MB&F and Caran d'Ache Built a CHF 850 Mechanical Gorilla That Sharpens Pencils, and It's Absolutely Unhinged

MB&F has never been shy about making things that have nothing to do with telling the time. They've done clocks shaped like robots, music boxes, and kinetic desk sculptures. Now, in collaboration with Swiss pencil and writing instrument legend Caran d'Ache, they've produced the GorillaSharpener: a mechanical gorilla whose sole job is to sharpen your pencil. It costs CHF 850. It is completely real.

The timing is deliberate. MB&F dropped this for World Gorilla Day, which is the kind of move that makes you respect a brand's ability to commit to a bit. This isn't a limited-edition colorway or a new strap option. It's a gorilla. On your desk. That sharpens pencils.

Caran d'Ache handles the manufacturing, which makes sense given that they're a 100-plus-year-old Geneva company that knows their way around precision writing instruments. MB&F brings the conceptual chaos. Together, they've made something that fits perfectly in neither company's catalog and somehow works anyway.

What It Actually Is

The GorillaSharpener is a sculptural, mechanical pencil sharpener designed to sit on your desk and make everyone who walks in ask questions. The gorilla form is the whole point. It's not a sharpener with a gorilla sticker on it. The gorilla is the sharpener, with the mechanism integrated into the figure itself. You insert a pencil, you crank, the gorilla does its thing.

Caran d'Ache's involvement means the sharpening mechanism is proper quality. These are people who care deeply about the relationship between a pencil and its point. That's not a throwaway detail at this price.

Who Actually Buys This

Let's be honest about the target buyer here. This isn't for the person who needs to sharpen pencils. This is for a few specific types:

• MB&F collectors who already have the clocks and the music boxes and want the full ecosystem of MB&F chaos on their shelves.
• Design-minded desk builders who treat their workspace like a curated gallery and want one genuinely weird object as a conversation anchor.
• Caran d'Ache enthusiasts who appreciate the brand's heritage and want something that goes beyond a pencil tin.
• People buying gifts for watch collectors who already have everything. Nothing says "I get you" like a CHF 850 gorilla sharpener.

It's not a practical purchase. But very little at MB&F is, and that's the entire appeal.

How It Fits the MB&F Universe

MB&F has a whole category for this kind of thing. They call their non-watch mechanical objects part of their broader creative output, and over the years they've collaborated with companies like L'Epée on clocks and Reuge on music boxes. Each time, the formula is similar: find a heritage Swiss manufacturer with deep craft credentials, apply MB&F's design sensibility, and produce something that makes serious watch people feel okay about having fun.

Caran d'Ache fits that pattern well. Founded in Geneva in 1915, they're as Swiss as it gets in the writing instrument world. Pairing them with MB&F for a gorilla-shaped sharpener is both completely absurd and somehow totally logical.

Is It Worth CHF 850?

That question misses the point, but it's still worth asking. For CHF 850 you're not buying a sharpener. You're buying a sculpture that happens to sharpen pencils, made by two companies with genuine craft credentials, designed to sit on your desk for decades. Compared to what MB&F charges for their watches, it's almost accessible. Compared to what a normal person spends on a pencil sharpener, it's objectively unhinged.

The honest answer is that value here is entirely personal. If the idea of a mechanical gorilla pencil sharpener made in Geneva makes you smile, CHF 850 probably feels reasonable. If it doesn't, nothing I write is going to change that, and that's fine too.

MB&F keeps proving that there's a market for objects that prioritize delight over function. The GorillaSharpener is their latest argument for that position, and it's a pretty compelling one. Even if it is completely, wonderfully bananas.