Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. MB&F Announces the New M.A.D.1 Green Edition
What was red turns to green as the MB&F team expands the M.A.D. 1 collection.
A little over two years ago, we were among the first to bring you the story of MB&F’s superbly creative ‘Thank You‘ watch. This Horological Machine-inspired piece was a much more affordable take on the usual MB&F concept of watchmaking, dubbed the M.A.D. Edition. It was offered only to those who helped build the brand into what it is now: one of the most celebrated and creative independent watchmakers. No strings attached, and at a cost to people close to the brand. It was never meant to go as viral as it did (I apologise, Max and friends!), and the team was bombarded by thousands of people who wanted one, Brice and myself included. Fast-forward to early 2022, and news broke of a commercial version, now in black and cherry red. But what if I told you that the first commercial watch was supposed to be green? What if I told you that because of the sheer sleuth of green watches coming out about two years ago, the team postponed the launch of the green and went for red instead? Well, in any case, the M.A.D. Editions M.A.D.1 Green is very much a real thing and is now being offered through the same fair raffle system as before!
The whole idea behind MB&F – and now M.A.D. Editions – is to celebrate friendships and relationships. Over the years, plenty of people have worked on MB&F’s watches or done something for the brand to help elevate it to its current status. We’re talking about a brand that does things out of the ordinary. Since its foundation in 2005, MB&F has launched two main universes split between the super-creative Horological Machine and somewhat traditional yet expressive Legacy Machine collections. Between the two, there’s no shortage of groundbreaking, innovative and hyper-creative watchmaking, such as the award-winning Legacy Machine Sequential EVO or the recently introduced HM8 Mark 2.
With the M.A.D. Editions, the MB&F team took a step back to reflect and offer something to their supporters and friends who might not be able to obtain an MB&F. After all, we’re talking about watches costing several tens of thousands of euros and highly limited quantities. The M.A.D. 1 completely turned this on its head, as here was a true MB&F-esque watch that was far more attainable! Priced at around CHF 3,000, the M.A.D. 1 Red was first offered to those who expressed interest since the white-and-blue edition was out and about. After all that was dealt with, the rest of the people had a two-week window to register their interest. Among all entrants, the remaining production run was raffled fair and square, there’s no other way to put it. To put what happened into some sort of perspective, MB&F received more than 25,000 inquiries for the M.A.D.1 Red, far exceeding the brand’s production capacity! Consequently, a lot of people missed out on this M.A.D.1 Red.
But now there’s a new chance to obtain what is perhaps the most fun and original watch that’s more attainable to the average Joe. This new M.A.D.1 Green is technically and visually identical to the red one, with the obvious exception of colour. And to break it down as simply as possible, what was cherry red, is now green. You still get that cradle-like base with the mineral crystal on top. On top, there’s a ridged bezel and a sapphire crystal, just like before. What’s new, though, is the green finishing of the underside of the inverted movement, the minute cylinder and the ring around the movement on top. All numerals, as well as three stripes on the rotor, are given a hefty dose of Super-LumiNova, so this one shines like mad too! The black leather strap also has green stitching instead of red to match the colours of the watch.
The M.A.D.1 Green uses the Miyota 812A that is flipped on its head and given the very distinctive triple-blade ‘Battle Axe’ winding rotor, inspired by various MB&F watches. It runs at a rate of 21,600 vph and provides a power reserve of 42 hours. Time is indicated laterally, with a pointer between the bottom lugs showing you the hours (the green cylinder on top) and the minutes (the black cylinder on the bottom). The choice for this movement is down to the speed at which the rotor can spin, and when you flick your wrist just right, it will fly inside the case just like a fidget spinner! And that is what makes this watch so much fun!
The price of the new M.A.D.1 Green is set at CHF 2,900 (excl. taxes), and it will be offered from today in exactly the same way as the red one was offered. If you’re interested, you can get a lottery ticket in the MADGallery’s e-shop, and after a two-week period, another raffle will determine who is offered to buy one. Deliveries are scheduled to commence in October 2023 and spread out to April 2024. So, if you missed out on the cherry red, or are looking to complete the set, here’s your chance to do so!
For more information, and to secure your raffle ticket, please visit Shop.MADGallery.ch.
6 responses
with a pointer between the bottom lugs showing you the hours (the black cylinder on top) and the minutes (the green cylinder on the bottom)……. its the opposite
OF course it is, and now corrected. Thanks for pointing this out to us.
Played with this watch for a bit, the watch felt surprisingly cheap, as the winding felt very gritty, time setting also very gritty, nothing smooth, and also often times the numerals didn’t line up when indicating the time. Then, movement is dusty, and dirty eventhough nobody ever touch the inner side of the watch, and oil lubrication also made to the top of the jewel, lots of them the jewel aren’t clean, and it seems like the one that I was playing with has the shock-absorber jewel oiling skipped by the watchmaker that assembled this watch, and yeah quite amounts of fibers and dust stuck with the time telling rings aside the side and top crystal, I think Tissot might done even better job than this. I’m sure most are acceptable as the miyota movement is dirt cheap, so that it’s usually used for watches in the <300$ price range, but CHF2900 is straight up a robbery, I expected that even those movement came from the package, people from MB&F are care enough to dismantle, wash and relubricate properly those movement, but I'm not sure if that's the case here. I just hope MB&F main line is truly epic as in the pictures as well as in the hands of the owners (last time I had a hands on with MB&F watches was the Alain Silberstein LM1 and HM4 final edition aside many other previous MB&F creations, very nice), but these kind of mistake is tarnishing Max's name.
Great writeup! Another fun timepiece from Max 😎
I am cool with the movement given that it is a proven workhorse of high quality and reliability from Japan, from Citizen specifically- that said I’d rather not deal with Mb&F/Mad/whatever since they act like this MAD line is like charity or a service etc(story follows).
Let me reiterate, the design- aesthetic and functionality, too is unique, nothing like it at this price point.
That said, I wrote to the team last time round and they seemed arrogant as did the brand’s promoter Max when I brought up an issue with him. This insistence on wrapping your arms with dead animal skin under the guise of “luxury=leather” is an outdated notion given that everyone from Patek, Urwerk to Richard Mille use rubber straps on the best watches. Also, lotteries are the most opaque processes and I don’t see why they can’t have a wait list in its place for a mass made watch!(The way MIH did with original, gaia 1 & 2).
Anyway, back to my story- I asked customer service at MAD if the strap is rubber, they said its leather and I asked if they can get me an OEM rubber strap in its place since Im a vegetarian and against animal cruelty etc… they told me I’ll have to make my own strap. I said pls go ahead and cancel my name from the draw/ticket if that’s the case, since it won’t have branding etc. When this was brought up with the owner and I suggested they make rubber straps/textitle as an options, they mentioned that making a quality rubber strap costs a lot of money! I then asked how does your team expect me to make a rubber strap if you can’t? To this he replied with something along lines of customer service being that way due to entitlement from clients or something…lol! Dude, you’re selling a shadow of something we really don’t need. I’m never dealing with MB&F if they have such an attitude. Customer comes first, never talk down to them. If small independents like Angular Momentum can make non leather straps, you can too!
Wow horologyfan88… if there ever was a term for a Karen in the watch world… you’re it