Comments:
Any Mbf horological machine owners out there?
I know these are kinda out there but curious if anyone’s got one of these? At the secondary market prices I’d be interested in one. There was a video with max busser saying they were designed to be able to be taken apart and fixed decades down the road which alleviates some concerns for me.
MB&F watches are different
MB&F watches are very avant garde in terms of design and make a very strong impression on every watch lover. You would love it or hate it; but never be able to remain indifferent to an MB&F Horological Machine.
Except in two of their horological machines where UV-liga was used, all the watches use traditional materials and I recall Max Busser stating in one of his interviews that their watches can be repaired by competent watchmakers down the years. MB&F watchcases made of zirconium has been a bit of a surprise departure however.
Max mentioned in an interview that he has in-fact made sure that the designs and drawings of each of the MB&F watches will be published if MB&F was to cease operations. No one else IMHO has ever planned for such continuity before and speaks volumes of MB&F’s respect and concern for their customers.
Can those fantastic curved sapphire dials, the thin aluminium hour and minute discs of the HM3 for example or the micro-art in other HM’s be replicated by later watch repairers?; I am not very sure. But the problem of future serviceability remains more or less the same with every independent, and should not deter you from listening to to your heart and taking that leap!!
Cheers.
HM Series offer a lot for the price point
I have a few MB&F pieces and the HM series really are something special. They definitely are not for the faint hearted but they just make you smile when you wear them. Max Busser and the brand really make you feel part of the family. I would buy now and not worry about future servicing. I think MB&F will be around in some form even if Max isn’t involved in my opinion.
I too hope to own a HM at some point, and have no hesitations in doing so for the reasons already outlined above.
The challenge (aside from financial) will be to find the HM that both excites you and wears well on your wrist.
Some more MB&F factoids
MB&F is one of the few companies that acknowledge the contribution of other master watchmakers to their HM and LM pieces
They produce just under 250 watches each year, but have created 15 unique calibers in the last 15 years endorsing their technological strengths.
Max Busser has carved a niche through designs that are designed from scratch and never copied what the other brands already had . Except for the HM10 bulldog that to me looked a mish mash of other brand offerings..
So if one looks for some one who is at the other extreme of an assembly-line brand like Rolex or even Patek, independents like MB&F and their tribe are the way to go.
They produce just under 250 watches each year, but have created 15 unique calibers in the last 15 years endorsing their technological strengths.
Max Busser has carved a niche through designs that are designed from scratch and never copied what the other brands already had . Except for the HM10 bulldog that to me looked a mish mash of other brand offerings..
So if one looks for some one who is at the other extreme of an assembly-line brand like Rolex or even Patek, independents like MB&F and their tribe are the way to go.
Take a look at MB&F Eddy Jaquet
To get a perspective of the lengths that MB&F has gone to achieve perfection, take a look at LM Split Escapement Eddy Jaquet.
Eddy is a master engraver and has produced his own interpretation of 8 different works of Jules Verne by engraving the LM base plate.
I happened to view the youtube video interview of Max on “In the Metal” with Danny Spitz where Max explains the genesis of this initiative.
Eddy has taken 3 months for each base plate engraving and has not used any existing imagery from Jules Verne, but has created his own interpretative renderings. This was preceded by 2 years of preparation by Eddy!!.
Max mentioned that the final piece of the 8 masterpieces is expected by March 2021!!
To top this is the fact that the movement is a pathbreaking design by Stephen McDonnell.
A few images ( courtesy Mb&F website) are a visual treat.
Seeing such work of art and horological mastery combined, makes me wonder why people pay astronomical prices for steel PP 5712’s and Rolex Daytonas which are massproduced, simply because of liquidity..
Cheers
