Some encounters seem obvious once they have happened. The one between Maximilian Büsser and Vincent Calabrese belongs in that category. Two personalities who, each in their own way, have always preferred the back roads to the highways of watchmaking. Two creators guided more by curiosity, instinct and freedom than by established conventions.
On this page
- Vincent Calabrese, the “troublemaker of watchmaking”
- M.A.D.Editions: a publishing house rather than a brand
- The Baladin, another way of letting time pass
- Preserving the spirit, reinventing the mechanics
- An M.A.D. architecture by Éric Giroud
- Raspberry or blue: two interpretations of Vincent Calabrese
- Mechanics on display at the back
- A watch between heritage and freedom
- “Don’t stay on the highway”
- M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese: specifications
- Frequently asked questions
With the M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese, M.A.D.Editions welcomes one of the most singular minds in contemporary watchmaking. More than just a new watch, this creation is a meeting between two generations of independent creators and a reinterpretation of a complication that has become iconic: Vincent Calabrese’s Baladin.
The project was almost written in advance. All that remained was to bring it to life.
Vincent Calabrese, the “troublemaker of watchmaking”
For more than half a century, Vincent Calabrese has held a unique place in the watchmaking landscape. Born in Naples before moving to Switzerland as a teenager, he has built a career unlike any other.
He happily embraces his nickname, the “troublemaker of watchmaking”. It sums up his relationship with mechanics rather well: instead of accepting existing solutions, he prefers to ask whether there might be another way of doing things.
In 1985, together with Svend Andersen, he founded the AHCI, the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, at a time when independent watchmaking did not yet enjoy the visibility it would later gain.
His career is also marked by the creation of the Golden Bridge for Corum, one of the most recognisable movements in contemporary watchmaking, as well as by extensive research into wandering hours, tourbillons and original mechanisms. He holds more than forty patents.
Yet behind this impressive body of work, Vincent Calabrese never seems to have sought to build an empire around his name. His driving force lies elsewhere: to create, experiment, understand and start again.
He himself describes this freedom as a kind of deliberate naivety. Not having come from a traditional watchmaking background, he did not always know what was not supposed to be done. So he tried.
That freedom has become the signature of his work.
M.A.D.Editions: a publishing house rather than a brand
This is precisely what makes the encounter with M.A.D.Editions feel so natural.
From the outset, M.A.D.Editions has never seen itself as a traditional watch brand. Its purpose is closer to that of a publishing house: bringing together authors, personalities and different worlds around a single editorial line.
Each project is born of an encounter or a fascination. It may be driven by a personality, an idea, a conversation or a particular approach to creation. What matters is that the project has a reason to exist and could hardly come to life anywhere else.
Vincent Calabrese fits this philosophy perfectly.
He and Maximilian Büsser have known each other for many years. They had already discussed collaborations even before M.A.D.Editions was born. Some projects were too ambitious mechanically, others ultimately came to nothing. But the relationship between the two men endured.
Until a lunch two years ago sparked the idea of a genuine collaboration.
The M.A.D.3 would become their meeting point.
The Baladin, another way of letting time pass
To understand the M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese, you have to go back to the complication that inspired it.
The Baladin was born of a simple wish: Vincent Calabrese disliked the abruptness of traditional jumping hours. In a conventional display, one hour disappears and the next appears instantly.
To him, that change did not match the feeling of time flowing by.
So he came up with another solution.
Between two hour changes, the current hour travels gradually around the dial while indicating the minutes. The seconds, meanwhile, continue to be displayed normally.
Time no longer jumps. It wanders.
This principle gives the display an almost living quality. The hour indicator seems to roam across the dial before gradually giving way to the next hour.
A mechanical complication, then, that does not merely seek to show the time, but to offer a different representation of its passing.
Preserving the spirit, reinventing the mechanics
The M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese is not a reproduction of the original Baladin. Nor is it a nostalgic reissue.
The aim was to preserve the spirit of the complication while bringing it into the world of M.A.D.Editions.
That is where the project became considerably more complex.
The mechanisms developed by Vincent Calabrese were deeply artisanal. Their ingenuity came precisely from this intuitive, experimental approach, but that construction made series production particularly difficult.
The M.A.D.Editions technical team therefore had to redevelop the wandering hours module entirely.
The challenge was to increase reliability and production capacity while retaining what defined the Baladin: the gentle, almost soothing progression of the display.
The movement is based on a Swiss La Joux-Perret G111 calibre, extensively reworked. The base calibre benefited from tighter tolerances and stricter amplitude control in order to achieve a more stable power reserve.
The wandering hours module was likewise entirely rethought and rebuilt.
Energy, its transmission and long-term stability were among the main challenges of the development.
Yet the result retains the essential: that very particular way of bringing the hours to life on the dial.
An M.A.D. architecture by Éric Giroud
The mechanics are not the only aspect of the project to have been completely rethought.
The case, designed by Éric Giroud, picks up certain codes already associated with M.A.D.Editions while developing a new aesthetic expression.
The floating lugs contribute to this distinctive architecture. The tiered construction and the domed sapphire crystals, on both the top and the bottom, give the watch a three-dimensional presence.
The case measures 40 mm in diameter and 12.7 mm in thickness. Its 316L stainless steel construction keeps the proportions restrained, while the 43.7 mm lug-to-lug distance contributes to the overall balance of the piece.
But it is above all the details that give the M.A.D.3 its character.
The domed sapphire minute ring, the tiered construction of the discs, the Super-LumiNova placed beneath certain transparent elements and the gradual luminosity of the dial all contribute to the goal of creating genuine visual depth.
The watch thus reveals itself gradually.
Raspberry or blue: two interpretations of Vincent Calabrese
The M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese comes in two colour worlds.
The first features a deep, vibrant raspberry. The second plays on a strong yet elegant blue.
These two shades were not chosen at random. They directly echo some of Vincent Calabrese’s creations and were selected for their ability to express a personality that is both refined and unpredictable.
Depending on the light and the viewing angle, the colours can change character.
The M.A.D.3 therefore does not seek to reproduce the past literally. It borrows certain signs from it to build a contemporary expression.
Mechanics on display at the back
The caseback also holds a surprise.
Through the openings in the rotor, a phrase gradually appears as it turns:
“It is quite easy to please others, far harder to be proud of oneself”.
This quotation was chosen as a discreet evocation of Vincent Calabrese. It reflects a career built more on personal convictions than on the pursuit of approval.
The phrase cannot be read all at once. It emerges with the movement of the rotor, turning the caseback into an additional mechanical stage.
A particularly fitting way to pay tribute to a watchmaker whose work has always favoured the idea and the mechanism over convention.
A watch between heritage and freedom
Ultimately, the M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese has a fairly precise ambition: not to freeze its creator’s legacy in place.
It seeks neither to reproduce the original Baladin nor to turn it into an object of nostalgia. It keeps its fundamental principle while adapting its mechanics to the demands of contemporary production.
This approach echoes Vincent Calabrese’s personal story.
His career has been made of successes and failures, of patents sold too early, of projects that did not always find their audience and of periods when he had to start again almost from scratch.
But the desire to create never seems to have faded.
After a particularly difficult period, he developed four entirely new movements in just a few months, simply to keep moving forward.
That quiet determination is found in the M.A.D.3.
“Don’t stay on the highway”
The M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese thus appears less as a nostalgic tribute than as a form of recognition.
Recognition of a man who, for decades, refused to regard established rules as final. A creator who did not try to be different for the sake of it, but because he deeply believed there were other ways of conceiving mechanics.
Vincent Calabrese’s philosophy may in the end come down to a few words:
“Don’t stay on the highway. Follow your own path.”
With the M.A.D.3, M.A.D.Editions takes exactly that road.
The Baladin’s wandering display finds a new life here, carried by entirely rethought mechanics and a contemporary architecture. A watch that does not simply measure time, but invites you to look at it differently.
M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese: specifications
| Launch editions | Pink for the Friends and The Tribe; Blue by ballot |
|---|---|
| Movement | Swiss La Joux-Perret G111 manufacture calibre |
| Complication | bidirectional jumping hours and dragging minutes module developed by MB&F |
| Casing diameter | 25.6 mm |
| Movement thickness | 4.45 mm |
| Frequency | 4 Hz / 28,800 vibrations per hour |
| Jewels | 24 |
| Power reserve | 55 hours |
| Winding | automatic |
| Case | 316L stainless steel |
| Diameter | 40 mm |
| Thickness | 12.7 mm |
| Lug to lug | 43.7 mm |
| Lug width | 21 mm |
| Water resistance | 30 m / 3 ATM / 90 feet |
| Front crystal | sapphire with anti-reflective treatment on both sides |
| Back crystal | sapphire with anti-reflective treatment on the inner side |
| Strap | leather |
| Buckle | stainless steel folding clasp |
Frequently asked questions
A watch from M.A.D.Editions, the watch publishing house of MB&F, created with independent watchmaker Vincent Calabrese. It reinterprets the spirit of his Baladin in an M.A.D. architecture designed by Éric Giroud.
Through a bidirectional jumping hours and dragging minutes module developed by MB&F, built on a La Joux-Perret G111 base.
Two colours: Pink, reserved for the Friends and The Tribe, and Blue, allocated by ballot.
The automatic La Joux-Perret G111 calibre with the MB&F module: 24 jewels, 4 Hz and a 55-hour power reserve, visible through the caseback.
A 316L stainless steel case measuring 40 mm, 12.7 mm thick and 43.7 mm lug to lug, water-resistant to 30 metres, on a leather strap with a folding clasp.
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