MB&F’s founding mission to work with the world’s greatest artists and horologists has created a brand capable of producing everything from the mechano-kinetic sculptures of its M.A.D. Gallery to the Legacy Machine line of timepieces that keep centuries-old watchmaking crafts alive.
Entering the MB&F world can be expensive, but there is a path in through the watches of its M.A.D. Editions division, which built the first M.A.D. 1 wristwatch in 2021, which introduced a signature triple-blade rotor on top and lateral turning discs displaying hours and minutes on the side of the case.
It was powered by a Japanese Miyota movement, which helped keep the price under $3,000 at launch.
An MB&F diffusion line at that price caused an avalanche of demand during the red-hot period for independent watchmakers that followed the lifting of covid restrictions.
MB&F owner and creative director, Max Büsser, wanted to make it possible for anybody to own a M.A.D. 1, not just the sharp-elbowed super-rich, so he opened a raffle where people could win the opportunity to buy one.
That raffle system has been maintained ever since, making it possible for watch lovers with a $3,000 budget to buy a M.A.D. 1, the slimmer M.A.D. 1S, the M.A.D. 2, which launched in March this year, and many special editions that have appeared over the past four years like the M.A.D. 1 Time to Love Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.
The latest limited edition comes in the form of a M.A.D. 1S designed in collaboration with Yinka Ilori MBE, a British-Nigerian artist known for his use of vibrant color and playful design in everyday objects.
Mr Büsser reached out personally to the artist after noticing his work and persuaded him to work on his first-ever watch design project.
The result of their collaboration is a collection of watches named Grow Your Dreams that bursts with colour across cases, straps, dials and their upside-down movements and have design touches like a new rotor milled to remove the shape of a tree — a recurring motif from Mr Ilori — and the same tree decorating the crown.
“I’ve always been obsessed with trees. Harvesting and growing them because you invest time in it. It’s pouring love into something you care about, and that starts a conversation. It’s the same for this process, and the way of thinking behind it with Max. You have to be patient and harvest a watch. There are similarities between our universes. Typically, mine are very public, but there’s something very private and public about a watch. Everyone sees it, but it’s you who has that connection with it,” Mr Ilori describes.
Dreaming is another central theme to the art of Mr Ilori, and the custom rotor carries the collection’s name and message “Grow Your Dreams”.
This dreamscape manifests at every scale: from reimagined playgrounds and illuminated bridges in London to supermarket shopping bags emblazoned with motivational slogans and kaleidoscopic high-tea stands. For Ilori, the world is not just a canvas – it’s a fertile ground for possibility, where design becomes a vehicle for growth, joy, and transformation, MB&F describes.
“Yinka Ilori lives in a universe bursting with colour; his work makes you feel alive, like a rush of adrenaline pushing you to go further,” Mr Büsser says. “This collaboration has created something that brings joy, a reminder to realise your own dreams,” he adds.
There are three watches in the range — Sun, Nature, and Water — each limited to 400 pieces.
They are powered by Swiss Made La Joux-Perret movements, a welcome upgrade that came with the first M.A.D. 1S’s introduction in 2024, but is still deliverable in a CHF 3,200 + VAT watch.
It is slightly slimmer than the first 1S, standing 15mm tall in its 42mm steel case, which is water resistant to 90 feet.
Each watch is sold with an interchangeable mismatched colored strap and an additional white strap.
As with previous M.A.D.Editions, a portion of the Grow Your Dreams production will be offered first to MB&F owners and suppliers.
The rest will be offered to the public via a raffle that opens on Tuesday, September 2nd and closes Monday, September 8th.
Registration for the raffle is free on the MB&F website.
To mark the Grow Your Dreams launch, MB&F has created an immersive M.A.D. Gallery pop-up at its Geneva that assaults the senses with the psychedelic hues used by Mr Ilori throughout his work.
