Looking at MB&F through its catalogue raisonné

It’s easy to believe that the internet has everything a curious watch collector would ever need … until a book on watchmaking rests in your hands. There’s something in the long-form nature of books that is difficult to package into the brevity of a social media post, blog, or video on YouTube. Where the internet is optimized for the swift gathering of information, broken into many fragments and scattered about, books dive deep with singular focus. 

With the arrival of MB&F The First Fifteen Years, it's a rare opportunity to immerse oneself into the company and its creations in a comprehensive way. The catalogue raisonné, usually reserved for an artist’s corpus, is a fitting format given the burst of creativity that MB&F has brought forth across dozens of timepieces and 20 in-house calibres. Writers Suzanne Wong and William Massena do not disappoint in their handling of the MB&F story. Less of a book review and more of a love letter, we wanted to cast a spotlight on some things that stood out in between the lines.

The MB&F Catalogue Raisonné (Credits: MB&F)

There’s a lot more to “friends” than camaraderie

The story of MB&F is a balance of extremes between individual (Max) and collective (Friends), chaos and structure, and future and tradition. Though it’s not directly stated in the book, it is clear that the “friends” aspect of Max Büsser & Friends is much more than a simple desire to work with those who bring joy in life. It’s also much more than a nod to the company’s culture, the founder’s personality and values, and their approach to watchmaking. On a much higher level, the concept of friends forged into the DNA of MB&F is a warm, light-hearted counterbalance to what can come across as steely avant-gardism. 

It’s difficult to imagine the same success if MB&F launched as a more classic, austere luxury brand – Max Büsser Watches in an alternate universe. There’s simply something too overpowering about on-the-nose luxury vibes when the aesthetic focuses on the future. Friendship at the heart of the business is disarming in a productive way. It welcomes collectors into a new world without it being completely unknown and scary – you’re always connected to friends.

MB&F Friends (Credits: MB&F)

There’s always a lot more beneath the surface

Another thing stuck out when reading The First Fifteen Years, there are so many timepieces that we have never seen before from MB&F. True to form, this catalogue raisonné brings many unique pieces to the surface for the first time. This deepens our appreciation of the creations, especially when you can see some foreshadowing occurring in the timeline and evolution of MB&F. Particularly, it’s fascinating to see that there was one unique piece HM1 “Chocolate,” created a year earlier than one of the indie insider’s favorites – HM3 “Chocolate Frog” launched as a limited edition with the online collector community PuristS for their 10th anniversary. Even for us, having seen so many MB&F timepieces, there are many surprises in the book. While social media, particularly Instagram, has expanded our awareness of brands, watchmakers, and their creations, The First Fifteen Years is a great reminder that there is a lot in the world of independents that we have yet to see.

The HM3 Chocolate Frog (Credits: MB&F)

There’s value in exploring the “outside”

Reading through the catalogue raisonné, it becomes clear that art plays a significant role in MB&F’s approach to watchmaking. It’s not a shallow term, used for marketing and sales purposes. Max has shown his commitment to exploring “art” through MAD Galleries, rife with unusual kinetic artworks, as well as the slew of collaborations in the brand’s Performance Artworks with painters, graffiti artists, material scientists, jewelers, engravers and beyond. 

Though it’s becoming increasingly more common (thankfully!), MB&F is one of the biggest, most frequent supporters of integrating complete “outsiders” into the watchmaking world. The First Fifteen Year covers some of these collaborations including the HM2 Only Watch with Sage Vaughn’s painter / graffiti artist touch. Incredibly cool watch and most fascinating to see how the brand moved from relatively “small” aesthetic integrations (barbed wire and butterfly on the HM2 Only Watch) to collab-transformations with the JWLRYMACHINE. We’re optimistic that the future of the watch industry will continue incorporating outsiders, artists, designers, and creative thinkers, to push things forward.

The HM2 Only Watch + JWLRYWATCH (Credits: MB&F)

It is impossible to appreciate a watchmaker or brand by strictly looking at their timepieces. In each timepiece, there is a much bigger story, little nods to the past, and a vision for the future. We hope that more independents invest in documenting and telling their stories, especially in the catalogue raisonné format, so that collectors can dive deeper into the watchmaking world. As far as MB&F goes, The First Fifteen Years is a must-have for a greater appreciation of this pioneer amongst modern, avant garde independents.