Entrepreneur ME 08.2019

32 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / August 2019

"THE HIGHER YOU GET INTO

POSITIONS OF POWER,

THE MORE YOU GET INTO

POWER STRUGGLES.”

IMAGE CREDIT MB&F

"WE ARE ABLE TO PROTECT OUR CLIENTS' MONEY

AT ALL COSTS, AT ALL TIMES. AND IT'S GREAT FOR

THE CLIENTS JUST TO KNOW THAT. BECAUSE IF

YOU'RE DOING EVERYTHING THROUGH A FUND,

SOMETHING YOU CAN'T PHYSICALLY SEE OR

TOUCH, IT BECOMES A LOT MORE DIFFICULT. SO

THAT'S OUR FRAMEWORK, TO OFFER CLIENTELE,

RETAIL OR INSTITUTIONAL, SOMETHING PHYSICAL,

SOMETHING TANGIBLE.”

Omar Jackson,

Partner, Berkely Assets“WE’VE GOT COMPLETE

ARTISTIC CURATION IN

THE CONTRACTS, AND THE

ONLY THING THAT I WILL

ACCEPT IS THAT NOTHING

CAN BE PRESENTED IN THE

GALLERY IF WE HAVEN’T

SAID IT’S OKAY.”

Maximillian Büsser,

founder, Maximilian Büsser and Friends

INNOVATOR

less innovation, fewer risks,

and less and reduced creativ-

ity,” Büsser says. “And then, on

the other side of the spectrum,

you’ve got the small guys, like

us -and we’re not the only ones

who do it- because it’s our life,

we don’t care if people will

like what we do or not. We just

want to create some incredibly

creative products. We have

got a micro voice, compared to

these big guys. I often feel like

a dolphin in the ocean, and you

send your sonar out, and there

are millions of fish, and nobody

gets it, and then from time to

time, you get your sonar back,

and you’re like, whoa, some-

body has resonated on the

same wavelength. It’s the same

thing for our clients.”

It is true that, when com-

pared to other luxury watch

brands, there are just a

handful of MB&F clients –

Büsser states that, since the

company’s inception, not

more than 2,300 pieces have

been manufactured and sold,

which represents about 800

clients– however, they are a

niche clientele willing to pay

top dollar for these time-

pieces. According to the MB&F

website, the prices range from

CHF20,000 to CHF400,000

(and are subject to change).

“I had a big collector come in

the other day who bought his

first MB&F, and told me, ‘You

know what, when I wear my

Patek Philippe, or my Richard

Mille, nobody ever speaks to

me,” Büsser recalls. “I can see

that they see what I’m wear-

ing, but they don’t speak to

me. When I wear an MB&F,

they come up to me, from any

social strata, saying, ‘Excuse

me, what is that?’ And then I

tell them the story.’” Accord-

ing to Büsser, his clientele are

courageous, self-asserted, and

don’t care about showing off.

As such, his clients are unique

and unpredictable to Büsser

himself as well. “Our sales in

Dubai have been a big surprise

for us, in that that an enor-

mous part of our revenue here

is tourist-based, and actually,

residents don’t account for

much in the success of this

gallery,” Büsser says, noting

that the Middle East repre-

sented 8% of the MB&F sales

in 2018, which is estimated

to rise to 14% in 2019. “We

were looking at the numbers

from the beginning of this year

and we’ve done incredibly

well here, I think we’ve sold

11 watches, which is a lot and

means that 5% of my yearly

production was sold in just six

months here, but none to any

UAE resident. The new clients

were from countries where we

have no retailers, where we

don’t do any PR, where we

don’t even know how to ac-

cess press in those countries,

but still, people come in, and

they already know the brand,

and they spend half an hour

here, and say, ‘Okay, I want a

AED600,000 watch.’ I’m like,

whoa, and then you realize the

power of social media today,

even at our price points. That’s

actually what’s driving most

of our business today. When I

started the company, I used to

say that we couldn’t have done

this without the internet, but

now, it’s [impossible] without

social media. That’s amazing.”

I got to meet with Büsser

at the M.A.D. Gallery (Me-

chanical Art Devices) in the

Dubai Mall, one of four he has

opened worldwide. The other

three are in Geneva, Taipei,

and Hong Kong. The four

M.A.D. Galleries showcase

MB&F’s machines and col-

laborations, as well as kindred

mechanical and kinetic artists.

Apart from the one in Geneva,

the other three are franchises.

“We’ve got complete artistic

curation in the contracts,

and the only thing that I will

accept is that nothing can

be presented in the gallery if

we haven’t said it’s okay,” he

says. “Most of the partners

are more into retail, and this

is not their theme. Although

they can come up with ideas,

we basically do all the work of

finding the artists. And then

we organize that the artist’s