Pushing the BOUNDARIES

company’s its creative collaborations, the challenges of producing limited-edition watches, and the future of the brand.

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE LM2 PALLADIUM WATCH? WHAT ARE THE NEW DESIGN FEATURES?

The Palladium LM2 is an anniversary piece created to celebrate 10 years of the Legacy Machine No. 2. It is a seminal piece on a horological level, featuring the frst double fying balance wheel movement linked through a planetary gear differential. Not only is it an intensely complicated movement to engineer, but it is also even more delicate to regulate for the master watchmakers. Adding to the complexity, palladium is a very diffcult material to work with. Part of the platinum family, it is hugely challenging to machine and hand-polish. With only 18 pieces available worldwide, the allocation process was incredibly diffcult for us.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE MB&F’S UNIQUE BRAND IDENTITY AND APPROACH TO WATCHMAKING?

MB&F is not just a business, it’s a life decision. Eighteen years ago, I made a decision to create only what I believed in and not look at what the market wants. I believe that high-end watchmaking is not just an art, which is why we create very complex

3D kinetic sculptures that tell time but also works of art where the human touch, like true handfnishing, is crucial.

YOUR TIMEPIECES ARE OFTEN DESCRIBED AS UNCONVENTIONAL OR RADICAL. WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND CREATING THESE KINDS OF TIMEPIECES?

The Horological Machines (wild 3D conceptual watchmaking) and co-creations (clocks, music boxes, pens, etc.) are my psychotherapy - I knowingly or unknowingly revisit my childhood and life to create spaceships, planes, cars, animals, and soon other concepts. The Legacy Machines are my tribute to the watchmaking geniuses of the 18th and 19th centuries who created most of what the industry continues to craft. We hope they will be proud of us, and always in a 3D perspective.

IS THERE A PARTICULAR MB&F CREATION THAT HOLDS A SPECIAL PLACE IN YOUR HEART?

All MB&F creations are part of my story, of who I am. Even if I would never create the HM1 (the original frst MB&F) today, it is a seminal chapter in my story. Out of all our creations, one stands out: the Horological Machine No.4 Thunderbolt. Arguably the piece that most terrifed me while I was creating it - we went all-in with that piece. When it came out in 2010, it would have bankrupted the company had incredibly courageous clients not appeared from nowhere to order it. When I realized that clients were ready to follow me on such a radical creation, it liberated me. I was really free to go as insane as I could or wished.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE INNOVATION AND CONSUMER APPEAL? IS IT MORE CHALLENGING IN THE LUXURY WATCH MARKET?

Real artistic innovation cannot come from looking at the market or wondering if there is a client out there. Being totally autistic and impervious to the world is the only way we were able to write all these incredibly daring chapters. On the other hand, it was incredibly complex to fnd customers who resonate on the same wavelength as us. That has all changed over the last three years with demand outstripping our minute production capacity (about 30-35 pieces a month for the whole world) by a factor of 10 to 1. After 18 years of very hard work and enormous risks, I hope our success can be an inspiration to the next generations of creators who can fnally free themselves from trying to please the market.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE WHEN DESIGNING AND PRODUCING HIGH-END, LIMITED-EDITION WATCHES?

The biggest challenges are always engineering. Every MB&F timepiece takes easily 3 to 4 years of engineering and multiple unheard-of hurdles to overcome. From the ground-breaking Perpetual and Sequential to fying balance wheels, split escapements, enormous challenges on sapphire manufacturing, or creating the frst-ever 3D water resistance gasket, our life is never dull...

MB&F HAS COLLABORATED WITH MANY ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS IN THE PAST. CAN YOU SHARE SOME OF THE CURRENT OR UPCOMING COLLABORATIONS?

I love creative collaborations and started over twenty years ago with Opus One at Harry Winston. A real creative collaboration is when two very different worlds come together to create a piece neither would have thought of separately. There are many in our pipeline, and in 2023 there will be an exceptional piece co-created with our friends from L’Epée.

SUSTAINABILITY IS A MAJOR TOPIC IN THE WATCHMAKING INDUSTRY. HOW DOES MB&F ADDRESS THIS ISSUE?

It is a very important topic internally, but we do not use it as a marketing tool. For us, sustainability is a matter for everyone in the company; it is a mindset. A few examples: we replanted thousands of trees last year when we published our Catalogue raisonné, every member of the team can take a day off every year to follow a personal project that is good socially or for the environment, the company offers the yearly public transport Geneva pass to all those who do not come by car to the workshops, etc., etc...

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR MB&F?

Creativity is an addiction! Over the years, MB&F will probably morph into a M.A.D.Galaxy, where MB&F will be one big atom in the midst of a highly creative molecule. mbandf.com