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L’EPEE LAUNCHES THE GRENADE

January 23, 2023

 Grenade

Horological art blowing up your conceptions of time Grenade is a mechanical masterpiece combining clockmaking excellence with a call to “pull the pin and live for now!”

L’Epée 1839 sets you free with the horologically volatile Grenade. An innovative timepiece inspired by a dangerous explosive, Grenade is a compact desk and mantel clock challenging the hold that time has on our lives as we are often consumed by the pressing need to fill our schedules with never-ending tasks overwhelming our days. The Grenade clock releases your mind from the grind of modern life.

Grenade is modelled after the historical MKII grenade with an M6A4C fuse that uses a pin that is pulled to activate the explosive. In a similar way, the L’Epée Grenade features a pin that doubles as the key, which when pulled allows for setting the time and winding the eight-day movement. The moment you pull the pin on a grenade the mind is focused: the grenade is live, and you must concentrate on the here and now to survive.

Grenade from L’Epée provides a similar experience when you pull its pin. You can change the time to whatever you want it to be, and by winding the mainspring you give it the power to direct that time. The clock forces the mind to focus on the moment you are in and the task of winding and setting the time, reminding you that you are only guaranteed this very moment, so don’t waste it.

The hours and minutes are displayed on two black aluminium disks rotating directly over the beating heart of Grenade. Ticking away at a traditional 18,000 vibrations per hour, the balance is front and center, audibly reminding us that time is slipping away, and we never know how much time we have left. Once you wind Grenade and set its time display, the next step is to seize the day.

The master watchmakers of L’Epée took great care to craft a device that not only tells time precisely and consistently, but commands attention in your home. Grenade isn’t simply an eye-catching clock; it is an experience. Pulling the pin allows you to shatter the concept of time into its smallest parts, each tick and every tock is something that we experience only briefly. Time explodes out from every second, carrying us swiftly into the future and along for the ride.

That is why L’Epée urges you to pull the pin and live for now.

Grenade is a limited edition of 99 pieces in each colours. The first set of colors are: 50 Shades of Grey, Pink Coral Reef, Deep Blue, Wild Blue Yonder, Emerald Glade, Green Forest Dawn, Red October, Purple Rain, and Black Raven 

Construction and Inspiration

This historical MKII grenade has become the iconic image of this weapon as well as a symbol of war and violence. But a grenade on its own is simply potential energy like a coiled mainspring. Pulling the pin on the fuse starts a chemical reaction that results in the countdown, but once the mainspring of L’Epée Grenade is wound it’s the balance wheel that keeps track of time.

Grenade’s frame is composed of five distinct plates and six vertical supports, all notched and interlocking to resemble the grooved shell of the original MKII grenade. The key pin, which is safely stored in the fuse-shaped frame atop the structure when not in use, is removed and inserted onto a post in the center of the top plate to set the time. A small pointer, modelled after the 1915 German stick grenade, indicates the hours and minutes as they rotate slowly by on disks.

The going train is mounted in the centre of Grenade, peeking out from behind the balance and escapement assembly positioned on the front. Underneath is the long eight-day mainspring barrel that is wound from a post on the bottom of the clock.

The pin is the main point of interaction with a grenade – as it is with the L’Epée Grenade. Unlike the historical MKII, whose purpose was violence, the Grenade clock seeks only to challenge our perceptions of time and what it means to our lives. Many think of time like a flowing river, but time is made up of infinite tiny moments lined up next to each other. The tick-tock of Grenade highlights these small moments, each an opportunity to change one’s life.

When a regular grenade explodes, it annihilates anything nearby. When the L’Epée Grenade is activated, it asks us to blow up our outdated ideas of the moments we experience every second. Time has a granular structure, and each granule is a chance to decide anew. We may not be able to change how time passes, but we can change how we pass the time.

An explosion happens in a split second and so do our choices. If you knew that the next moment could be your last, would you savour that moment? That is why the key to the L’Epée Grenade is the pin, the very thing that must be pulled to create the explosion. Will you heed L’Epée’s call to pull the pin? The Grenade is waiting to let you live for now. 

For full press release, click here.