The Moon, the Eiffel Tower and Max in Sydney

This is one of the most fortunate things to happen in my life... Early this year, I heard the news that Max Busser is coming to Australia as part of his world tour in May. What an excitement! A place called Down Under actually have the fortune of such an amazing visitor?!!! It can't be true!

What even more can't be true is that in April, I was very kindly put in touch with Max, and being such a great gentleman he is, he generously agreed to share some private dinner time with me and some of my friends! What? You're kidding me? I get to meet Max and have dinner with him? That is a dream come true! I almost couldn't sleep that night, thinking about how to plan the evening!

With the helpful suggestion of our great food guru aptronym, we've decided on Cara & Co Restaurant - very nice ambience and great food. It's location is a little tricky as it's inside a concept store, inside the biggest shopping mall in the Sydney CBD. RJW have put up some great photos outside and inside the store in his thread. It seem to be a very fitting place to dine with Max, as the concept store brings together creations that are both functional and artistic, a somewhat similar philosophy to Max's "Performance Art".

It was an unbelievable evening, getting to know Max. Not only is he the passionate and ingenious watchmaker that we all know, he is actually a very charming, modest, honest, and philosophical man! A gentleman of high standards!

I apologise for the photo quality, as shooting at ISO1600 with an entry level DSLR produce results that are noisier than a V12 engine.

Here's our VIP guest of the evening... generously sharing his views and stories. We learn about his childhood, his family, his career, life and journey as a watchmaker, his friendship with other watchmakers, the MAD Gallery, his racing hobby, his views on the world, his passions in life. Before knowing Max in person, you would admire his watch making talent, his artistic inventiveness and respect his amazing achievement. Aftering meeting Max in person, you would be touched by and have great respect in his genuinity.

A great conversation is to be accompanied by great food... A couple of the appetisers...

Apart from sharing meaningful conversations and fine food, of course, he's happy to share his babies as well! And out they come.....

Let's see those babies... The Moon is here! It's the Moonmachine... Max's most recent collaboration, with Stepan Sarpaneva. Look at the fine detail on the watch. The rotor with the starry sky is a clever touch as the stars move when the rotor spins.

The frog eye... is a genius touch...

Next up... the black titanium version... Look at the light reflection from the beautiful dark blue night sky....

Gotta love those frog eyes!

Beautiful, beautiful Moon-face....

And finally, the Eiffel Tower is here - LM1, a collaboration with Jean-François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen. I hope I've managed to show how three dimensional it is.

What a phenomenal night! We finish off with some petit fours.

Now what should we do? We need an MB&F watch!!! Let's chip in for one...... ok.... is that all we managed? We can start with perhaps the straps.

I would like to thank Max for his generosity in sharing his precious time with us that evening! Max had a full schedule during his short stay in Australia and yet agreed to meet up with us. We're all glad that his tour Down Under have already been a smashing success! Thank you Max for sharing your insights, wisdom and Machines with us, we enjoyed your company immensely! We hope you've had a great time in Australia and are looking forward to your next visit already!

I would also like to thank especially Darren Tan from MB&F's AD in Perth for introducing me to Max and putting us in touch! Without him, this memorable dinner would not be possible at all! Thanks to all my horological friends that was part of such a fantastic evening! This message has been edited by sidneyc on 2012-05-20 05:44:35

heh ...

By: aptronym : May 20th, 2012-06:21

...did we have enough for a strap at the end?!? Love the Moonmachine photos. I found it a most interesting experience seeing it, as I really hadn't taken to it in photos, but seeing it in the flesh, the titanium version was really very intriguing indeed.....

I think so...

By: sidneyc : May 23rd, 2012-04:28

.... just barely enough for the straps I would guess hehe! Again... it's my pleasure! I enjoy spending time with my horological buddies, and we had the best guest! Just wished I have time to do this more often

Max's passion is palpable

By: RJW : May 20th, 2012-06:29

We really were fortunate to have him in Australia and particularly with us for an evening. Thanks for your organisational skills Sidney. I know there some hiccoughs and nerves along the way but everything fell into place. We all enjoyed ourselves and we w...

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