MB&F's Nostromo table clock arrives in 233 pieces for CHF12,000

MB&F has marked fifteen years of its MAD Gallery in Geneva with the Nostromo, a limited-edition table clock that leaves the factory in pieces. Buyers pay CHF12,000, roughly £11,000, and open the box to find the clock disassembled rather than ready to run.

The Nostromo ships as a kit of 233 components in steel, brass and German silver, guided by a 250-page instruction manual. All the tools needed for the build are included in the box, and MB&F puts the assembly time at around ten hours.

The name arrived after a creative back-and-forth. Maximillian Maertens, a sci-fi fan and creative designer at MB&F, had been calling the object Cyclops, until its alien-like look earned it the Nostromo title instead. The reference is to the ship in the film Alien.

'You have to get the reference to appreciate that,' said Arnaud Legeret of MB&F about the clock made for the MAD Gallery, the brand's Geneva showroom of mechanical art and kinetic sculpture. The Nostromo, he said, fits into that space just so.

Who designed the kit

The kit format is the work of Maison Alcée, a French company founded in 2019 by the husband-and-wife team of Alcee and Benoit Montfort to build table-clock kits. The Nostromo is larger than the company's standard Persée model.

The idea began with Alcee Montfort's time as an engineer at the Richemont Group, where a watchmaker told her skills were being lost because the industry did little to inspire interest in them. Her answer was to let people have a go themselves.

Maison Alcée worked with watchmaking teachers on a kit that, she says, everyone could complete but which was not too easy either. For most customers, she adds, it is a chance to connect with a subject they love and to step back from a busy schedule.

She also points to something simpler: a rare opportunity for many people to do something with their hands. That is the pitch behind a clock that asks its owner for an evening, or a few, before it will tell the time.

The finished clock marks hours, minutes and seconds, carries an hour chime that can be switched on or off, and holds a 14-day power reserve. It stands on a turntable-style tripod base, so the mechanism is on show from every side.

'We've sold the table clock mostly to watch geeks who are into independent watchmaking and are interested in knowing more about how the mechanism works,' Legeret said. Putting the clock together, he adds, gives a very good understanding of it.

'It's still challenging, but the mechanism is simple enough and the parts big enough that a non-professional can tackle it,' Legeret said. MB&F's customers so far are enthusiasts of independent watchmaking rather than newcomers, which is the audience the kit was aimed at.

Why there is no wristwatch version

MB&F is now considering a second kit clock, but there is no plan for a wristwatch equivalent. Legeret's reasoning is that making one approachable for an amateur would mean using parts that would likely produce a not-particularly-attractive watch.

'And while we want people to learn through putting all the components together, at the end we'd still want something that looked good, which is why a table clock works,' he said. Larger parts suit a clock case far better than a wrist.

The clock also dodges its namesake's fate. The Nostromo of the film automatically destructs in T minus five minutes; this one does not, and the name stays a wink rather than a warning to the person holding the screwdriver.

Anniversary pieces are common in watchmaking, as when we reported on IWC marking 140 years with a special edition. The Nostromo takes a different route: instead of a commemorative dial, MB&F marks its gallery's 15 years by handing over the parts and the manual.