Find Your True North: Maximilian Büsser and the Watchmaking World of MB&F

Watchmaking may date back two centuries but in the hands of Maximilian Büsser, it has been revived as a contemporary art form. Büsser is the founder of MB&F, or Max Büsser and Friends, which he describes as a “horological concept laboratory.” 

Now MB&F has opened a gallery on Two Rodeo Drive, filled with his collective’s kinetic art and mechanical art devices, like World Sky by Breakfast Studio with whirring discs that spin between functions: camera, mirror, and weather report; and the MB&F’s Architect HM11, inspired by an organic Charles Haertling house in Colorado, and comprising multiple “rooms.”

 

“We deconstruct traditional, beautiful, high end watchmaking and reconstruct it into sculpture, which gives time,” Büsser tells Lyn Winter, on the latest episode of Rodeo Drive - The Podcast.  

Büsser shares his journey from being a directionless teen in Switzerland to reaching the top of the watch business at Jaeger-LeCoultre and Harry Winston, and then realizing he needed to “find his true north.”  

“I started imagining this fairy tale, I was going to have my own little company, where I would create only what I believed in. I didn't want any investors. I didn't want anybody telling me about growth and profits and all that stuff. It was all about, we're going to create some incredible watchmaking, even though we know there are no clients out there for it.”

Now MB&F has built a strong clientele willing to pay top dollar for the company’s unusual timepieces. But it was not always easy. Büsser reflects on the financial ups and downs, life lessons learned along the way, and the things he wished he had told his father. Finally, he revels in the joy of crafting mechanical instruments with a group of “friends” who share his obsession with “balance wheels,” “perpetual calendars” and other analog components of horology.

Winter closes by asking if there is a future for such an old world craft, and Büsser talks about the appeal of his company’s products to young people.

“MB&F is all about, ‘Live your dreams’. Do whatever you believe in. It is possible. Look at us. It seemed totally impossible, but we managed. And so it resonates strongly with a younger client base, and I love it.”

Season 5 of Rodeo Drive – The Podcast is presented by the Rodeo Drive Committee with the support of The Hayman Family, Two Rodeo Drive, Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, and the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau.

Season 5 Credits:

Executive Producer and Host: Lyn Winter

On behalf of the Rodeo Drive Committee: Kay Monica Rose

Scriptwriter and Editorial Advisor: Frances Anderton

Editor and Videographer: Hans Fjellestad

Theme music by Brian Banks

Production Assistant: Isabelle Alfonso.

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Visit the website: https://rodeodrive-bh.com/podcast/

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