Independent watchmaking

Exploring The Clocks Of Miki Eleta In The MB&F MAD Gallery

Miki Eleta is one of the few members of the AHCI who is a clock-, rather than watch-maker. He specialises in highly complex clocks though up till 2001, Eleta only created kinetic sculptures, until challenged by a client to create a clock.

Largely self taught, though he consulted Paul Gerber early in his clockmaking career, Eleta created his first clock within a year, and since then has made 28 unique clocks entirely in his own workshop. He even invented his own pendulum escapement.

Six of Eleta’s clocks are on show at the MAD Gallery in Geneva, the high-end gadget store and art studio opened by MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser. These are inventive and fascinating mechanical sculptures. Each is evidently hand crafted, but still carefully made and finished.

Miki Eleta’s workshop

The first clock, the Continuum Mobile, sits inside a glass ball. Its time display integrated into the flying tourbillon carriage. It stands on a column, in which is the key winding mechanism that provides a 100 day power reserve.

Fitted with a double flying tourbillon is the Pentourbillon, which has the tourbillon mechanism on the left and the time display on the right.

The Pentotourbillon also features a day and night indicator in the form of a flower, which opens and then closes as day turns into night.

The day and night flower

La Luna is a double pendulum clock that also displays the age of the moon, signs of the zodiac and the four seasons.

The zodiac indicator

Eleta’s own escapement – which beats once every four seconds – is used for No. 26. It features a spherical moon phase built into the weight of the clock.

The spherical moon phase

Last is Die Sieben which is purely sculpture. Once turn on – it has to be connected to a wall socket – tiny steel balls travel through the structure, striking 16 different chimes as they move, creating a random tune each time. And as the balls return upwards, they strike a tune that repeats itself once every seven years.