Martin Smith (Laikingland) – Solar Orbiter Product Movie (MB&F M.A.D.Gallery – 15th Anniversary)

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A Considered Look

• The Solar Orbiter is a watch winder created by Martin Smith of Laikingland for the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery’s 15th anniversary.
• Smith characterises the piece as “chaotic, mesmerizing, sophisticated in its construction, and a bit quirky”.
• The object incorporates elements from all the works Smith and Laikingland had previously produced for the M.A.D.Gallery, including a clapping hand and a heart.
• Its design is rooted in Smith’s affinity for toys with interchangeable parts and pays homage to the Eames Solar Do-Nothing Machine, an aluminium solar-powered sculpture from the 1950s.
• The Solar Orbiter forms part of the ongoing M.A.D.Gallery 15th anniversary festivities.

Fifteen Years of the M.A.D.Gallery

MB&F has spent fifteen years using its M.A.D.Gallery concept to extend the conversation around its machines far beyond conventional watchmaking. The M.A.D.Gallery (an acronym for Mechanical Art Devices) operates as a curated space where horological objects and kinetic sculptures share equal footing, attracting collectors who regard a finely engineered watch winder or automaton with the same seriousness they bring to a complicated timepiece. The Solar Orbiter, the latest piece to emerge from this context, is a natural expression of that philosophy.

To mark the 15th anniversary, MB&F has commissioned a series of collaborative works, and the Solar Orbiter represents one of its most layered contributions. It arrives not as a standalone experiment but as a summation: a single object that gathers the visual and mechanical vocabulary Smith and Laikingland have developed across multiple M.A.D.Gallery projects over the years. For collectors already familiar with the gallery’s programme, it reads as a kind of retrospective in kinetic form.

The broader anniversary festivities reflect MB&F’s long-standing commitment to placing creative collaboration at the centre of its identity. Works such as the LM Sequential Flyback EVO demonstrate the brand’s appetite for ambitious mechanical thinking, and the M.A.D.Gallery extends that appetite into the realm of sculptural objects. The Solar Orbiter sits comfortably within that tradition, even as it charts its own distinct territory.

Martin Smith and Laikingland

Martin Smith, working under his Laikingland studio, has built a sustained creative relationship with the M.A.D.Gallery over a number of years. His practice draws on a deep affection for mechanical toys, kinetic contraptions, and objects that reward close observation. That sensibility translates directly into the Solar Orbiter, which Smith himself describes as “chaotic, mesmerizing, sophisticated in its construction, and a bit quirky,” a phrase that doubles as a reasonably accurate account of Laikingland’s output more broadly.

What distinguishes this commission from earlier collaborations is its cumulative quality. Sharp observers will recognise the clapping hand and the heart motif, both recurring elements from previous Laikingland pieces made for the gallery. Rather than starting from a blank sheet, Smith has assembled these familiar components into a new configuration, giving the Solar Orbiter the character of a reunion as much as a debut. The result is an object that rewards familiarity with the studio’s history.

The Eames Solar Do-Nothing Machine as a Reference Point

The conceptual anchor for the Solar Orbiter is the Eames Solar Do-Nothing Machine, an aluminium solar-powered sculpture produced in the 1950s by Charles and Ray Eames to demonstrate the potential of solar electricity at a time when the technology was largely theoretical. That original object was playful and didactic in equal measure, designed to make an abstract scientific idea tangible and visually engaging. Smith’s Solar Orbiter carries that same spirit forward, finding poetry in mechanical motion rather than in function alone.

The reference also speaks to Smith’s broader interest in toys with interchangeable parts. Objects that invite reconfiguration, that resist a single fixed reading, have a long tradition in both design and fine art. By invoking the Eames legacy, the Solar Orbiter positions itself within a lineage of serious play, work that is rigorous in its engineering yet deliberately open in its meaning. For collectors drawn to objects that carry intellectual as well as visual weight, that lineage matters. Pieces from the LM101 EVO NYC family similarly reward this kind of layered reading within MB&F’s wider output.

Why It Matters

For collectors across the GCC who follow MB&F’s M.A.D.Gallery programme, the Solar Orbiter represents a significant anniversary commission: an object that consolidates over a decade of creative dialogue between the gallery and one of its most distinctive collaborators. It speaks to the growing appetite among Gulf collectors for pieces that occupy the space between functional object and sculptural work. The official product film, available on the MB&F YouTube channel, provides the clearest sense of the Solar Orbiter in motion.

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