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Max Büsser on the Nature and Future of Avante-garde Haute Horlogerie An Interview with Wei Koh, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Revolution Press 15 September, 2006
WH: What a watch today represent... is it a functional tool or is it a canvas for artistic expression, is it the ultimate piece of jewelry or is it a high performance machine? Or is ultimately the magic of the watch that it encompasses all these things, delving into the subconscious blue prints residing in our imagination and giving form to our dreams? MB: Probably all of the above ! Any watch purchase is a two way process: I gratify myself and I project to others. It would be presumptuous for me to try to explain how this process works with any one of us, except maybe for myself. I believe I am part of a group of buyers who actually mix emotional values and technical rationale. Emotional values would centre mostly around a real creativity unseen to date, a courage or even a boldness in the attitude of the project and finally the personality of the creator. Technical rationale is of course about the technical innovation and the level of finish, but also about the finesse of the detailing. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, in my language, beauty stems more from what is bold and ripe with character than from what is pretty and politically correct.
WH: Give us a brief introduction related to your own achievements related to the radical evolution in watch design - How did they come about? How did you feel while creating the Opus 3 or 5 or the new MB&F watches? Were you concerned about how they would be received, ever feel you were being too radical? Opus 3 and Opus 5, in particular, were about crafting watches that were sheer artistic expressions of time and it is in this direction that it seems your own company is destined to make its mark.
MB: When I took over Harry Winston at the end of 1998, it was clear that we needed to create as strong a statement in horology as the company had done in high end jewelery. Now, my experience at JLC had taught me to develop a coherent design and product strategy. What it had not prepared me for was to work and share with others, as JLC is pretty much a totally integrated manufacture only relying on itself. And I realized that if I released total control and invited others into our realm, suddenly a whole new world opened up. Incredibly rich, dense and multi-cultural. The creation of Opus 3 was the real catalyst to a chain reaction which not only dramatically changed my life, my approach to horology and entrepreneurial values, but with a couple of other innovators, was to take our whole industry onto another level. Crazy was suddenly acceptable. Luxury, which had until recently always been symbolized by elegance, discretion and classicism, was taken by storm. Thanks to Richard Mille, Ulysses Nardin’s Freak, Vianney Halter’s Antiqua, Urwerk’s UR-103 and a couple of others, a new path was being carved, but not an easy one to walk. When we created Opus 3, practically my whole Harry Winston team thought I needed my head examined. I recall even a famous and rightly esteemed designer I asked for help on the diamond set version who just bluntly turned me down, saying that he wanted nothing to do with this “abomination”. And the only retailer I consulted before the official presentation, himself very specialized in complicated watches, stared at me in disbelief when I showed him the designs and asked me albeit politely “Who the hell is going to buy this piece ?”. I can say it today, it took guts to stick to the project. But even if the project is taking years to complete (and I believe my successor is continuing the trek), it was a total eye-opener. Opus 3 was the first ever iconic product for Harry Winston. After Opus 3, Opus 5 was a joyride. Not only was my team completely onboard, but the retail network was just waiting for more extreme products. Thanks to a very serious development cycle, the product presented in Basel not only was stunning, but functioned perfectly, and deliveries could follow smoothly. If I had my doubts on launching Opus 3, I was absolutely convinced from day 1 that Opus 5 would be a runaway success. And it was. Opus 3 and Opus 5 were for me more machine than watch, and that is the path I wish to take with MB&F. Horological Machines. 3D machines which give time and that are finished in the highest horological tradition. A Jules Verne product, mixing the futuristic with the traditional. A new tree species able to grow amazingly innovative branches thanks to its strong roots. I am nevertheless aware that a majority will be very much disturbed by Horological Machine No1, but one way or another it will generate emotion – and that is good. More important was that the level of enthusiasm which emanated from the whole collective that worked together was in my experience totally unheard of. Let’s not think of what will please, what will sell, what will seduce. Let’s just let our imagination roam and create this amazing 3D machine. The enormous pleasure we all derived by giving life to this first piece was in itself a large enough reward. The fact that 6 of the best retailers in the world immediately committed to it in fact took me by surprise, even though I am very conscious that out there is a very small category of clientele seeking that exceptional piece unlike any other.
WH: The future aesthetics of timepieces: Please identify some trends. For instance, stealth luxury, the luxury of dark coatings and matt hues, and the rise of the machine age, the use of industrial design and the influence of architecture in watchmaking. MB: I believe that at the end of the 1920’s, when the first commercial rectangular watches with tonneau-shaped movements appeared in wristwatches, the watchmaking community started claiming the arrival of the Modern Watch. The same probably happened at the end of the 40’s with the appearance of the first serial automatic round watches, and in the 70’s, when quartz and pop culture met in an unprecedented artistic and technical explosion for our industry. Indeed, each era seems to have defined its Modern Watch, either through technical breakthroughs, or artistic currents. So, when asked what will define the future aesthetics of timepieces, I can only answer that the end of the 20th century has welcomed so many cultural and ethnic influences, that I do not believe we will abide by anymore diktats deciding what will succeed and what will not. And all the better for all of us ! We, consumers, can finally define our own artistic territories, our own characters, our own tastes, by adhering to many different choices in a very fragmented offer of new products. There is no one Modern Watch, there are many… And like in other domains, a very small portion of top-end consumers is constantly seeking for the next trend, the novelty that will spur thousands of copies. It seems clear that the multi-material “fusion” approach in cases will last for some time and has been taken up by many brands in a record time, as will the fundamental research of materials in the regulating systems. The stealth blackened metal approach will continue having its aficionados, but as far as I am concerned, not all cases respond aesthetically to this treatment. Opus V, Cabestan, Horological Machine No1 - all three watches have more or less re-thought the 3-dimensional aspect to the timing machine. Will that be a trend ? I really don’t know. It clearly is the direction that our creative collectives are taking in all our MB&F products, and there are three more in the pipeline as we speak. It is also not innocent that Eric Giroud, the independent designer I worked with on 3 out of the 4 pieces, has an architecture background and was an industrial product designer before branching off into horology. Now, for those trying to emulate the “3D machine” concept, it will be difficult to follow using basic round movements bought from third-party manufacturers. Back to the technical movement drawingboards!
WH: Give your opinion on the current crop of modernist timepieces; what to you has really changed the landscape of watchmaking design.... how do you feel about the JLC Gyrotourbillon or the RM 01 or RM 12 or Vianney Halter 's Cabestan or Antiqua or Ulysse Nardin's Freak or Hublot’s Big Bang or Blancpain's Tourbillon Transparence or Breguet's Double Tourbillon?
MB: I remember 9 years ago raving to my watch industry colleagues about Vianney Halter’s Antiqua, a watch which still today remains on my top five list of most wanted, and getting in return at the best sceptical looks, at the worst major cynicism. The same happened with the Baumgartner brothers and Martin Frei on their Urwerk UR-103, which was presented during Basel 2003. That first year, they barely got 25 pieces on order from a couple of “visionary” retailers, and practically all my retail network seemed to not understand my interest in trying to promote to them this “weird” watch. Vianney has since received deserved recognition, and Urwerk has today 18 months of production pre-sold, but we are still only talking about a couple of hundred watches a year in total. We, aficionados immersed in this industry day in and day out all year long, are hungry for breakthrough concepts, but most watch clients just don’t understand our fascination for what they may consider crazy products. I am a great fan of the Freak and of the Cabestan concept – and Richard Mille swept me off my feet when he introduced RM001. Wow ! These independent creators just make me love this industry even more. On the other hand, I really get aggravated by what you could call “cosmetic wannabes”. Crazy designs casing simple ETA movements and parading as haute horlogerie. Case and dial design is a cheap commodity, movement design is not, and managing to integrate both is the ultimate challenge. That is where I find true value and the essence of what should come.
WH: Do you feel that watches have evolved considerably from being a functional tool crafted by an insular industry to one of the most important luxury symbols a person can own? If so, does that mean the role of the designer and of design, as in the realms of furniture, automobiles, jewelery and fashion, will play an ever more important part of the creative process? MB: It seems to me that after a certain price, it would be ludicrous to consider one’s watch as only a timing device. If it is the case, go and buy a Swatch – the best value for money timekeeping device in the world. Therefore owning a very fine piece of mechanical horology is indeed one of the greatest luxuries, because it very rarely has any functional benefit. Now you mentioned the word symbol. And yes, I am afraid you are right, timepieces are more and more a way of showing off, and their owners are less and less sensitive to the creative intention, the technical innovation, the difficulty of manufacturing and hand-finishing each part, the painstakingly long time necessary for a talented watchmaker to regulate their time machine. This has two very insidious side-effect. The first is that marketing is creeping everywhere and more and more brands are just bluffing this wealthy and unaware consumer, who nevertheless is happy because he can show off to his similarly unaware crowd. The second is that some of our finest masterpieces of horology are being mistreated and abused. Minute repeaters used whilst playing golf, perpetual calendars broken because the date has been changed at the wrong time to show off during a party, etc, etc… As if they would use their Ferrari F430 to win the Camel trophy… This “luxury symbol” part also partly explains the growth in size of timepieces, and the ever bolder looks – easily recognisable from far. And the emergence of the “cosmetic wannabes” I spoke of previously. So yes, indeed the design component which was until recently practically frowned upon in some high-end circles, has suddenly emerged as a key element in the success of a brand.
Thanks to Revolution Press for making this interview available to TimeZone. Please visit the Revolution web site!
Read Ian Skellern's Article on the MB&F Horological Machine No. 1 Read Wei Koh's interview with Eric Giroud Read Wei Koh's other interview with Max Büsser Return to the TimeZone Home Page Return to the TimeZone Independent Horology Forum Return to the TimeZone Public Forum
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