Video: La Machine à Ecrire le Temps writes time, mesmerizes brains

There are horologes, and then there's La Machine à Ecrire le Temps, known less formally as "The Machine that Writes the Time" -- which is exactly, literally what it does. This stunning masterpiece was recently unveiled at Baselworld 2009, and while only those obsessed with time will really appreciate the 1,200 components needed to make this thing tick, anyone into whiz-bang gadgetry will find themselves impressed by the vid of just past the break. Oh, and if you're looking to buy one to dress up your new sitting room, you should be fully prepared to liquidate nearly $350,000 of whatever you have left to squeeze.

[Via OhGizmo]

[Orpheus Posted Apr 27th 2009 6:58AM]

I find my watch performs the same task, much more quickly, cheaply and with the added advantage of being on my wrist wherever I go.

[Lord Farkward Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:07AM]

But then it's not accurate, since it's always too quick.

All you'll end up doing is showing up to parties way too early all the time, before anyone's drunk enough to realise that you're actually not cool enough to appreciate exotic time pieces.

[Orpheus Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:11AM]

I'm yet to be invited to parties that involve exotic-timepiece enthusiasts who fancy getting wasted but I hope I will. I'd imagine they'd involve fine port and caviar.

[OneLove Posted Apr 27th 2009 11:00AM]

All it needs is a wrist band. (camera man fail on the angle)

[M C Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:58PM]

put a computer in it, and I might think about it. Seriously, just looking at the picture, I thought it was a case mod and was totally amazed. I'm still amazed, bu now I cant stop wishing my computer looked like that.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 6:59AM]

... i wouldnt be surprised if its just a simple robotic arm with all kinds of fake-mechanics around it to rip off rich&stupid french people.

[NickNick Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:09AM]

haha

[superhobo Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:43AM]

Me neither...

[Jacob1 Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:01AM]

I lol'd

[Flix C Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:07AM]

AMERICA FUCK YEAH !

I wouldn't be surprised if you were a total moron because your "robotic arm" would have to be piloted by an CPU somewhere and I don't see this...
(This isn't pluged if you haven't noticed... No electricity = no CPU, No CPU= No lame robotic arm Hypothesis...)

I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't an engineer..

The French.

[neonpolaris Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:42AM]

I wonder how much electricity can be generated via a few turns of a hand crank?

[Duckman Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:52AM]

@Failix

ummmm although it may not be "pluged"(didn't know you could type with an accent) power can still be generated via the crank on the back, and besides, you're french no-one cares what you think.

[radicalxedward Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:58AM]

@Felix

If you haven't noticed, nowadays, we have these things called batteries.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:04AM]

@ felix

Ever heard of batteries? This machine is big enough to hide some kind of power source inside it. You might not have noticed, but i wasn't being serious on this one. Its a masterpiece. i called it fake because there is no good shot of the inner workings or any explanation whatsoever. I do not hate French, though i do not like the language, and french are rather quickly pissed off.

The Dutch.

P.S.

Let me surprise you: I am a student in application development, which makes me a software engineer.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:06AM]

Allez Félix, botte leurs les fesses!!

[gp Posted Apr 27th 2009 10:41AM]

CATO!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 2:53PM]

@Felix : You could easily charge a small battery with the crank turning, which in turn powers a low-power PIC or other microcontroller for the amount of time it would take to complete the writing task.

The electricity required for the "cpu" is a non-factor.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 6:59AM]

Hahaha xD
That reminds me of Monster Garage....why did they stop airing that show, anyways?

[Jorvay Posted Apr 27th 2009 10:13AM]

A lot later than they should have.

[PieceofRock Posted Apr 27th 2009 4:19PM]

cause of monster cable...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:05AM]

$350,000... thing isn't exactly quiet

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:16AM]

What? I feel so stupid to watch it.

[Toink Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:18AM]

$350,000 for a noisy whirring wind-up "time machine"... wow!

[Freakin Ijit Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:23AM]

That video is a great disappointment.

Who cares about a pen moving across paper - we want to see the damn MECHANICAL part!

Jeez...like watching my old pen plotter.

[Joe Las Vegas Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:27AM]

That was pretty dumb to say the least, and completely useless to state the obvious.

[jon Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:31AM]

Worst. Clock. Ever.

[wcanyon Posted Apr 27th 2009 11:13AM]

Yep, by the time it writes the time the time that it wrote will be wrong. Pretty big waste of money and space. From looking at it I thought it'd be elegant. The output was disappointing to say the least.

[superhobo Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:43AM]

Lame

[Flix C Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:10AM]

I see no one here is impressed by the extreme complexity of moves this device can produce, without ANY CPU or such..
Hello this is mechanical !

No wonder GM is in Trouble -___-

[yaksplat Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:39AM]

Well, too bad they didn't show any of the mechanics.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 1:18PM]

That is the coolest bit of retro-horological artI have ever seen.

[MizuInOz Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:34AM]

I so want one of these!

Félix, I agree with you...

What many people do not realise is that there is no need for a bailout for ingenuity and innovation.

This timepiece is phenomenal!

Cheers and adieu!

[Crank Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:35AM]

Here's another video which is rendered but shows the complexity of this watch better.
http://www.uhrsachen.ch/photogallery/jaquet_droz_machine_a_ecrire_le_temps.php

The price also includes a 8 year warranty which includes that if a defect occurs a specialist gets send to you, wherever you are on the world, to repair your watch.

The production is also limited to 28 models.

The watch is stored in a box which is build out of liquid crystal, instead of simple glass. But don't ask me why they use liquid crystal.

The use, well, just to show what's possible with mechanics only. No CPU, no IC, just a few gears and other mechanical parts.

[dan Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:02AM]

Frank, thanks for that link. That was infinitely better than the youtube thing.

I really liked those old writing machines (the other videos in the set), those had heavy cool mechanical sounds. This new thing, it sounded cheap and silly. If it was heavy and hydraulic, I would see the point. Clicky clacky nasty cheap sounds, no thank you.

[neonpolaris Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:52AM]

Yes, the pure engineering of it is astounding. There's something to be said for great physical mechanics. The reason that technology moves so quickly today is that everything can be simply controlled with a processor. Anyone with a basic understanding of microcontrollers could easily produce a calculator from scratch with an AVR or PIC. Who here could make a calulator using no electricity (like the Curta calculator) from scratch?

[TechHedz Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:04AM]

Imagine all the trees that thing is going to kill feeding it for a life time. This thing is stupid.

[TechHedz Posted Apr 27th 2009 9:06AM]

I'd rather spend 350,000.00 on a Ferrari that has a digital clock built in the dash and gets me laid!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 11:44AM]

If you can afford a $350,000 clock I'm pretty sure you can afford the Ferrari to go with it.

[2late2die Posted Apr 27th 2009 10:16AM]

What I want to know is, if while it's writing the time, the minutes switch, would it adjust its output.

Also, why?

[THJ Posted Apr 27th 2009 11:29AM]

400'000 francs are determined a lot of money. Had my piggy bank but fattened so good - I would like for this sculpture on the battle immediately lead bank. (hit the read link, it's full of gems like that).

[Arkenklo Posted Apr 28th 2009 10:21AM]

Say wha?16

[J3 L U N T Posted Apr 27th 2009 12:13PM]

Can i get this in a different font? Maybe some calligraphy?

[monkeyontherun4 Posted Apr 27th 2009 12:46PM]

I dono if its just me or not, but the picture engadget put up makes it seem well huge. and then you watch the video and its no bigger than a laptop (width not height) and that made me very sad.

[Invader Spleen Posted Apr 27th 2009 1:28PM]

Maybe they should have consulted Tim Hawkinson.
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424253128/423775681/signature-chair.html
reminds me of a Curta on steroids.

[Birth Canal Posted Apr 27th 2009 2:15PM]

Come on Engadget. Are you seriously that impressed with that? It's coo looking but still a waste of money...

[benahad Posted Apr 27th 2009 4:14PM]

I bet it goes BSOD for daylight savings...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:17PM]

Um... not impressed. This kind of machine has only been around for about 200 years.

This one can write in cursive AND draw pictures, not just block numbers.

http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automaton/automaton.php?cts=instrumentation

[Pinballtec Posted Apr 28th 2009 9:26AM]

OUI OUI! Le Etch le Sketch! With that kind of awesome technology, I cannot for the life of me understand how Hitler was able to even withstand the mighty onslaught of Le French!