Introducing The MB&F M.A.D.Gallery’s Solar Orbiter Watch Winder

The M.A.D.Gallery, the watch industry's Wonder Emporium (run by the industry's Mr Magorium himself, MB&F's Maximilian Büsser), turns 15 this year, and what better way to celebrate than to create another tremendous mechanical contraption. And this time it serves a special purpose.

Enter the M.A.D.Gallery Solar Orbiter, one part electro-mechanical sculpture, one part automatic watch winder - easily the most imaginative and wild watch winder I’ve ever encountered. It’s the brainchild of Martin Smith, a long-time collaborator of Max and the M.A.D.Gallery. He’s an English artist who creates mechanical art and doesn’t take those mechanics too seriously - a perfect match for the M.A.D.Gallery - creating kinetic sculpture that revels in humour and absurdity, often with no fixed purpose beyond creating delight.

Martin’s original brief to create a chaotic, mesmerising kinetic sculpture to celebrate 15 years of the M.A.D.Gallery had a change of course when Max looked at the prototype and asked, “Could it become a watch winder?”

Mounted to the mid-point of the Solar Orbiter is a watch holder that rotates around the sculpture through a system of cams to wind an automatic watch mounted in it. Above the holder is pure mechanical showmanship, where a series of brass, brushed aluminium and powder-coated steel pinwheels, fans, rotor blades and doohickies (it’s a technical term) spin and oscillate as the watch rotates around the sculpture. There are even a few interchangeable parts like the heart on the winder's counter-balance, which can be swapped for other whimsical sculptures that come with this horological objet d'art.

The Solar Orbiter draws inspiration from Ray and Charles Eames’s mid-century Solar Do-Nothing Machine, mixed with Martin’s trademark hearts and hands motifs seen across many of his artworks, all coming together to create a whimsical work of art that looks straight out of a fantasy setting.

Each Solar Orbiter is hand-assembled and totals over 300 individual handmade components, with production limited to an individually numbered run of ten pieces. The Solar Orbiter is priced at CHF 9,900 + tax.

Most watch winders are rather soulless square boxes - extensions of a watch storage solution - but this Solar Orbiter is the furthest thing from that imaginable. The sheer audaciousness of the Solar Orbiter emphasises its clear kinship with MB&Fs' watches, making this a fitting companion to any of the brand's dream Machines (as long as they’re automatic references). Both MB&F watches and the Solar Orbiter are light-hearted and whimsical, but at their core, extraordinary mechanical achievements.

One of the challenges the Solar Orbiter’s creation presented was ensuring that the watch held in the winder was secure and in no danger of toppling out, given that the watch makes a complete winding rotation with every orbit around the sculpture. Martin’s achieved this with a locking device that springs a pin into the cushion to lock the watch in place. This does add a fair amount of weight to the watch holder, requiring a highly machined gear train capable of supporting around a kilogram of metal whilst still rotating perfectly smoothly.

The Solar Orbiter is powered by an electric motor inside the sculpture, and those custom electronics operate completely silently, meaning the winder won’t become a noisy nuisance no matter where it’s displayed, so it's not totally impractical.

With a 60cm height and a rotating circumference of 40cm around the creation, it does present something of a challenge as to where one might display such a watch winder around the house. It certainly isn’t going to fit into the wardrobe drawer where many watch boxes and winders live. Or maybe this isn’t a problem for the average MB&F owner, who I’m sure has ample options around the house to dedicate display space to such a fantastical object, displaying it as art first and watch winder second. With its pop-art and mid-century inspiration, I can already imagine it displayed on a colourful USM cabinet or atop a Saarinen Tulip Table.

Brand: Martin Smith for M.A.D.Gallery
Model: Solar Orbiter Watch Winder
Height: 60cm
Width/Depth: 40cm
Material: Powder-coated steel, stainless steel, aluminium, brass, carved wood, motor, and custom electronics

Price: CHF 9,900
Availability: Exclusively available via M.A.D.Galleries
Limited Edition: Yes, 10 individually numbered pieces

For more, click here.