When we published ‘Inspired Interstellar Exploration: Miki Eleta BY 21Dez12ME Starship Clock’ a couple of weeks ago, quite a few readers requested video to better appreciate how Miki Eleta’s horological sci-fi fantasy worked. We heard you! So here by popular demand is a video of BY 21Dez12ME having just landed with a bang on earth.
The body of this brightly colored (sign of venom?) arachnodactyly robot is actually an optically superlative loupe by Loupe Systems that I spotted at Baselworld 2016. The question this week, though, is: what is it doing . . . and what’s the lead for?
This is a family affair: a story of my wife Brigitte, her horse Gucci, my father Neil, and an engraved Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique. And this is a good example of how and why you might want to commission a work of art on the back of a Reverso. Or not.
These two duelists are both called Sherman and they are actually extremely high-quality 8-day clocks by MB&F and l’Epée 1839, Switzerland’s only specialised high-end clock manufacture.
But what I’d like to know this week is: what on earth are they fighting over?
Are they even fighting each other at all?
The Bovet Ottantasei Tourbillon is the brand’s sixth timepiece designed by Pininfarina, and the years of experience that the two brands now have working together shows. It truly is a sensational watch, but I will go into that in more detail at a later date because I’d like to focus here on Pininfarina, a name evoking mystical status among anyone interested in world-class design and sensational cars.
Independent Finnish watchmaker Stepan Sarpaneva has horologically personified the moon. Sarpaneva’s moonface is a stylized version of his own face. The colorfully bejeweled Moonshine highlights the dial like few, if any, watches I’ve ever seen. But the obvious question I’m asking here, is: what is this face thinking or what does he/she/it want to say?
Believe it or not, this Rube Goldberg/Jean Tinguely-style contraption is actually an astronomical clock by A.H.C.I. member Miki Eleta that displays retrograde minutes, jumping hours, day of the week, a three-dimensional moon phase, and world time. And it’s all regulated by Eleta’s own constant force gravity tourbillon with chronometer escapement.
But the question I’m asking here is: what might this assembly of gears be and/or be doing if it wasn’t a clock? Please leave your ideas (fun or funny also welcome) in the comments.
Again, if every picture tells a story, this one is likely to be interesting. It was taken on the shores of the solidly frozen Torneträsk (Lake Träsk). What fun, funny, or sarcastic caption can you suggest for this image? Let us know in the comments.
This week, for Photo Caption Competition No. 17, we have what looks like a still life of a piratical skull with a sense of humor. What fun, funny, or sarcastic caption would you give this photo? Let us know in the comments!
These three apparently diverse photos have (at least) one horological link in common. What do you think is the strongest common thread that links these three images is and how?