L’Epée 1839 has made a tribute to a classic racing car that tells the time and can even light your cigar.
Two swallows do not make a summer, but this is the second watch-cum-cigar lighter that has been revealed in the past week, Franck Muller unveiling the other flaming timepiece.
There is also a significant history of combining tickers with lighters including some highly collectible examples from Cartier in the 1970s.
L’Epée has joined the club with an objet d’art made to celebrate its 185th birthday.
The T35 is a tribute, L’Epée says, to the “greatest racing machine of all time” and mirrors the style of a Grand Prix car from the 1920s.
The body is made from panels of solid aluminum, with other components in stainless steel and palladium-plated brass.
Hours and minutes are shown on the side of the chassis via two engraved stainless-steel disks.
The in-house movement has an eight-day power reserve and is wound by pulling the car backwards, like a toy car.
Time is set with the steering wheel, but that is not the party trick.
Pulling the handbrake in the side of the chassis releases the engine, which is a fully functional lighter.
The rechargeable lighter has a gas level indicator and a double flame designed specifically for cigars.
Car components are individually finished by hand, with polishing, satin finishing and sand-blasting.
The T35 is 430mm long and 119mm high and weighs 4.52kg.
It is a limited edition of 100 pieces in each of four colours:
French Racing blue; British Racing green; Obsidian Black; and Rosso Corsa.
Today L’Epée is known for sculptures such as these, but also makes more traditional-looking carriage clocks.
The clockmaker was founded in 1839 by Auguste L’Epée in Besançon, France, but is now based in the Swiss mountains.
L’Epée 1939 T35 costs CHF 35,000, not including taxes. lepee1839.ch