34.RL.B

MOONMACHINE by Finnish watchmaker Stepan Sarpaneva is the first of the MB&F Performance Art pieces by a watchmaker – and the first to endow a Horological Machine with a new complication. To create MOONMACHINE, Stepan has reconfigured HM3 Frog by 90° and added his iconic moon-face moon-phase indicator complication set in a scintillating firmament of northern stars. Based on Stepan’s own face, the phase of the moon is displayed through a signature Korona-shaped aperture, while the mystery winding rotor takes the form of a steel and 22k gold disc with laser-pierced stars forming constellations visible in the northern sky. HM3 Frog was chosen as the MOONMACHINE platform because the large movement opening in the dial side provides space for the watchmaker to play – and the bulbous indication domes of the Frog are reminiscent of how science fiction buffs have long imagined habitable domes on the Moon. MOONMACHINE may portray the time in a playful manner, but there is nothing but serio...