Deconstructed watch: L’Epée Time Fast II in Chrome

As its name suggests L’Epée 1839 has existed for almost 190 years as a maker of quality clocks — and is now the only such manufacturer of its type left in Switzerland.

In 2008, it was acquired by the century-old Swiss cutlery and pocket knife maker Swiza. The deal helped to bring L’Epée into the 21st century, spurring a new range of beautifully crafted “creative art line pieces” aimed at wealthy fans of all things mechanical.

The first of these was the Starfleet Machine of 2014, produced in partnership with high-end watch maker MB&F to mark L’Épée’s 175th anniversary.

The clock, designed to represent an “intergalactic space ship”, brought L’Epée into the orbit of serious watch collectors, many of whom may never have been interested in owning a traditional clock but who loved the Starfleet Machine’s playfulness and avant garde styling.

Further collaborations with MB&F followed (there have now been 15). Separately, a partnership with Swiss university Ecal (École cantonale d’art de Lausanne) resulted in the Time Fast D8 in 2019 — an ingenious clock conceived by Georg Foster, a Zurich-based designer who developed it with L’Epée’s CEO, Arnaud Nicolas, while studying there for a masters in luxury and craftsmanship.

The Time Fast D8 proved so popular that L’Epée (which has been owned by LVMH since 2024) subsequently released the Time Fast II in Chrome, seen here in deconstructed form.

As with the original it was inspired by the lines of a 1960s grand prix car, but is called the ‘II’ because it features two seats and two mechanical movements.

The first movement is housed in the car’s cockpit and drives an eight-day clock regulated by an escapement in the “driver’s helmet” and powered by a mainspring located in the passenger seat.

The movement is linked to a pair of rotating steel discs mounted on the engine “air filters”, with one disc displaying hours, the other minutes.

The second movement drives an animation that is activated by turning a dashboard key to “start the engine”, an operation that triggers the eight pistons to move up and down in their blocks.

To re-wind either the clock or the automaton mechanism, the tiny gearstick must be moved to one of two positions before the car is pulled backwards to recharge the relevant mainspring.

Elsewhere, the car has been designed with similar attention to detail: the three-spoke steering wheel comprises three separate rims held together by a dozen minuscule rivets — and is turned anticlockwise to set the time.

The car also has an aluminium H-shaped chassis and sits on spoked wheels clad in rubber tyres that are filled with special foam allowing them to deform slightly where they rest on the surface, just like the real thing.

Combining stainless steel, aluminium, brass, palladium, blown glass and rubber, the 450mm-long Time Fast II weighs-in at a hefty 4.7kg — and costs £44,760.

Or, put another way, about the same price as a Range Rover Evoque or a Mercedes-Benz C-Class.