The official successor to MB&F’s acclaimed Melchior robot-clock was dubbed Balthazar, and it has been described as Melchior’s “big brother” by MB&F’s experts. Created in collaboration with L’Epee, this masterpiece incorporates slow jumping hours and sweeping minutes on its chest, as well as a mechanical “brain” of sorts that can be admired through a transparent dome on the robot’s head. Just in case you didn’t recognize it, this is the 1839 in-house movement from L’Epee, and it is absolutely fantastic in all regards.
The clock can run for 35 days between winding sessions, and the robot’s eyes always move in a 20-second retrograde fashion. Since it is the “big brother” after all, Balthazar tips the scales at 17 pounds, it is 15-inch tall and incorporates 618 parts in total. As you can probably imagine, putting all of those parts together was an incredibly difficult and complex task, but MB&F’s experts managed to get the job done masterfully.
Balthazar’s list of highlights carries on with a new dual hemisphere moon phase indicator that will remain accurate for the next 122 years. The robot’s torso can be rotated, in which case the user could admire a darker skull face with beautiful ruby red eyes.
