MB&F's first seventeen years have been intense, full of challenges, and eventually rewarded. Among others, winning the Aiguille d’Or at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve in 2022. The Corvo family is proud to have been part of this important chapter in Watchmaking History.
The relationship with Maximilian Büsser began during the growth years of Jaeger-LeCoultre during which Max, product manager in the early 1990s, planned the future developments of the Manufacture with Giorgio and Michele Corvo, distributors for the Italian market. These were the years of the Reverso and the return of diamond watches.
Having taken over the watchmaking division of the famous jeweller Harry Winston in 1998, Maximilian Büsser remains in touch with Corvo and, as soon as the relationship with Jaeger-LeCoultre ends (2003), he enthusiastically asks Michele Corvo to distribute Harry Winston watches on the Italian market. It won’t be easy: the challenge is considerable.
Maximilian Büsser's idea to transform a purely feminine brand through the "complicated" Opus collection – developed with the help of talented masters of the time (F.P. Journe, A. Preziuso, C. Claret, V. Halter, F. Baumgartner of Urwerk) – is a total win and allows the success of the American brand in Europe.
The time has come for the engineer to start his own business, building on the great knowledge and experience he has gained, using it to pursue a personal dream. Maximilian Büsser founded MB&F in 2005, with the idea of developing a collection of complicated watches together with new "Friends" and, once again, he relied on Corvo to represent him in Italy.
At the same time, Corvo sensed that it was time to open a boutique to promote independent Haute Horlogerie: thus GMT – Great Masters of Time – was born.
The rest is history. Maximilian Büsser's creations are projected into the future. As a pure visionary, he has imagined a new and courageous approach to watchmaking. It took a few years for his Horological Machines and Legacy Machines to be understood and appreciated, but the challenge was met, and success arrived. HM and LM are now represented in a few select stores around the world, such as the new GMT boutique on Via della Spiga in Milan, which from next year will dedicate an entire space to MB&F.
