Weighing in at over 8 kilograms and standing 40 centimetres tall, Balthazar is a sophisticated and imposing high-precision robot clock composed of 618 beautifully finished, micro-engineered components. But beware… Balthazar hides two sides, as there are in all of us.
Light side: boasting 35 days of power reserve, Balthazar's clockwork displays "slow" jumping hours and sweeping minutes via two discs on the chest, while the power reserve is indicated on his belly. His red eyes, which continually scan the surroundings, are actually 20-second retrograde displays.
Dark side: rotate his torso 180 degrees and the absolute nature of Balthazar's darkness is revealed by the cold, hard skull with menacing teeth and deep-set ruby-red eyes. Balthazar's chest also contains a dual hemisphere moon phase.
more pictures in press sectionBalthazar rotates around his hips on precision ball bearings. The smiling Balthazar becomes very dark, and vice versa…
In addition to showing the hours, minutes and power reserve, Balthazar also features a dual hemisphere moon phase indicator – located on his dark side’s chest.
The key allows you to both set the time and wind the movement; when not in use it slips into a dedicated slot in the shield.
For more live pics, wristshots and other cool images, check out our Instagram account.
Fictional robots often possess monikers sounding like acronyms or reference numbers – think of HAL 9000, C-3PO or Dr. Who’s K-9 – but, interestingly, Maximilian Büsser christened this 21st-century robot with the old world name ‘Balthazar’.
Balthazar – along with Melchior and Caspar – was one of the names of the three wise men, or magi, from biblical lore. But this robot clock was named Balthazar for another reason. Maximilian Büsser explains: “In the Büsser family, for over five centuries from the 1400s onwards, every eldest Büsser son was either called Melchior or Balthazar. It alternated. My grandfather was called Melchior and hated it, so he had everybody call him Max, which is how I became a Max. My grandfather hated the Melchior-Balthazar thing so much that he put an end to this 500-year-old tradition by calling my father Mario… Now, a century later, I happen to love the names Melchior and Balthazar!”
Dedicated to making high-end clocks, L'Epée has been a prominent Swiss Manufacture for over 180 years. Founded in 1839 by Auguste L’Epée in France’s Besançon region, the company originally focused on producing music boxes and watch components. The brand was synonymous at the time with entirely hand-made pieces.
From 1850 onwards, the Manufacture became a leading light in the production of ‘platform’ escapements, creating regulators especially for alarm and table clocks, as well as musical watches. It became a well-known specialist owning a large number of patents on exceptional escapements and the chief supplier of escapements to several celebrated watchmakers of the day. L'Epée has won a number of gold medal awards at international exhibitions.
L'Epée 1839 is now based in Delémont in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Under the impetus of its CEO Arnaud Nicolas, it has developed an exceptional table clock collection, encompassing a full range of sophisticated clocks.
www.lepee1839.chBalthazar is available in limited editions of 50 pieces in black, silver, blue or green armour.
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