PARIS — Chanel is reinforcing its presence in watchmaking with the purchase of a 25 percent stake in Swiss high-end watchmaker MB&F, the French luxury house said Thursday.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Frédéric Grangié, Chanel’s president of watches and fine jewelry, characterized the move as part of the brand’s “long-term strategy to continue to preserve, develop and invest in specialist know-how and expertise, reaffirming [its] position in high-end watchmaking.”
MB&F, which stands for “Maximilian Büsser and Friends,” was founded in 2005 by Büsser on the premise of offering kinetic sculptures for the wrist that can tell the time.
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Dubbed “machines,” MB&F’s horological creations range from the wrist-sized to desk clocks, with organic or futuristic shapes as well as novel ways to tell the time. Movements are developed in-house, with some 20 calibers developed since the launch.
In 2002, its Legacy Machine Sequential Evo, boasting a skeletonized movement with two chronographs including a split-second complication, won the Aiguille d’Or grand prize at the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève, an event considered the Academy Awards of watchmaking.
Headquartered in Geneva, the Swiss watchmaker has two boutiques, dubbed M.A.D. Galleries, in Geneva and Dubai as well as four “M.A.D. Lab” shops-in-shop in Paris, Taipei, Singapore and Beverly Hills. It also retails at a handful of locations of high-end multibrand stores such as Watches of Switzerland.
Under the partnership, Büsser and his partner in the company Serge Kriknoff retain respectively a 60 percent majority and 15 percent stake, with Büsser continuing to lead creation and general management. The current leadership team, including Kriknoff, head of marketing communications Charris Yadigaroglou and head of sales Thibault Verdonckt will remain on board.
“It was our responsibility, in today’s very favourable context and with our management team in its prime, to take this major step to ensure our long-term future — a natural evolution for a company celebrating its 20th anniversary next year,” Büsser stated.
He described the investment as allowing MB&F to continue on an independent path “free of any pressure on growth” while opening up access “when needed” to Chanel’s watchmaking ecosystem.
Chanel’s first move in watchmaking was the Première watch launched in 1987. It kicked off its investments in the industry in 1993 with the purchase of manufacturer G&F Châtelain, based in La Chaux-de-Fond, Switzerland. It also bought high-end parts-maker Kenissi in 2019.
Over the years, the French luxury brand has also invested in other watchmakers, with Bell & Ross in 1998, Romain Gauthier in 2011, and F.P. Journe in 2018. Its ownership level in the watchmakers was not disclosed.