MB&F MusicMachine Plays Star Wars Theme, Pink Floyd

MB&F MusicMachine Plays Star Wars Theme, Pink Floyd

Adrienne Faurote
By Adrienne Faurote April 30, 2013

Luxury watchmaker MB&F are known for their avant-garde horological machines, but even fans of the brand will be surprised by their latest creation. MB&F have unveiled MusicMachine, a limited-edition music box created in collaboration with REUGE, the premier manufacturer of music boxes on the planet.

With dual propellers and twin silver cylinders mounted on sleek outrigger landing gear, the MusicMachine looks more like a spaceship than a traditional music box. The cylinders each play three tunes personally selected by MB&F founder and creative director Maximilian Büsser, who is a big fan of sci-fi films and TV series. The left cylinder plays the Star Wars theme, the ‘Imperial March’ from The Empire Strikes Back, and the theme from Star Trek. The right cylinder plays Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ and John Lennon’s iconic song ‘Imagine’.

“Like many kids, saving the world was my full time job when I was a boy,” Büsser told us. “For MusicMachine, I delved into my childhood dreams and fantasies inspired by heroes such as Luke Skywalker and Captain James T. Kirk.”

Music box movements share many technical similarities with their horological counterparts. Energy derived from a coiled spring is transferred by a gear train and the unwinding speed is carefully regulated. High-end music box components are even finely finished in a manner similar to high-end watch movements. The MusicMachine boasts two independent, mirror-image movements, each with a winding propeller, mainspring barrel (in the shape of a piston under the propeller), horizontal cylinder with pins creating three melodies, and vertical comb with individual hand-tuned teeth sounding each note. When music is playing, the speed that the cylinder unwinds at is governed by an air regulator in the form of a circular fan outside each propeller-topped, piston-shaped mainspring barrel. The result is a visual and acoustic tour de force.

Only 66 pieces (33 pieces in white and 33 pieces in black) of the limited-edition MusicMachine will be produced.

Photos courtesy MB&F.