MTF presents ZHY's exclusive report on MB&F's 'Moonlight in Beijing' event, featuring the MoonMachine and an intimate interview with founder Maximilian Büsser. ZHY recounts his serendipitous encounter with Büsser and explores the brand's unique philosophy, offering insights into the creative mind behind MB&F's rebellious approach to watchmaking.

MB&F’s Moonlight in Beijing

By: ZHY

What is good fortune?

In April, the restored version of the first sci-fi film in the world, Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), was screened in Beijing and fascinated the Chinese audiences. Now, what kind of impact the MoonMachine, with the same mysterious space theme, will it make on the Chinese people?

Rebel With A Cause: A Close Encounter With Maximilian Büsser in Beijing

Maximilian Büsser (Max) is busy on the MoonMachine world tour. As Max, Ms. Teresa Yau (President of Europe Watch Company) and Li were busy welcoming the Chinese MoonMachine lovers, I was hatching the questions to the straightforward, brave and rebellious pioneer of watchmaking.

ZHY: How and when did you fall in love with watchmaking?

Maximilian Büsser (Max): I actually had no clue about watchmaking till I was eighteen and at university. My parents wanted my 18th birthday gift to be a nice watch (that is very typical Swiss) and I therefore started looking around what I could get for the budget they had given me. One day, I am sitting next to another student who was wearing a watch I had never seen before so I asked him what it was. He answered it was a Rolex (I had never heard of that brand before !) and when he told me the price I nearly punched him – it was worth more than what I would earn working like mad after graduation for over a year !

I just could not understand that anyone would spend that sort of money on a watch – especially a mechanical one. This was 1985 and we were right in the middle of the quartz era – where you could get the most precise watch for 50 Swiss Francs. That started a whole curiosity process which led me to do a special project for my Masters degree about mechanical watchmaking and why anyone would still want to own a mechanical watch – which was truly totally anachronic in those days. And during that study I was lucky enough to interview many Managing Directors of notable Swiss brands such as Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Breguet. They all had this incredible passion for an art which was about to die, and that they were desperately trying to save, in the midst of the quartz era.

Watchmaking actually saved me. I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to do at the end of my studies and I was very lucky that Henry-John Belmont, the MD of Jaeger-LeCoultre saw in me more than what I saw in myself. He offered me (I should say actually vividly convinced me !) a job as Product Manager. I found my way – I loved this industry, I loved the people I was working with, I was proud of trying to keep such an exceptional art form alive. Most people spend their whole lives trying to find their way. I found it practically by chance at the age of 24.

ZHY: After 14 years of managing high-end watch brands including JLC and Harry Winston,you created your own company,and dubbed it "Lab". That means you are trying something different. What made you to take the road not taken and what have you been trying to break through?

Max: I think the PuristS community know by now pretty well what made me quit all to create MB&F.
When my father passed away late 2001 I thought I would deal with it like the responsible adult I was. Well, it came to bite hard me a year later. I realised that I actually did not know my father and did not even know if he had had any regrets before passing away. Which led me to start thinking if I would have any regrets if something happened to me. And to my utter shock I realised that even though I had what was considered by many as a “dream” life and job, I would have many regrets. I realized many persons were proud of me, but I was not proud of myself.

The first was that as a creator – yes that is when I realised that creating was my life – I spent all my time creating what I thought clients would like so as to sell more to make more money for my shareholders. Not what I loved, not what I believed in. I was a marketeer and not a creator. That was a rude awakening. The second rude awakening was that the very strong values of respect, honour and integrity my parents had always taught me were continuously being trampled in the world of business. I had to work with truly horrible and dishonest people just because they were powerful or could make money for the company. And to that I decided also to say "No more!"

Finally I also realized that even though I think I am a pretty good leader and manager, I actually dislike managing people – it just takes so much energy out of me. So clearly, my dream company had to be mine - no shareholder to ask for growth and profit – and very small so that each person of the team felt it was their own company and did what was best for all of us.

So in May 2005 I flew to New York and tendered my resignation to the shock of all involved. I was released on July 15th and ten days later MB&F was incorporated with one employee – me working from home in Geneva all alone for over 18 months – and all my savings as investment. Since there have been no investors and we do not use a bank credit line. To be able to reinterpret this Industry we need to be completely free from any traditional 3rd party – who would force us down compromise so as to ensure growth or profit.

ZHY: I see something interesting, you are pushing the boundaries of watchmaking forward, out of the respect of tradition. How do you see the relationship between tradition and innovation.

Max: Our forefathers, those who made horology what it is today i.e. the 18th and 19th century creators, were incredible innovators. During the 20th century, due to the industrial revolution the watch industry started concentrating on mass production, cost cutting and reliability so as to give Time to the People. And then came quartz, which made totally obsolete our mechanical movements. So since the 1970s, mechanical movements have no more real practical reasons for existing. Now, why do you think we are so in love with those “obsolete” mechanical timepieces ? Because they are a testimony to our patrimony but also incredible works of ART. That is why at MB&F, we deconstruct traditional horology to reconstruct it as 3D kinetic sculptures which give time. We always pay tribute to our forefathers and imagine what the most innovative of them would have created had they not been constrained by industrial or marketing issues.

ZHY: If we use one word or phrase to define your watchmaking style, which do you prefer, Surrealism, Magical Realism or...?

Max: LOL ! OK, let’s be really pretentious: Salvador Dali meets Abraham-Louis Breguet ?!

ZHY: Let's talk about "friends", which are important components of your brand. What's your comment on your partner Serge Kriknoff. What's your standard for choosing other 'friends'?

Max: Serge joined MB&F beginning of 2008 and he brought his immense technical expertise and unwavering drive to the company. Without him, we would never be where we are today. Thanks to him I can concentrate on creating and communicating while he takes these disruptive ideas (which he also contributes) and transforms them into realities, as seen on wrists of our clients all over the world.

Of course, he is not alone. All the Friends - the engineers, artisans and watchmakers - make this come true. And Serge is the conductor of that part of the symphony.

ZHY: Are you on an Asian tour? Is this your first business visit to mainland China?

Max: I am on the MoonMachine world tour, which will take me through Asia and America before going back home four weeks later. It’s a true pleasure to present Stepan Sarpaneva’s work to the public who for the most have no idea who he is. Interestingly enough I discovered Stepan’s work for the first time… on the PuristS !

I have been a couple of times to Mainland China. To meet artists with whom we have worked or are working on new performance art projects, and to represent Xia Hang in our Geneva M.A.D. Gallery. We have also been working with local partners to create our first stand-alone MB&F boutique in Beijing, which I hope will see the light end of this year. I have learned during these few years visiting China that everything is a little more complicated here.

ZHY: To my surprise, nearly half guests of your private salon in Beijing are ladies. Do you have the same ratio in Singapore, where, as I know, you have about 100 consumers?

Max: As a matter of fact, this was as surprising for me as for you. We usually have a 70/30 ratio where more men own our pieces than women.

ZHY: Chinese luxury market is booming as well as maturing, what's your advices to Chinese watch collectors about how to evaluate and appreciate watches. Not just buying them.

Max: I have met extremely knowledgeable collectors, very educated about our industry and what is quality or collectible, and I have also met big spenders who “collect” but are totally clueless as to what they buy. Usually what is most expensive or what is seen most in advertising – some of their collections are pretty scary…

It’s normal for a market which has barely opened less than ten years ago, and I am sure that at the rate collectors are educating themselves, China will be not only the biggest market for high end watchmaking but soon, one of the most knowledgeable.

ZHY: I made a small test on my Weibo (Chinese Twitter), MOONMACHINE mesmerized so many people, some friends even asked for the price. Chinese consumers have unpredictable purchasing power, my friend Raymond told me he bought 6 MB&F artworks since 2009. Facing the growing demand, do you still stick to small quantity supply?

Max: ABSOLUTELY ! I really do not want my company to grow. I don’t want the hassle which goes with growth and I don’t want to have to tone down my somewhat “radical” creative ideas.

In fact in an ideal world because our creativity continues to explode but our production stays pretty much the same, we should be able to reach a point in the future when more or less all our production is pre-sold a year or even two years in advance – That would make all our lives so much easier…

ZHY: How did MOONMACHINE come into being?

Max: One day Stepan and I were having a drink. He suddenly looked down at me and said “You need a Moon…”. When a guy who is 20 cm taller and broader than you says that, you just listen and say “sure”. LOL

I am kidding. That’s how it started. Ten days later Stepan was sending me sketches of what was practically the actual MoonMachine. One year later thanks to his amazing work, talent and dedication the genetically modified Frog saw the light. Truly one of the easiest and most fun collaborations we have ever had.

ZHY: Your MAD Gallery in Geneva is opened not long ago, what's the major purpose of the space?

Max: At MB&F we usually feel like aliens in a world of watchmaking normality, and realized that out there were many aliens like us but in their own worlds defying practicality and common sense. Artists, creators, designers who painstakingly created and crafted incredible “Machines” which were often overlooked or misunderstood by their environment. At the M.A.D. Gallery we bring together all these “orphans” to create one jolly family !

For example, by explaining the story of how German “Machine Light” creator Frank Buchwald started crafting by hand from scratch less than ten pieces a year of his incredible Machines, we are in fact in one way talking about us. And by introducing to our MB&F fans these amazing creators/creations we are helping them build an awareness they usually did not have.

ZHY: At the end, let's unleash imagination, what kind of watches will people be wearing decades later?

Max: If the marketers continue having their way unfortunately the same as today…....

***PuristSPro Team: Thanks to ZHY for an interesting report from China***