This Month’s Coolest Timepiece Is a $16,000 Clock You Have to Build Yourself

Welcome to Watch Guy Watches, GQ’s monthly curation of high-end timepieces for the true watch nerds among us. This August, MB&F teams up with Maison Alcée on an insane build-it-yourself clock; Tiffany & Co. gives us a titanium version of its new chronograph; Atelier Wen and Massena LAB show us what a Chinese “California” dial looks like, and Urwerk produces a one-off pocket watch in a hand-engraved case.

The latest release from the mad scientists at MB&F seems at first to slide right in with the brand’s signature aesthetic. The Nostromo desk clock, with its spindly legs and body that resembles a space station, looks like astronauts recovered it from the moon—which is MB&F’s sweet spot. However, this latest release, made in collaboration with clockmaker Maison Alcée, contains a major twist. After forking over $16,000, the timekeeper’s 222 components arrive completely unassembled along with a 250-page illustrated instruction booklet.
This is standard procedure for Maison Alcée, an extremely non-standard clockmaker. Launched in 2022 by husband-and-wife team Alcée and Benoît Montfort, the French brand sells all its wares in kit form, allowing the buyer to build the clock themselves using lengthy instruction books and support from a private discussion group. MB&F, always poking around in the strangest corners of horology, took immediate notice of Maison Alcée’s launch product, the Persée, and started stocking it in its retail locations. Of course, it didn’t take much to convince the Swiss that they needed to properly join forces with the French on their very own Maison Alcée clock.
That dream has been realized with the Nostromo, named after the spacecraft from Alien. Flipped horizontally, the clock sits on three curved legs, its escapement visible on the far right, followed by its sub-seconds display to its immediate left and, finally, the main time-telling display. This being an MB&F, the movement’s components are quirkily exposed, lending the clock an even more alien-like/futuristic aspect. The even cooler part? With the exception of the regulating organ, it’s your job to put all 222 components together to make a working clock with the help of videos and a private discussion group. Is this how we solve the Male Loneliness Epidemic?
But before you run for the hills at the prospect of attending night classes at your local Horological Society chapter and sharpening your tweezers, fear not: the Nostromo is designed to be assembled by a regular-ole civilian in roughly 10 hours, no previous watchmaking experience necessary. Think of it as an adult and (even more) expensive Lego set, or a less-maddening Ikea project. And this is a complicated device, too: beyond merely displaying the time, it also features an hour chime, and its movement boasts a 14-day power reserve. Once assembled using its included 250-page instruction manual, the entire clock is free to rotate upon its three legs, adding yet another touch of whimsy to the proceedings.
The Nostromo, which is limited to just 50 pieces, is a surefire way to excite diehard watch nerds out there who don’t have the inclination to sign up for watchmaking classes. Simply get your beloved geek this wildly cool clock for Christmas, and rest assured that you won’t have to deal with them for at least the next 10 hours! Better act quickly, however: the brand’s 25-piece Persée Fantôme Limited Edition for Hodinkee sold out in roughly four hours, according to the site’s founder Ben Clymer. So what’s the probability you’ll be able to snag one? To quote Alien, “I can’t lie to you about your chances, but…you have my sympathies.”
Tiffany & Co. Tiffany Timer Titanium Platinum
Tiffany & Co. is following up its Tiffany Timer chronographs from earlier this year with one that makes subtler use of the brand’s signature shade of robin’s egg blue. The historic jeweler is releasing a 100-piece limited edition with a dark-blue dial, Tiffany Blue accents, and a titanium case with a platinum bezel. Powered by a Zenith El Primero cal. 400 automatic chronograph movement, it features the Bird on a Rock motif on its automatic winding rotor, which is visible via a transparent sapphire caseback. While the overall design is inspired by a vintage Tiffany & Co. pocket watch, modern touches such as a date window above 6 o’clock and a 5 Hz beat rate make this a distinctly 21st-century offering. While the previous Tiffany Timer works as a blunt object that hits you over the head with its Tiffany-ness, this version, which uses multiple shades of blue, is even better looking.
Atelier Wen x Massena LAB Inflection Shuò
This watch has so many cool quirks that it’s as difficult to describe as it is fun to stare at. Atelier Wen, a watchmaker founded by two Frenchmen dedicated to utilizing, preserving, and spreading the word of Chinese handicraft, partnered with watch collector and designer William Massena on a special version of its Inflection timepiece. Made of tantalum and on a matching tantalum bracelet, it features a hand-crafted 18K gold dial with hand-tremblage, hand engraving, and California-style design with bespoke Arabic and Chinese numerals.
Called “Error-Proof” dials by Rolex—who patented them in the early 1940s—the “California” dial features half-Roman and half-Arabic numerals to increase legibility. Atelier Wen and Massena Lab make great use of this inspiration. The watch’s bottom half—hours 4 to 8—features hand-calligraphed Chinese numerals while the top half—hours 10 to 2—is done in Arabic numerals. The watch is powered by a customized version of the Girard-Perregaux cal. GP03300 automatic movement. The Inflection Shuò is available with a white gold dial (10 pieces) and a rose gold dial (40 pieces).
URWERK UR-1001 Amadeus
Unfortunately, Urwerk only saw fit to make a single UR-1001 Amadeus, but that doesn’t mean we don’t wanna tell you about it. Part of high-end independent watchmaker Urwerk’s Special Projects division, it takes the form of a vaguely rectangular pocket watch in wonderfully hand-decorated titanium. The mix of modern materials and ancient-looking engraving would be enough to pique your average collector’s curiosity, but Urwerk included several fascinating time indicators that make you reconsider your relationship to time. One registers years in half-decade increments, counting all the way up to 100 years before resetting. But before going back to zero, the watch sends a pulse to the 1,000-year counter, which is represented by a vertical bar on the left-hand side of the watch’s reverse side.

Source: www.gq.com