‘Tom & T-Rex’ is the new novelty table clock conceived by MB&F which tells the story of a child struck by illness. Created exclusively for the Only Watch charitable auction....
Tom & T-Rex’ is the first – and a unique – example of the T-Rex clock co-created by MB&F and L’Epée 1839, which is planned for general release at the end of August 2019.
What sets ‘Tom & T-Rex’ apart from the main T-Rex collection to follow is the sculpture mounted atop the body of the hybrid beast, shaped like the figure of a young child. The rider of T-Rex – who MB&F and L’Epée have named Tom – is both companion and ward of his redoubtable steed.
Created exclusively for, Only Watch, the world’s most high-profile charity watch auction, which returns this November 2019 in Geneva for its eighth edition the charity aims to raise awareness of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and hopes to find a cure for this genetic disorder primarily affecting male children.
Tom specifically represents the children living with the degenerative disease that is Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which causes the gradual loss of basic motor functions, including the ability to walk. Tom, who spends his waking days tethered to an unfavourable reality, has found in T-Rex a friend who can take him on adventures beyond his wildest dreams. Measuring only 4.3cm high, the sitting rider is less than a fifth as tall as the 26.5cm T-Rex; in real-life proportions, it could easily look right into the second floor of an average apartment block. Cross-legged in a particularly youthful, tranquil yet vulnerable pose, Tom stares down into a transparent blue marble of Murano glass nestled in his cupped hands, perhaps imagining a different world…
As with all the MB&F clocks, T-Rex is a collaboration with Switzerland’s premier clockmaker, L’Epée 1839. Out of the 10 previous clocks made jointly by MB&F and L’Epée, T-Rex bears the closest design kinship to the clocks inspired by the animal kingdom such as Octopod or Arachnophobia. In the use of materials such as coloured Murano glass, it is closest to Medusa. Conceptually, the sentient cyborg panopticon “eyeball” that forms the main body of T-Rex shifts the clock closer to the robotic brethren of Balthazar, Melchior and Sherman.
The legs of T-Rex were modeled directly on actual Tyrannosaurus Rex bones, using 3D scans of fossilised dinosaur skeletons as references to create verisimilitude in the final design.
In line with the other Only Watch editions from MB&F, the Tom & T-Rex has a special design addition that is deeply connected to the charity and its cause — a palladium-plated bronze rider, sculpted to take the form of a young boy, holding a mystical light blue marble of Murano glass. Also made of hand-blown Murano glass is the hemitoroidal dial of the clock that forms the “eyeball” of T-Rex. The “Only Watch” unique piece uses a light-blue tinted Murano glass; the subsequent collection will feature Murano glass components in red, deep blue and green.
Beating at the heart of T-Rex is a movement of 138 components, including the 2.5Hz (18,000vph) balance. Time is set with a key, fitted through the centre of the Murano glass dial, while the eight-day power reserve is separately maintained with the same key at the rear of the movement.
‘Tom & T-Rex' is set to launch autumn 2019 priced from €18,000 - 36,000
