M.A.D. 1 S Grow Your Dreams Timepiece Release

patrick_y · 2025-08-26T19:27:19Z

Explore the new MB&F M.A.D. 1-S Grow Your Dreams Timepiece, a vibrant collaboration with artist Yinka Ilori. Discover collector insights on its design, value, and MB&F's unique brand journey.

patrick_y

WPS member · Independents forum

28 replies4811 views10 photos

Patrick_y's exploration of the new M.A.D. 1-S Grow Your Dreams Timepiece, a collaboration between MB&F and artist Yinka Ilori, offers an insightful look into a unique horological creation. His post not only details the watch's vibrant aesthetics and symbolic depth but also contextualizes it within MB&F's broader philosophy of playful, unconventional watchmaking. This article delves into the community's reception and further insights into the brand's journey.

Rock your monochromatic world with the colorful and new M.A.D. 1-S Grow Your Dreams Timepiece, made in collaboration with British-Nigerian artist, Mr. Yinka Ilori!

Each piece comes with an all white strap and an extra colorful bi-colored strap combination for when you're more daring. Which version is your favorite? Mine is the "Sun Element" variant with the yellow rotor on the right side.

No stranger to creating "unidentified wrist objects," Max Busser, the Creative Director at MB&F, has created the M.A.D. 1 S Grow Your Dreams timepiece, in collaboration with British-Nigerian artist, Mr. Yinka Ilori. The piece features a colorful and playful palette with a tree motif - the tree itself symbolizes growth - and that is related to the growth of your dreams over time - a meaningful concept when presented in a watch. Watches are often lucky talismans - and for them to be associated with the realization and growth of our dreams is definitely a concept that resonates with me.

I'll let the watches do the talking. The pieces are limited to 400 pieces each in Blue Rotor, Green Rotor, and Yellow Rotor - for a total of 1200 pieces. It's the thinner M.A.D. 1 "S" model, which only tells you the hours and not the minutes and is notably thinner than the original M.A.D. 1 timepiece. You can approximate the minutes to within a 5 minute level of accuracy.

The watch is for sale by special lottery drawing. And at 3'200 CHF, they will go quickly! To register with NO COMMITMENT (you should really just register) please go here: www.mbandf.com

This is the tree of dreams.

There is only an "hour disc" on the watch, no minutes disc, but you can generally estimate the minute to a fairly accurate range of 5 minutes.

If you can't choose what color straps to wear, it is possible to install two different colored straps! The straps included are a pair of white straps and a pair of differently colored contrasting straps for each model. The straps are listed as "rubber straps" in the press release, which suggests they are made of rubber and not silicone.

Water Element Watch

Sun Element Watch: Watching things grow and mature; from sapling to a tall strong tree, is one of life's great pleasures. Watching a child grow from a baby to a healthy and successful adult is another. All of these life-filled processes take time, nourishment, water, sunlight, joy, pain, and a whole infrastructure system of love.

Nature Element Watch. Every piece comes with a pair of white straps. The Nature watch also comes with a purple and red strap for those days when you want to feel extra colorful!

Which color combination is your favorite? Mine is the "Sun Element" variant with the yellow rotor.

Mr. Yinka Ilori and Mr. Max Busser

The artist wears the Nature version!

Key Points from the Discussion

The M.A.D. 1-S, with its artistic collaboration and playful design, is seen by collectors as a 'fun conversation starter' and a 'seventeenth watch' for specific moods, rather than a traditional haute horlogerie piece.
MB&F's journey, especially its challenging first decade, was marked by Max Büsser's humility and the unexpected support from industry peers like Felix Baumgartner and Peter Speake-Marin, a rarity in the often-segregated watch industry.
The brand's initial Horological Machines (HM1-HM4) were highly niche and expensive, appealing to a very small segment of collectors who could afford an impractical watch for rare occasions.
While some collectors appreciate the M.A.D. 1-S for its artistic collaboration, others express concern that the more accessible M.A.D. watches might 'cheapen' the MB&F brand, which is known for its highly specialized and expensive Horological and Legacy Machines.
The M.A.D. 1-S, priced around 3,200 CHF, represents a significantly more accessible entry point into the MB&F ecosystem compared to their main lines, which can start around 60,000 CHF for models like the LM101.
The perception of 'cheapness' can sometimes be associated with rubber straps, even on high-quality watches like the Patek Philippe Aquanaut, depending on the observer's background and familiarity with luxury watch materials.

The Discussion

penfriend

Aug 26, 2025

And it looks somehow cheap to me - very happy that I was successful with the ice blue MAD 1s one year ago...

patrick_y

Aug 26, 2025

In some ways, anything with a rubber strap looks "cheap" from some angles. Even a really expensive high quality watch with a rubber strap looks cheapened sometimes; depending on the person. A Patek Philippe Aquanaut is obviously a very high quality watch, but my grandmother would probably interpret the Aquanaut's rubber strap as an inexpensive watch for beating around because she wouldn't be able to read the Patek Philippe print.

enjoythemusic

Aug 26, 2025

Very youthful, playful, wrist fun 😎

patrick_y

Aug 26, 2025

Sherman, your robot, doesn't count. Even though he can wear a watch!

patrick_y

Aug 26, 2025

MB&F has always made playful and slightly impractical watches. Sometimes very impractical watches. The first four watches; HM1, 2, 3, and 4 were all super-strange and super-niche watches. The design would only appeal to one out of a 1000 people. Then, consider that the watches were incredibly expensive, somewhat difficult to wear and pair clothes with, and if I bought the watch, I'd only be wear it on super rare occasions. So, that makes the niche to one out of 100,000 people! As they have to be

patrick_y

Aug 27, 2025

So many trials and tribulations in the first 10 years could kill a man or at least make very good men give up. Max did so much in those ten years. And had so many incredible problems that were outside of his control. It was a good thing that he was a humble and emphatic man when he worked at Jaeger-LeCoultre and at Harry Winston before he started his business. When MB&F problems, friends and competitors like Felix Baumgartner, Peter Speake-Marin, and more would come over and help him out - somet

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M.A.D. 1 S Grow Your Dreams Timepiece Release

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