HODINKEE Radio: Episode 26: Maximilian Bsser

January 07, 2019

Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review here, and tell us which guests we should have on! I see a lot of watches in this line of work. Like, a lot. But there are none that make me smile quite like those from MB&F. I dont know what exactly it is about them, but I cant seem to look at a Horological Machine No. 7 or a Legacy Machine No. 1 without a grin. MB&F is short for Maximilian Bsser and Friends, and the brands founder, Mr. Maximilian Bsser himself, is somehow even more charming and interesting than the watches he and his many collaborators create. He spent his childhood sketching cars dreaming of spaceships before eventually going on to Swiss engineering school, with not a single thought about entering watchmaking. He serendipitously ended up working at Jaeger-LeCoultre as a consequence of a school project, and went from there to launch the famous Opus program at Harry Winston, kicking off the modern era of high-concept independent watchmaking.?Ive known Max for a few years now, and hes one of those people who makes you want to lean in closer when he speaks. Theres an understatement and humility to him that you might not expect from his sometimes brash creations. Ahead of the HODINKEE 10th Anniversary Weekend, I had a chance to sit down with Max and HODINKEE senior writer James Stacey to talk about how Max ended up in this weird little world of ours and how, with a little creativity and passion, hes trying to make it just that little bit weirder.?We hope you enjoy Episode 26 of HODINKEE Radio. Check out the show notes below and let us know what you think in the comments. Wrist Check On Max's wrist was one of my favorite MB&F pieces of all time: the Legacy Machine Perpetual in titanium. This is a superlative watch in basically every way. You've got that stunning flying balance wheel and an ornately open-worked set of sub-dials that lets you appreciate all the crazy cadrature work that keeps the calendar mechanism running C and all of it is set against a radiant green backdrop. To me, this watch captures the spirit of the Legacy Machine line like no other and is a watch that I enjoy more every time I see one. Show Notes 11:05Lamborghini Miura22:04Ebel Stainless Steel El Primero Chronograph23:50Opel Corsa26:30Mondaine Railway Watch30:30Gronefeld, The Horological Brothers30:33Urwerk30:35Kari Voutilainen37:15M.A.D.Gallery39:30Chicara Nagata55:16Rexhep Rexhepi1:00:13Orfeve chocolate1:03:00Sapiens1:03:05Homo Deus1:04:00Blonde1:07:00Oversleepers International