Last year, MB&F created hysteria with a very affordable machine created under the umbrella of M.A.D Gallery. It was the M.A.D. Edition, in blue. Now, the independent is throwing on the table a new piece, in red, destined to the masses – M.A.D.1 RED watch. It is time for a new hysteria…
Spring/Summer 2021: A strange but interesting watch is starting to flood the social media: a flat cylinder with side time indication with a fabulous lume game and a crazy rotor weight. Word start to spread out and me inclusive started to call/write/beg MB&F – the supposed guilty, to ask for information.
It was the M.A.D.Edition / M.A.D.1 watch and it was a limited series to those they officially call “The Friends”, meaning the suppliers who help them create their MB&F Machines; and to the members of “The Tribe”, the owners of MB&F machines: the patrons who have made the MB&F adventure possible…
On the 6th of July 2021, after quite a lot of pressure from the public, Maximilian Büsser, owner & creative director of MB&F made a statement. Moreover, he promised to work on something.
So today, keeping a promise, the MB&F/M.A.D. Gallery releases a new version of that crazy, affordable (or crazy affordable) machine with a super daring colour RED. So here it is: The M.A.D.Edition / M.A.D.1 RED watch.
Maximilian Büsser stands again in front of the camera, this time with good news for more of us, but there is a catch:
Below, you can find a transcript of its video and relevant info:
Hello everyone! I have good news for you: the new M.A.D.1 is here! Give me a few minutes and I’ll give you the full story.
So: if you’ve been following us, you probably remember that in June last year, we presented a timepiece called the M.A.D.1 – this was not an MB&F Machine, but a more accessible timepiece which we created under a different brand, M.A.D.Editions.
At the time, I explained that I absolutely LOVE creating insane MB&F Machines – and I still do! – but their very high price, due to their complexity, production and quality of finishing, had created a bit of frustration in me: my family and friends could never afford them. That’s why I’ve been playing with the M.A.D.Editions side project for quite a while. Also, there was an enormous intellectual challenge in developing something creative at a much lower price point.
The limited quantity of M.A.D.1’s we could make in 2021 (only a few hundred pieces) meant that in practice, we could not make them accessible to everyone. That’s why we reserved them to two very precise groups of people: first, those we call officially “The Friends”: the over 100 suppliers who have helped us create all our MB&F Machines all these years; and second, the members of “The Tribe”, the owners of MB&F machines – the patrons who have made our adventure possible.
The response to that M.A.D.1 was mind-blowing: in a matter of days, we were submerged by thousands of comments and messages on social media, begging us to make the M.A.D.1 available. After a few weeks, in early July, I posted a video to explain the thinking behind the M.A.D.1, and why it was limited to our Friends and Tribe members… and at the same time, I promised you that our team was working very hard on making a follow-up version, accessible to a wider public in 2022.
So… as promised, here we are in 2022! We needed the time to organize ourselves, because M.A.D.Editions remain a side project; it has always been clear in my mind that M.A.D.1 could not put our MB&F operations in danger. We also wanted to propose a slightly different timepiece, because the original M.A.D.1 should remain exclusive to the Friends and the Tribe. We’re now ready with that follow-up version, which we’ve called… M.A.D.1 RED!
It’s built on the same platform as the original M.A.D.1, with the same crazy case structure. It has the same lateral time display, with two rotating cylinders for the hours and minutes. The upside-down modified Miyota movement is powered by the triple-blade winding rotor in titanium and tungsten (that’s the star of the show – especially when the Super-LumiNova kicks in!). But the M.A.D.1 RED also has its own special features: we’ve traded the original blue for a very cool cherry red, we’ve made the bezel just a bit slimmer, and the winding and time setting is now done with a more classic, round winding crown. To make the M.A.D.Editions project sustainable in the long term – because we do have long-term plans for it! – the price of the M.A.D.1 RED is 2900 Swiss francs before tax.
So, now for the tricky part: how will we distribute these new pieces? We’ve had endless discussions with the team and come up with what we think is the fairest solution. First, among the countless reactions of the last 10 months, some of you actually took the time to write and send us an email. We’ve been carefully registering those written interests, and we’ve decided that they get first priority. There’s no obligation of course, but we are first contacting them to check whether they’d like to place their order, within the next 10 days.
By the way – and this is very important! – if you didn’t write to us yet, there’s no need to write now – we’ve closed that list. However, you DO have another chance to get a M.A.D.1 RED, which I’ll explain now.
Once we have the confirmations of the priority orders, we’ll then take all the remaining M.A.D.1 RED pieces available, and allocate them thanks to a lottery, open to everyone. If you’re interested in participating in the lottery, which is of course totally free of charge, please go to our eShop to obtain a lottery ticket – and relax, there’s no rush, you have the next 2 weeks to get a ticket. After 2 weeks we’ll then proceed with a random draw, and we’ll let you know whether the draw has been favourable to you – in which case you will be able to place your order.
Deliveries of the M.A.D.1 REDs will start in April and continue throughout the rest of this year. The first deliveries will go to those of you who wrote to us, and when those orders are served, we’ll start delivering the lottery winners – most likely between September and December. We’re working very hard on making the wait as short as possible!
You’ll find all this information and the link to the lottery at our eShop, at:
MB&F has always been about building communities around creative projects – and we’re incredibly proud and pleased to build a new community around M.A.D.1!
Thanks again to everyone and good luck if you participate in the lottery!
