MoonMachine 2 comes housed in the case of Horological Machine Nº8. The stripped-down case construction of HM8 emphasised the illusory nature of the projected hours and minutes, and MoonMachine 2 uses the same mechanism to highlight the visual impact of a moon disc.
MB&F MoonMachine 2
The projection is accomplished via an optical prism, which refracts vertically the hours, minutes and moon discs. A pusher on the side alows quick and easy adjustment of the moonphase display.
The battleaxe rotor of HM8 has been transformed into an openworked radial web of titanium with Sarpaneva’s signature golden moon, and the sapphire crystal pane has been metallised in a similar pattern.
There are three instances of the immediately recognisable Sarpaneva moon in MoonMachine 2, its piercing eyes and pointed features based on Stepan Sarpaneva’s own face.
MB&F MoonMachine 2
Two of the Sarpaneva moons are mounted on the moon disc, taking it in turns to cycle under a Korona ring — another Sarpaneva design hallmark — to indicate the phase of the moon. The third is mounted on the winding rotor. Each moon is made of gold and finished by hand, which is incredibly challenging at their size. The two small moons on the moon disc measure 4.5mm in diameter and 0.35mm in thickness, while the rotor moon is 8.5mm wide and 0.45mm thick. The hand-finishing process is extremely delicate and the failure rate is very high,
meaning that each completed moon will be the result of multiple work sequences.
MB&F MoonMachine 2
A Korona-framed gold plaque commemorating the collaboration between Stepan Sarpaneva and MB&F is affixed on the sapphire crystal pane, adjacent to the crown.
MoonMachine 2 is available in three limited editions of 12 — one in full titanium with white gold moons and a light-blue sky, one in blackened titanium with white gold moons and a dark-blue sky, and one in red gold and titanium with red gold moons and an anthracite sky.
