In June of last year, Maximilian Büsser – the founder of MB&F – released a timepiece separate from his brand, under the label of M.A.D. (Mechanical Art Devices). Why would the founder of MB&F do such a thing? To put it in his own words, it was frustrating for him because MB&F was very high priced “due to their complexity, production and quality of finishing.” For this very reason, he created a side project, the M.A.D. Editions, so he could develop creative machines at a much lower price. So in June of 2021, he released the M.A.D.1 in a very limited number.

With such a limited number of pieces, they decided to reserve the timepiece to two very precise groups: the “Friends” and “The Tribe”. The “Friends” is the group of people who helped MB&F (Maximilian Büsser and Friends) create all their machines, and “The Tribe” is a group of owners of MB&F machines – the patrons who have made their adventure possible.

The response of the public to M.A.D.1 was mind-blowing. In just a matter of days, they were bombarded with thousands of comments and messages, begging Mr. Büsser to make the M.A.D.1 available to the public. As mentioned earlier, the M.A.D.1 was just a side project, so it should not affect the production of the regular MB&F machines. But Maximilian Büsser promised to release it in 2022.

The year has arrived, and he has made good with his promise.

To keep the M.A.D.1 exclusive for the “Friends” and “The Tribe”, they made this new release a little different. This new timepiece is still built on the same platform as the original with the same crazy case structure. It has the same lateral time display with two rotating cylinders for the hours and minutes. The upside-down modified Miyota movement is powered by the triple-blade winding rotor in titanium and tungsten. But instead of carrying the blue theme, it is now clad in cherry red. Presenting: the M.A.D.1 RED!

But the color is not the only modification on this new release. The bezel is just a bit slimmer than the original, and the winding and time setting is now done with a more classic, round winding crown. The M.A.D.1 RED is now set at a more affordable price of CHF 2,900 (roughly PhP 164,000) before tax.

Again, this new machine is produced in a limited number. So how will these new pieces be distributed? First dibs will be given to the people who sent emails. These will be distributed as early as April. Once confirmation orders from them are closed, the remaining M.A.D.1 RED pieces will then be allocated through a lottery. The winners of the random draw may receive their timepieces between September and December.

The deadline for entering the lottery is on April 5, 2022, so if you are interested, please visit the eShop at https://shop.madgallery.ch