Founded by Max Busser in 2005, MB&F has become one of the best-known names in the world of high-end independent watchmaking thanks to Max's incredibly original and eccentric designs, as well as his fixated approach to Haute Horlogerie. However, in 2020 during the height of COVID-19 restrictions, Max decided to create an entry-level watch that would forgo MB&F's Haute Horlogerie approach and instead act as a value-for-money thank you to MB&F's closest partners, collectors, and friends. Launched in 2021, the resulting design was the MAD 1, an eccentric timepiece that contains MB&F's design language in abundance. Initially, the MAD 1 was only offered to close friends of the brand – the “tribe”, as they called it. However, given the overwhelming interest expressed by the enthusiast and collector community, Max eventually decided to reach out to these specific groups of enthusiasts and offered them an opportunity to own one in red.
Featuring a large 42mm case with a crown at 12 o'clock and a domed polished steel bezel that meets almost perfectly flush with a domed sapphire crystal, the MAD 1 immediately reveals its lack of a traditional time display. Instead, from the top-down, through where its dial should be, the MAD 1 reveals its upside-down automatic Miyota cal. 821A movement. Fitted with a large custom triple-blade winding rotor made of titanium and tungsten that spins at breakneck speeds, the MAD 1's party trick is perhaps its most charming and stereotypically MB&F piece of design as it recalls MB&F's HM3 and HM8 models.
Instead of using a time display on the top of the watch, it is on the mid-case section. Revealed through a sapphire crystal window that wraps its way along the mid-case, the MAD 1 tells the time by using two aluminum-alloy cylinders for the hours and minutes that rotate clockwise over a triangle that bisects the two lugs at the 6 o'clock side of the watch. Both cylinders have been engraved with numerals, which have then been filled with Super-LumiNova to provide legibility in low-light conditions.
Fitted to a grey leather rally strap with larger perforations via its unique angular lugs that tuck under its case as if to cradle the watch, the MAD 1 is visually distinct in almost every way possible. An extremely limited watch that seldom enters the open market due to the profoundly personal and intimate nature of its release, the MAD 1 represents everything MB&F stands for and Max Busser's undying determination to provide his friends with the best and most unique watches he can. The MAD 1 also recently took home the award for the “Challenge” Category at the Grand Prix D’Horlogerie De Genève 2022.
