Maximilian Büsser
Maximilian Büsser is a Swiss businessman and founder of the watch brand MB&F. Prior to his work at MB&F he was the CEO of Harry Winston Rare Timepieces and worked at Jaeger-LeCoultre. Büsser has lived in Dubai since 2014.
Jaeger-LeCoultre (1991–1998)
Büsser studied engineering at EPFL and received his diploma in microtechnology in 1991. Büsser left university with the intention of working his way up the ranks of a large international company like Nestlé or Procter & Gamble, but was convinced to join the then relatively small Swiss watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre, which was then struggling to rebuild after the Quartz crisis, by Henry-John Belmont, then CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, with the words, "Do you want to be one among 200,000 in a big corporation, or do you want to be among the four or five of us who can save this beautiful company?"Büsser credits Belmont and Günther Bluemlein, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and A. Lange & Söhne as playing large roles in his early career development.
Harry Winston Rare Timepieces (1998–2005)
In 1998 Büsser was headhunted from Jaeger-LeCoultre to become CEO of Harry Winston, Inc., based in Geneva. At the time, the firm was still controlled by the Winston family.In his seven years at Harry Winston Rare Timepieces Büsser increased revenue from $8 million to $80 million and created the ground-breaking Opus series of ultra-complicated mechanical watches in collaboration with independent watchmakers.
MB&F (2005–present)
While at Harry Winston, Inc. Rare Timepieces Büsser had developed concept-style watches for the Opus series, which motivated him to create his own brand and focus on creating three-dimensional kinetic art that he calls "Horological Machines".Büsser's goal for MB&F is for the company to remain small enough not to require a middle layer of management, which Büsser feels is detrimental to creativity. To that end he has capped the head count at 20 people and sells his timepieces in the hundreds rather than the thousands, although the majority of the brand's watches sell for upwards of $50,000.