Traditional clockmaker L’Epée was first founded in 1839 (originally in France) and is the last remaining company of its type, producing traditional mechanical clocks in Switzerland (listen to the SUPERLATIVE podcast interview with L’Epee CEO Arnaud Nicolas). In addition to traditional carriage clocks and other “classic” horological creations, L’Epée has made a modern mark on the industry after a number of successful collaborations with companies like MB&F. These collaborations, and other novel ideas that L’Epée has come up with to impress collectors, eventually attracted the attention of the big boys in luxury. In the last year, the big news for L’Epée was its acquisition by Paris-based luxury giant LVMH. LVMH had been a client of L’Epée and was impressed enough with the unique things the company was able to do that it decided to buy it. Accordingly, as far as I know, L’Epée is the latest horological company to exist within the LVMH portfolio of brands, and the company offers LVMH the important ability to craft some rather wild things in-house (as opposed to having to work with even more suppliers to produce niche mechanical products). And this simply named “Watch Box” is the first major L’Epée release since its purchase by LVMH, and it shows that the company is going to be positioned for the avant-garde luxury toys it makes, often as a complement to traditional wristwatches.

That’s exactly what the L’Epée Watch Box is all about. Alone, it serves no purpose, but when paired with a timepiece (not included) it turns into a dazzling presentation box for an impressive watch. Speaking of serving no purposes, the L’Epée Watch Box neither winds nor offers serious security to your watch. So, what is it all about? The company itself is rather sarcastically direct about it, saying that the purpose of the L’Epée Watch Box is to “elevate your wristwatch.” This is literally correct. When the button the on the front of the acrylic housing is pressed, the device uses its internal mechanism to elegantly open its top hatch and mechanically lift the watch-securing cushion. At that point, you can either remove the watch or press it back down into the housing again. The physical action of pressing the lid and watch cushion platform back into the housing rewinds the spring mechanism which powers the “elevating display.” It is all rather simple, though the allure of such a product is in how over-engineered its purpose is. Watch enthusiasts and mechanical collectors tend to like over-engineered things, so this is right up many people’s alley, though the price and lack of practical utility will no doubt make the L’Epée Watch Box a target for some comedic responses from the collector community.

L’Epée credits Winston Chapman as the design collaborator who supplied the core concept to them. Mr. Chapman’s name is printed on the mechanism and included in L’Epée’s release about the Watch Box. With that said, there is no further context as to who Mr. Chapman is or why L’Epée worked with him. From what I can tell, Winston Chapman is a watch enthusiast and either an amateur or professional designer. I am not entirely sure how he originally hooked up with L’Epée, but I do know the company has been extremely open to working with outside designers for a while now. That such a designer is able to get name credit on the object itself is pretty fun. It also probably means they didn’t profit prodigiously from the endeavor, but it was probably worth it to get your dream actually produced. If Mr. Chapman is reading this, I’d be curious to hear more about the story of the L’Epée Watch Box creation from your perspective.

The L’Epée Watch Box itself is 215mm long, 140mm high, and 150mm wide – weighing in at a stately 3.4 kilograms.  The main housing is transparent acrylic plastic, and most of the mechanical elements are probably plated brass. One thing that is a bit odd to me about the design is the asymmetric nature of where the lid is. Given the layout of the mechanical mechanism, the elevating wristwatch presentation platform is to the left of center. That isn’t a big deal, though I’d have preferred for the housing to be a bit more symmetrical. The reason the housing is transparent is because watching the clockwork operate is a big part of the value proposition. Indeed this device is generally about creating an impressive presentation experience for a fine watch, but it is also decidedly a toy. Being able to watch the moving parts operate as the system operates and is reset is part of the fun. L’Epée could just have easily created a “closed” housing with decoration all over it, but for the debut Watch Box, I think it made sense to simply offer a visual experience to go along with the tactile experience of pressing the button and watching the system perform its mechanical dance.

However silly this may seem, the L’Epée Watch Box follows a tradition hundreds of years old now. For centuries now, clock makers and their kin have made both practical and whimsical mechanical creations to impress the rich. Some of the best examples are the mechanical singing birds and other similar automata. During the Enlightenment and later periods, wealthy patrons were fascinated by the idea of mimicking nature through human-made mechanics – and thus supported many such expensive toys and emotional devices. This tradition is continued in the watch industry, with kinetic toys you can wear being the most popular. L’Epée is trying to get people excited about kinetic toys you can put on your desk or shelf – be it a mechanical watch presentation box or a clock that looks like a car/missile/rifle/grenade, etc…

LVMH gets an impressive watch presentation system that can be used or modified for any of its brands. I can see the L’Epée Watch Box being given a Louis Vuitton, Hublot, or Dior exterior treatment while the internal mechanism stays the same. Even though people can purchase the Watch Box individually from L’Epée, I believe that this system will have perhaps more life as an elaborate gift or as part of a bundle of items that LVMH’s top customers and clients may have access to. Consider that many watch winders and traditional watch boxes are offered as enticing gifts with purchase when buying high-end timepieces. For very high-end timepieces it could easily make sense to impress and further ingratiate consumers by offering something like the L’Epée Watch Box to complement their new six (or seven) figure luxury wristwatch. As silly as the functionality of the L’Epée Watch Box may seem few of us would reject a chance to view it in operation. I also challenge people to deny that seeing the Watch Box results in a secret desire to feel like Batman as technology is being employed to embellish our playtime with timepieces. The L’Epée 1839 Watch Box has a retail price of $12,000 USD. Learn more at the L’Epée 1839 website.