Today marks the introduction of the M.A.D.3, the third entry in the MB&F spinoff, M.A.D.Editions brand. If you’ve spent the past few years entering raffle after raffle in hopes of securing a watch from the brand, this new design may offer another opportunity in this game of chance. The groundbreaking first entry in the series came from the mind of none other than Max Büsser, and the very different follow-up was spearheaded by prominent watch designer and frequent MB&F collaborator Eric Giroud. This third edition taps into a watchmaker who, while quite a bit further out from the direct radius of MB&F, has always maintained a philosophy on the expression of time in a very similar vein.
An example of a Corum Golden Bridge. Photo courtesy of Das Kunst– und Auktionshaus Kastern GmbH & Co.KG.
Calabrese’s Baladin. Photo courtesy Christie’s.
Vincent Calabrese, though not necessarily a household name like many of his contemporaries, is certainly a legend. He’s the man responsible for the iconic floating-movement architecture of the Corum Golden Bridge and the co-founder of the independent watchmaking consortium Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI, as you might more commonly know it). And among the dozens of patents behind his name, and many inventive executions of complications, he’s always played with the concept of displaying the time. So I suppose Calabrese and Büsser are a match made in heaven, and here, we have the M.A.D.3 edition in all of its bright, saturated glory. Just like the M.A.D.1 and the M.A.D.2, the new M.A.D.3 is priced at CHF 2,900, which converts to roughly $3,600 today.
The M.A.D.3 is the least original-looking design of the three editions so far. And that’s by intention. In this collaboration, the M.A.D.3 pays tribute to Calabrese’s take on a wandering jump-hour complication, with his Baladin watch. To say that the M.A.D.3 bears a strong resemblance to the original Calabrese creation is an understatement. On both the dial of a Baladin and the M.A.D.3, a minutes track sits on the periphery, while a colored disc rotates inside. That disc holds a cutout aperture to display the current hour, while an arrow printed on the disc points to the current minute. As the hour runs its course, the minutes pointer rotates around the dial. A few minutes before the turn of the hour, the hour numeral slowly rotates away and reveals the following hour at 60 minutes. On top sits a seconds hand, with a stylized broad arrow tip at its end.
Of course, there are a few twists when it comes to adapting the Baladin design to the M.A.D.3, giving it a slightly more modern edge. On the M.A.D.3, the outer minutes track is a ring of sapphire, coated with lume on the underside. Lume is also applied to the hour numerals, revealed in the now chamfered aperture. At an angle, you can see that the rotating section of the M.A.D.3 dial is quite pronounced in curvature, and the arrow-tipped seconds hand also follows suit. There’s just a bit more depth in this adaptation. And while some Baladin models featured Calabrese’s name on the dial, this one is obviously printed with “M.A.D.3.” A further contemporary twist comes in the form of the sans-serif typeface used for all the lettering on the watch.
An electric pink colorway is offered for the MB&F owners-only Tribe and friends of the brand, while the more versatile blue will be available in the public raffle. Both options, thanks to the curvature of the sunray-brushed center dial section, offer a dramatic display of gradient hues at any angle. Despite the wandering jump hour, the M.A.D.3 showcases the brand’s most conventionally structured dial to date, and I think the result is actually incredibly nice. There is a lot of depth, texture, and detailing on this dial, from the sheen of that sapphire minutes ring to the dramatic curve of the dial, and even the lume of the hour numerals. While the M.A.D.2 had a unique dial design, it didn’t offer as much room for conventionally finished elements as this does.
The dial is set in a case designed by Eric Giroud and pays tribute to the Baladin while infusing elements from past M.A.D.Editions. The stainless steel case measures in at 40mm in diameter, with a 12.7mm thickness and a very compact 43.7mm lug-to-lug thanks to the incredibly short floating lug design seen in the case of the M.A.D.1. The triple step of the polished bezel evokes memories of certain Baladin cases featuring triple-stepped lugs. Water resistance is rated to 30 meters.
The back view might seem quite consistent with the rest of the line, with a spinning rotor attached to a La Joux-Perret G101 movement, the same engine driving the M.A.D.1S and the M.A.D.2. The holes on the periphery of the rotor show snippets of a sentence, only fully revealing itself when the rotor is spinning at full speed: “Il est assez aisé de plaire aux autres, bien plus ardu d’être fier de soi,” which translates to “It is fairly easy to please others, far more difficult to be proud of oneself.” The brand notes that Calabrese’s mechanism for the Baladin, while inventive, was not suited for large-scale production. So, the wandering hours module was redeveloped for the scale required to offer this as a M.A.D.Editions watch.
The included metal box twists to open the aperture, revealing the MAD3 within.
The final effort is worth it. At this price point, the M.A.D.3 feels surprisingly refined in its finish, and just as importantly, in its operation. Unlike the M.A.D.2, this is not an instantaneous jump hour. Rather, it is designed to mimic Calabrese’s mechanism in the Baladin, which advances the hour over a few minutes at the end of the hour. In setting the time, the entire module feels incredibly smooth during changeovers, and the bidirectional capability makes it worry-free, with no sense of operational restriction. Yes, this means that at the turn of the hour, you’ll see a brief moment when the hour aperture shows mostly empty space, but that’s part of the charm.
If I had to critique anything, it’s that the M.A.D.3 comes across more like an homage watch than an original creation. And even though it’s by design, as a tribute to Calabrese’s work, it’s quite a significant shift from Busser’s spaceship-like execution of the M.A.D.1 and Giroud’s playful turntable-inspired M.A.D.2. Both examples featured each designer’s signature while remaining entirely original creations. The M.A.D.3 doesn’t quite feel the same, even if the result is still an interesting watch at the price point.
On the wrist, it’s no surprise that the M.A.D.3 is by far the most normal-looking version of any M.A.D.Edition to date. It’s probably the most contentious point in each new edition, given the inverse relationship between wearability and daring design. We saw this with the launch of the M.A.D.2, where devoted fans of the “MB&F-ness” of the M.A.D.1 found the new design less appealing, but the conventional lugs and silhouette of the M.A.D.2 broadened its appeal to a whole new set of consumers. I think the same phenomenon will happen here, with this design language yet again offering a watch for a wider base of customers. It certainly wears better on my smaller wrist than the M.A.D.2’s slightly bulbous case and lugs, despite being slightly thicker. To the untrained eye, the design on the wrist certainly just passes off as a regular watch. Whereas the M.A.D.1 is a great watch to wear to watch meetups, the M.A.D.3 is an easy wearer every single day, assuming you enjoy a colorful dial.
What the trend across three M.A.D.Editions has established, contrary to what many believed when the brand first launched, is that a M.A.D.Edition is not an “accessible” MB&F watch. Rather, it’s a platform to showcase different designers. While MB&F’s brand value comes from insanely creative, high-end designs you won’t find anywhere else, the M.A.D.Editions brand showcases its inventiveness by, well, not having any design language at all.
It’s clear now that each M.A.D.Edition can really be whatever it wants. This kind of “do anything” attitude is quite novel, and feels refreshingly free in that it goes directly against the logic of building a watch brand. What serves as the throughline, however, is the brand’s relatively approachable pricing, offering interesting designs and interpretations of complications at a consistent price point. For the blue-dialed M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese, offered to the public, you’ll have to enter the raffle on MB&F’s website. The raffle starts now (September 1st at 2 PM CEST) and is open for a week. Godspeed!
For more, visit M.A.D.Editions online.
