Ever since I had started getting more seriously interested in watches, one brand had always stood out to me because of its creativity. This brand completely changed my understanding of what a watch could look like, and what a watch could be.
I remember visiting this brand at a small hidden away stand when I visited Baselworld in 2018; I was in awe of the watches on show that day and distinctly remember being super excited to see them in person. Likewise, I remember visiting them in Geneva in 2019, and spending well over an hour admiring what was on display, trying watches on and having the best time.
MB&F HM8 Aquapod at Baselworld 2018
That brand was MB&F – the brainchild of Founder and Creative Director Max Büsser – and I think looking back is probably a formative part of why I gravitate towards the realm of independent watchmaking as much as I do. As the Covid lockdowns started in 2020, I decided to reach out to Max via Instagram and see whether he might be interested in doing an interview with me over Zoom seeing as there wasn’t much prospect globally of getting out and about any time soon.
Before sending that message, I was quite nervous – this blog was still in its infancy really, and who was I to be messaging anyone asking for an interview, after all it’s not something I had ever done before. But I needn’t have been nervous; Max replied to me shortly afterwards saying he was up for it, and a few days later I had done my first interview for Watch Affinity, with Max Büsser no less!
Looking back now, having been fortunate enough to have done several interviews since, I know I didn’t do the best job, but I will forever be grateful to Max to for taking the time out to speak to me, and for his patience in doing so.
Soon after that interview, I learned that Max had a long-held ambition to start a more accessibly priced sister-company to MB&F, to create something that would be more affordable for his friends and family as opposed to the often-six-figure-price-tag MB&F masterpieces. I can’t remember the name, something to do with “dog” if memory serves me at all, but either way this was something I was quite excited by and I kept my eyes peeled from then on.
In the summer months of 2021, with no fanfare whatsoever, some crazy-looking watches started appearing across social media, which ultimately turned out to be the first watches under this new more accessible sister-brand: the MAD Edition MAD1 ‘Friends Edition’. These first watches were strictly only available to friends of Max and the MB&F brand who had supported their journey to date (after all, the “&F” in MB&F stands for “and friends”!), and no matter how nicely you asked for one, if your name wasn’t on Max’s list the answer was a polite “no”.
MAD Edition MAD1 Friends Edition
Thanks to the social media posts, and the fact that no matter how much anyone wanted one, they couldn’t have one, demand for the MAD1 went crazy, guerilla marketing at its finest, perhaps? Anyway, such was the demand that Max himself was prompted into posting a video explaining what was happening, and what this new MAD Edition brand was all about.
Not to worry though, a production version will follow soon! he promised.
And sure enough, at the start of 2022, a ballot was announced for anyone interested in purchasing the MAD Edition MAD1 Red (as opposed to the blue ‘Friends Edition’), which proved so popular that even after removing bots and duplicate entries, there were more than 50x as many ballot applicants than watches available, and it went on to win the Challenge Watch Prize in the 2022 GPHG Awards!
Despite entering the ballot in 2022 (and again in 2023 for that matter), I haven’t yet been successful in my pursuit of the MAD1 Red, however thanks to a more fortunate friend of mine, I was finally able to spend some time with one recently and see what they’re like in the metal.
MAD Edition MAD1 Red by Max Büsser
My absolute favourite thing about this watch is that it is so very obviously born of the mind of Max Büsser.
His MB&F creations are absolutely next level; whilst the MAD Edition watches are certainly not on par with MB&F, having been done on a relative shoestring budget in comparison (the MAD1 Red costs CHF 2,900 plus tax), in my opinion they certainly aren’t lacking in “MB&F factor” whatsoever in terms of the finished piece.
There’s nowhere else to start other than the star of the show – the dial. That said, it isn’t exactly a dial! With the MAD Edition MAD1, what the team have done is to take an automatic, unidirectional winding Miyota 821A movement (which offers a 42h power reserve when fully wound), and flipped it upside down so the rotor is on the front of the watch. The rotor has then been swapped out for a cool looking triple-blade design comprised of titanium and tungsten.
The end result is an awesome party trick: with a simple flick of the wrist, the rotor displayed on the dial of the MAD1 will rotate at super high speeds for prolonged periods (much like the “fidget spinners” that were popular several years ago)! It’s not something I’ve seen on any other watches; it is certainly different and makes this watch something that is truly fun to wear.
As an extra layer to the party trick, each of the blades on the rotor is adorned with Super-Luminova, so when you do this in a dark room, the effect is a ring of lume as all three rotor blades blur into one!
With the dial housing the almost perpetually spinning rotor, it comes as no surprise that the time display is elsewhere. The MAD Edition design team have taken a similar tack to what we’ve seen on some of the MB&F watches such as HM3, HM5 and HM8, and introduced a lateral time display into the caseband of the watch. To read the time, you would look at the bottom of the caseband where the lower half of the strap joins the watch, where you will find two cylinders (one for hours and one for minutes) which rotate about the caseband, the time indicated by an arrow.
Time display showing 11:08, with hours in block and minutes in red
Is it the easiest to read? No, but nobody is buying this watch for legibility, so it’s an entirely moot point.
In order to fit all this in, the watch has to be quite thick – 18.8mm thick in fact – which is obviously not going to slide under the cuff as the cliché goes. I was expecting this to be a behemoth on my wrist, but it wasn’t as oversized as I had imagined it would be. That’s not to say it was in any way slim, because slim it most certainly is not, but the rest of the 42mm case is constructed in such a way that it doesn’t wear as thick as you might expect from reading the specification alone.
I think this is helped by the interesting shape of the lugs, which are fitted to the bottom of the case and seem to almost curve upwards, which maybe plays with your mind a little and makes the watch seem a little thinner?
In addition to the lugs there are a lot of other cool details with the MAD1 as well. The Miyota movement that is beneath the rotor has been machine finished with Geneva stripes and some brushing details, as well as some bevel finishing on the rotor blades. The quality of finish is not on the same level as MB&F watches, however that was never going to be the case.
The crown is at the top of the watch at the traditional “12 o’clock” position, adorned with a little turtle whose body is formed of the same triple bladed shape used in the rotor – with the MAD1 Red it’s a different type of crown than that used on the MAD1 ‘Friends Edition’.
Flipping the watch over, the caseback is a solid almost ‘X’ shape which connects to the lugs, which is unsurprising given the movement has been reversed to show on the dial side! The caseback itself is engraved with “MAD EDITION Maximilian Büsser”, and in one of the corners toward a lug, “It’s a MAD World”… which put a smile on my face.
The strap is a thick leather which compliments the style of the watch really nicely, with a nicely done fold-over clasp, which itself features both polished and brushed finishing and is also engraved with “MAD”.
Finally, the watch comes packaged really nicely in a MAD Editions foam box and slipcase, complete with a grey pouch MAD Editions pouch and even a UV torch to help ensure that the MAD1’s luminescent party trick is never more than a few seconds away!
In Summary
It was a long time coming for me but I’m really glad I got to spend some time with this watch. MB&F is a brand that remains a key part of my watch journey, and despite the fact I will likely never be able to own one, thanks to Max’s commendable ambition to create a more accessibly priced sister-brand, perhaps one day I will get lucky with the ballot and be able to have my own MAD Edition instead!
Owing to the size and nature of the MAD1 Red, it’s probably not a watch that you’d choose to wear in a (non-watch related) formal setting, and for me it is probably something I would enjoy wearing during the summer at a BBQ or something more casual and social. With 30m water resistance it’s not ideal for the pool, but it certainly works for the pool bar!
It’s also a sure-fire way to get the young ones in your life interested in watches, or at least this particular watch, as the party trick is certainly a conversation starter and people pleaser rolled into one.
I’m really glad that Max realised his ambition with MAD Editions, and I am really excited to see what other designs we might get to see in the next few years. For updates on any future ballots, be sure to keep an eye on the MB&F MAD Gallery shop and register for updates.
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You might also be interested in:
- In Conversation with Max Büsser
- What Inspires Watch Designs?
- A Watch Aficionado’s Guide to Geneva Part 1 – Watch Shopping in Geneva
- Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
- Watch Books, Watch Boxes and more at the Watch Affinity Shop on Amazon (commissions earned)
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