Dear Friends,

Ever since I started this newsletter, back in 2008, it's almost always been about our latest MB&F releases. Today's newsletter includes lots of news but not a single line about any new MB&F watches - demonstrating that today, our little world is about much more. Over the last few months, we annouced the arrival of The Minimilians, Albatross, our podcast 'Tales from The Tribe' and the new M.A.D.1S. You missed some of them? Catch up with the full stories below.
In the middle of the summer, we announced a brand-new family – and it wasn’t a watch! We introduced THE MINIMILIANS: a bunch of collectible, alien-like creatures with heads modelled after our Horological and Legacy Machines. There’s Minimilian Frog, Minimilian Thunderbolt, Minimilian Aquapod…
Since 2005 we've rolled out over 20 different calibres in about 30 distinct case shapes, and now each one has its own matching figurine. And for the record, the name Minimilian was not my idea. I did push for alternatives, but the team wasn't having any of it :)
The Minimilians are a small token of gratitude to The Tribe, our owners club, to thank them for making our adventure possible. For every MB&F watch registered at The Tribe – whether it’s brand-new or a well-loved gem from the secondary market – owners automatically score a matching Minimilian figurine, with our compliments. This applies not just for new registrations, but obviously also for watches already registered – and we’ve got quite a task ahead with around 2,200 existing registered watches to cover. Deliveries started in the summer and we're doing our best to serve everyone as quickly as possible.
As you know, the F in MB&F stands for Friends, and the Minimilians are fittingly created by three long-standing Friends. Maximilian Maertens has been working closely with me for a few years; he is the designer behind several of our clock and music box Co-Creations with L’Epée 1839 and Reuge, and was tasked with designing the figurines.
Aurélien Bouchet is the head of AB Concept and AB Product, who are experts in case engineering and manufacturing, and have been crafting hyper-complex cases like those of HM9 and HM11. For the Minimilians, AB Concept brings a very different technology to the table: state-of-the-art 3D printing.
Finally, packaging is taken care of by a third Friend, Olivier Berthon, who has created and manufactured the vast majority of MB&F watch boxes and packaging. Each Minimilian box is created from high-quality foam – the same foam as MB&F watch boxes – that protects the Minimilians as they travel to their new homes.
3D printing was a key element in the Minimilians project since many MB&F pieces have been crafted in very low numbers – but it was nonetheless important to thank the owners of those rare pieces with a matching Minimilian. For these very tactile figurines, we chose a 3D-printing process followed by a coating of white paint that creates a textured, ceramic-like finish with an artisanal feel – an accurate reflection of the production process, which provides on average only about 10 Minimilians per day.
If you're an owner of an MB&F Machine, but haven't registered with The Tribe yet, I recommend you do - not just to get your complimentary matching Minimilian, but the full range of benefits. The registration link is here: www.mbandf.com/en/the-tribe
It’s been over a decade since our first “Co-Creation” – the Machines we create with other Manufactures, besides wristwatches. Since then, more than 20 mechanical co-creations have emerged from our collaborations with Reuge (the “MusicMachine” music boxes), Caran d’Ache (the Astrograph pen) and Loupe System (Project LpX) – but the most fertile collaboration has definitely been with our friends at L’Epée 1839, masters in table clocks.
Our 15th collaboration with L’Epée – Albatross – is by far our most technically audacious clock. Totalling a whopping 1,520 components, Albatross features not only a striking hour function – chiming both the specific hours on the hour and a single strike on the half-hour – but also a world-first complication that you could call “hélices au passage”: an automaton composed of 32 propellers that launch into action every hour.
The brainchild of designer Eric Meyer, Albatross was inspired by the “Albatross” airship in Jules Verne’s novel Robur the Conqueror, but also more generally by the rockets and hot air balloons imagined by the French author, who had a fascination for flying objects.
Inside the airship are two movements and two winding systems; one powers the time and striking hour, thanks to two separate barrels, while the other provides the energy for the propellers, powered by a third barrel. The first is wound via the propellers at the front: clockwise for the striking hour and anti-clockwise for the time. The propellers at the back wind the automaton.
In terms of power reserve, the clock can run for an average of eight days – whether the chiming function is turned on or off – and the automaton for one day. Indeed, the complex mechanisms inside Albatross allow to turn the action on or off, as desired: it is possible to have the propellers turn without the hour chime, and vice versa. There are also “on demand” buttons to chime the time and/or turn the propellers separately, as you'll see in the video above.
The clock’s dimensions are just as impressive: 17kg, 60cm long by 60cm high and 36cm wide. Oh, and there’s a little surprise: if you peek through the porthole at the top of the airship, you’ll notice a miniature cockpit, complete with dashboard and ship’s wheel :)
Albatross launches in five limited editions of only 8 pieces each in blue, red, green, black and champagne. It's available via our retail network or at our eShop: https://shop.madgallery.ch/products/albatros
MB&F has always been about Friends – it runs so deep that it’s part of our brand name. Our Friends are many and diverse: the essential partners in conception, design, production, retail… There's also one very special group of Friends: the owners of MB&F Machines, our patrons, whom we call The Tribe. After almost 20 years since the beginning of our journey, our community of collectors has allowed us to meet very special individuals with amazing lives and stories to tell. This is why we decided to create our first MB&F Podcast, "Tales from the Tribe".
For each episode, I welcome a different Tribe member and therefore, a different subject such as venture capital, health, creativity, tech... It's a very relaxed, open discussion that covers their lives, careers, anecdotes... and we also talk (a bit) about what feeds their passion for watchmaking.
There's a new episode every month, and we already have five episodes online. We started with Wen Hsieh, a venture capitalist who has "Learned how to smell the roses", followed by Todd Searle, who explained "The power of regrets". Bill Doyle is "Reinventing the human body", while Nirdhar Khazanie told us about "Helping for good". And we just went live with Alex Ghotbi, with "A spark of adrenaline".
The episodes are available on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Youtube; you'll find the link to your favourite podcast platform at linktr.ee/mbandf.talesfromthetribe

In previous newsletters, I reminded you how the M.A.D.Editions project started in 2021: an experimental, limited initiative to thank those who made MB&F possible. After the initial M.A.D.1 Blue 'Friends and Tribe' version, we added the RED and GREEN editions, followed by the M.A.D.1 'Time to Love' with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. I also promised a new version of our M.A.D.1... which went live in late August, with a new generation of M.A.D.1 watches called… the M.A.D.1S.
The addition of the “S” indicates a Slimmer case, thanks to a Single cylinder display – now powered by a Swiss movement! But Why all the changes? The original M.A.D.1 was released just three years ago, and the M.A.D.2 is in the works and slated for next year… so why fiddle with the GPHG award-winning, fan-favourite M.A.D.1? Well, we weren't quite finished with the M.A.D.1: we had been brainstorming for a while about the M.A.D.1 design, the movement, the size... In the end, we decided to modify all three :)

First, we made it slimmer – at 18,8mm, the original M.A.D.1 is a tall watch. How? Thanks to a single cylinder, which reduces the height by 20%, to just 15mm. Sure, the absence of a dedicated minutes cylinder makes a perfectly precise, to-the-dot reading a bit more difficult – but frankly, is that why we like the quirky M.A.D.1? The large, 40mm-diameter hour cylinder provides ample space between each of the 12 hour markings to give you a sufficiently accurate reading of the time.

And finally, a Swiss movement. When we launched the original M.A.D.1, the only movement at this price point with unidirectional winding – essential to our design, to make that crazy rotor spin wildly – was the Japanese Miyota 821A. In the meantime, Swiss manufacture La Joux-Perret has developed an automatic calibre with unidirectional winding: the La Joux-Perret G101, beating at a frequency of 28,000bph/4Hz with a power reserve of 68 hours. Just what we needed!
The price of the M.A.D.1S remains unchanged: CHF 2,900 + VAT. Our distribution concept also remains the same: as before, our Friends (suppliers) and Tribe members (owners of MB&F watches) get direct access to the M.A.D.1S, including a special Purple edition exclusive to Friends & Tribe. The Ice Blue edition was open to everyone, through a raffle system that is now closed. If you're interested in future M.A.D.Editions releases, I recommend you sign up for updates on our raffles page, and follow the M.A.D.Editions Instagram page :)

You’ll notice some design tweaks on the M.A.D.1S: slimmer lugs to match the slimmer case, but also a redesigned winding rotor. The 42mm case remains a mix of 316L stainless steel, mineral glass and sapphire crystal.
I hope you enjoy reading my newsletters, but I look even more forward to catching up with you in person, somewhere in our network of retail partners - or during an upcoming watchmaking event, like the IAMWATCH fair in Singapore. Michael Tay and his team at The Hour Glass are putting together a relaxed and casual show that promises to be awesome! If you're in the area from October 17th to 20th, please look up the details at the link above.
Very best regards,
Maximilian Büsser
Owner & Creative Director