The Maison
Portrait
Defined by its sense of daring, innovation and its close relationship to art, MB&F was founded by Maximilian Büsser to rebel against the rules of conventional watchmaking. MB&F – Maximilian Büsser & Friends - is the first-ever artistic horological concept laboratory, based around a simple idea: assemble collectives of independent watchmaking professionals to develop radical watches: Horological or Legacy Machines. By nurturing teams of talented individuals, harnessing their passion and creativity, and crediting each person’s essential role, MB&F becomes much greater than the sum of its parts.
History
Founded in 2005, MB&F is the world’s first-ever horological concept laboratory, dedicated to designing and crafting small series of radical concept watches by bringing together talented horological professionals. With almost 20 calibres forming the base of its Horological Machines and Legacy Machines, MB&F continues to follow Founder and Creative Director Maximilian Büsser’s vision of creating three-dimensional kinetic art. After 15 years managing prestigious watch brands, Maximilian Büsser resigned from his Managing Director position at Harry Winston to create MB&F – Maximilian Büsser & FriendsIn 2007 MB&F unveiled its first Horological Machine, HM1; a sculptured, three-dimensional case and beautifully finished engine which set the standard for the Horological Machines that have followed – Machines that tell the time, rather than Machines to tell the time.In 2011 MB&F launched its round-cased Legacy Machine collection. These more classical pieces pay tribute to nineteenth-century watchmaking excellence by reinterpreting complications from the great watchmakers of yesteryear to create contemporary objets d'art.As the F stands for Friends, it was only natural for MB&F to develop collaborations with renowned artists, watchmakers, designers and manufacturers. This brought two new categories: Performance Art and Co-Creations. Performance Art pieces are MB&F machines revisited by external creative talent. Co-Creations are not wristwatches but other types of machines, engineered and crafted by Swiss manufactures from MB&F ideas and designs.To give these machines an appropriate platform, Büsser came up with the idea of an art gallery, where they would be shown alongside other forms of mechanical art. This led to the opening of the first MB&F M.A.D.Gallery (Mechanical Art Devices) in Geneva, followed by Galleries in Taipei, Dubai and Hong Kong.
