News 
When Reuge came up with the idea of inventing a turtle automaton with a songbird on its back, MB&F decided to cooperate with the music box manufacturer. The latter enlisted the talents of automaton specialist Nicolas Court in developing the mechanism animating the turtle in such a supremely realistic manner.
Kelys & Chirp is a joyous celebration of friends. It is itself a union of Chirp and Kelys, two unlikely companions living happily together, and was developed as a co-creation by two Friends: Reuge and Nicolas Court. Kelys (from the Greek chelone or chelys for tortoise/turtle) moves in a realistic tortoise-like gait with his head moving slowly side-to-side, his movements all in synchronicity with Chirp as she springs from her nest and pirouettes, her beak opening and closing, wings flapping, and tail wagging, all in time to the melodic bird song.
Turtles move with a very particular push/pull gait; thanks to unconventional gearing and cams, Kelys moves in a very similar fashion. You can also enjoy a concert by Chirp without Kelys moving by pushing his tail up; with his tail down he walks while Chirp sings.
While Kelys & Chirp may look relatively simple compared to a complicated watch, its 480 components bear testament to the complexity within. This is where Nicolas Court and his team worked their magic: working around the Singing Bird, which is a complete movement itself, they faced significant challenges when developing the turtle automaton mechanism. These included moving the relatively heavy (1.4 kg) turtle with the little power available from the small mainspring of the Singing Bird movement, while ensuring that the turtle moved realistically. The first was solved by finding the optimal low ratio gearing, the latter by the use of elliptical gearing in the power train, along with cams dictating the movement of the legs.
Court and his team added a friction clutch security system, which detects surface edges and immediately stops the turtle moving forward over the abyss… They also reintroduced a Reuge security system for the bird movement: if Chirp or her cover are accidently pushed down while she is singing, she stops and instantly retreats to her nest.
The scales (turtles are reptiles) on Kelys’ shell are individually hand made from high-quality leather in 4 different colours, creating a warmer and more natural feel than bare metal.
Kelys & Chirp are available in 4 limited editions of 18 pieces each in blue, green, yellow or ochre.
February 22, 2018