August 2015

MB&F MusicMachine 3 Mechanical Music Box
Join the dark side with this limited edition mechanical music box.
Article By Steven R. Rochlin

  MB&F is offering their limited edition of MusicMachine 3 (CHF 17,500 / $18,200), which appears to be influenced by the dark side of the force. MB&F is celebrating their tenth anniversary this year and believes that "A creative adult is a child who survived". Of course many of us remember the first time we saw the movie Star Wars and so by combining amazing style with music, MB&F's MusicMachine3 brings it all together in high style. The TIE fighter-inspired MusicMachine 3 features lattice-like vertical wing supports that protect the dual music cylinders.

There are two of these musical cylinders and each one plays three melodies. The first cylinder plays theme tunes from Star Wars, Mission Impossible, and James Bond. The other one plays theme music to The Godfather, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and The Persuaders. MusicMachine3 gets its power from two independent movements mounted on the two tail sections. Each movement has its own winding key, which are creatively disguised as thrusters. There is a mainspring barrel to store energy just like a fine mechanical timepiece. There is a horizontal cylinder with pins and comb with hand-tuned teeth that then help the MusicMachine3 produce each note.

An air regulator in the form of a circular fan, which is creatively designed to look like a rotating radar dish, governs the unwinding speed / tempo of the music. With form following function, the side wings aid in propagating sound vibrations down from the combs to the naturally amplifying resonant base manufactured by JMC Lutherie.

Without a doubt MB&F's MusicMachine 3 combines all the fantastic, nearly out-of-this-world styling with classical musical bliss. This design as developed and crafted according to MB&F's design by Reuge, the Swiss music box manufacturer with 150 years of expertise and experience. This this a very limited edition of 99 pieces: 33 pieces with white finish, 33 pieces with black finish, and 33 pieces with chrome finish.