Dear Friends,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you had a nice break. I did, sort of… in fact, we turned an important page of our short history: after almost five years at our cosy Geneva old town address, we moved our offices and workshops to a new location.

But the move is not just about changing an address – it’s much more important and marks a turning point in the development of MB&F. For years, I have said that our company would not grow bigger than 15 employees… Guess what: in a few weeks there will be 21 of us! Most of those new Friends reinforce our production team, and we’ve also invested in a few machine-tools which will allow us to speed up our prototyping and handle some basic manufacturing. For our Horological lab, a bit of a revolution!

Our new location is at 22, Boulevard Helvétique – a very Swiss-sounding address – and remains right in the city centre, just a few minutes’ walk from our other location in Geneva, the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery on Rue Verdaine. I’ll show you some pics of our new place in a future newsletter :)

The original Horological Machine N°5 in zirconium was launched at the end of 2012; at the time, we explained that a new series would be presented every year. For the 2013 edition introduced in November, we’ve modified the case to red gold and titanium.

Red gold is significantly heavier than the original zirconium, so this could have been one heavy timepiece… but you probably noticed that we’ve offset the warm gold colour with some cooler (and lighter) titanium components. However, we went a step further: HM5 has an internal container, which protects the movement from shocks and water. Previously in stainless steel, the RT edition’s container is now in titanium. The result? A very different-looking machine, but which retains a comfortable weight.

Aside from this, HM5 RT keeps all the 1970s-inspired ingredients from the original edition. The design cues are from the first supercars like the Lamborghini Miura and Lotus Esprit, as well as the wacky watches of that decade, powered by the first quartz movements.

Technically-speaking, the movement and time display are a unique combination of mechanical and optical engineering: the jumping hours and minutes, situated on horizontal discs in the calibre, are reflected upwards 90 degrees, reversed and magnified 20% by an optical prism in sapphire crystal. Don’t get me started on how difficult it is to craft that prism…

One of the most surprising features of HM5 is what we call the “light convector” system. If the time display seems a bit dim, flip open the flaps on the case. This will let light flow in, through the sapphire crystal window of the inner container, down onto the SuperLuminova of the hour and minute discs.

HM5 RT is a limited edition of 66 pieces. You’ll find a lot more about HM5 on our website, including a fast-paced video with some beautiful 1970s supercars.

As always, the year starts at full throttle with the “Geneva Wonder Week”: thousands of luxury watch professionals from around the world will converge on Geneva to discover the latest Horological wonders. From this Saturday until next Friday, nonstop for 7 days, we’ll be meeting hundreds of retail partners, prospects and journalists.

For our friends from the press, we have a sneak preview of our new ‘Performance Art’ piece, to be launched officially at the end of February. I am particularly fond of this new creation, because it illustrates the cross-pollination between our own craft – watchmaking – and what goes on at the M.A.D.Gallery: for the first time, one of our Machines has been reinterpreted by an artist on show at the Gallery. The first example of what could very well become a long series…

We’ll also be showcasing another new Gallery artist, who combines vintage watch components with magnetic fields and his own very personal take on time, into stunning contemporary art.

If you are a retailer or journalist and feel you need to meet the team, please send us an email at info@mbandf.com – we still have a few time slots available!

In our November newsletter, I urged you to check out our Instagram account, which had gone from zero to 6,000 followers in just 6 months. Believe it or not, that community has doubled since: we’ve passed 12,000 followers as I write this. It’s amazing how fast Instagram has become an important channel for watch enthusiasts in general – who knows how many zillions of watch photos have been posted! If you’re not already part of the action, you should be; you can open a personal account in minutes… and don’t forget to tag any MB&F-related pics with #mbandf – we want to see your work :)

For the best part of two decades, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz have worked together under the nom de plume 'Guerra de la Paz' – a composite of their surnames that translates as “War of Peace” – creating thought-provoking artwork that broaches themes like conflict and unity, mass consumption, disposability and the environment.

Early on in their collaboration, the pair moved to a studio in Miami’s Little Haiti, a neighbourhood packed with businesses shipping second-hand clothing – and which would throw away countless amounts of apparel on a daily basis.
With so many garments deposited right on their doorstep, Guerra de la Paz started rooting through the clothing companies’ waste bins and it wasn’t long before these second-hand clothes became the principal medium for their sculptural work.

Check out Guerra de la Paz’s sensational recycled objects art, now on our weekly blog A Parallel World.

Once again, I wish you a fantastic 2014. From us, you can expect four timepiece launches this year, including not just one, but two entirely new movements… plus a healthy selection of new amazing artists at the M.A.D.Gallery. You know we love your feedback so please stay in touch!

Very best regards,

Maximilian Büsser
Owner & Creative Director