M.A.D.EDITIONS — THE M.A.D.3 VINCENT CALABRESE: A POETIC WANDERING-HOUR CREATION AND A TRIBUTE TO A MAVERICK OF INDEPENDENT WATCHMAKING
By Anna LamMarket News
The M.A.D.3 brings one of independent watchmaking's most original complications into the M.A.D.Editions universe, through a collaboration with the equally original man who created it: Vincent Calabrese. Directly derived from Calabrese's Baladin watch launched in 1989 and its poetic wandering-hour display, the M.A.D.3 is both a reinterpretation of that creation and a tribute to the 82-year-old maverick watchmaker behind it.
Over more than five decades, Calabrese has built a career around independent thinking, creative freedom and a refusal to accept conventional mechanical solutions. He co-founded the AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants) with Svend Andersen in 1985, created the celebrated Golden Bridge movement architecture for Corum, and developed numerous wandering-hour displays, tourbillons and unconventional mechanisms, accumulating more than 40 patents along the way. His values made him a natural partner for M.A.D.Editions. Conceived not as a traditional watch brand with a fixed design language, but rather as a publishing house bringing together different "authors", personalities and creative worlds, M.A.D.Editions celebrates inventive mechanical watchmaking while aiming to make it accessible to a broader generation of enthusiasts. After the M.A.D.1 created by our own Maximilian Büsser and the M.A.D.2 signed by Eric Giroud, Vincent puts his name on the M.A.D.3.
At the heart of the M.A.D.3 is the complication first developed by Calabrese for his Baladin watch. Dissatisfied with the abrupt transition of a conventional jumping-hour display, he imagined a different way of showing the passage of time: instead of jumping instantaneously, the hour numeral travels progressively across the dial while the minutes continue their regular rotation. The resulting display is fluid, hypnotic and surprisingly intuitive.
The objective for the M.A.D.3 was not to reproduce the original Baladin or create a vintage reissue, but to preserve the spirit of Calabrese's complication while translating it into a contemporary M.A.D.Editions creation. This proved considerably more complex than anticipated. His original mechanisms were highly artisanal, ingenious and intuitive, but difficult to reproduce reliably in larger quantities. The M.A.D.Editions technical team therefore redeveloped the wandering-hours module entirely from the ground up. Built on a specially optimised Swiss-made La Joux-Perret G111 calibre, the movement was refined to manage the complication's energy requirements, improve amplitude control and provide a stable 55-hour power reserve. New components were developed to enhance reliability, energy transmission and long-term stability while preserving the smooth, progressive motion that defined the original Baladin.
Housed in a 40mm stainless-steel case, the M.A.D.3 features floating lugs, domed sapphire crystals front and back, a bombé sapphire minute ring, integrated Super-LumiNova beneath transparent elements and a layered construction of the display discs. On the reverse, a phrase by Vincent Calabrese gradually reveals itself when the winding rotor spins: "Il est assez aisé de plaire aux autres, bien plus ardu d'être fier de soi" ("It is fairly easy to please others, far more difficult to be proud of oneself"). A fitting summary of a creator guided throughout his career more by personal conviction than external validation.
The M.A.D.3 is offered in two colours inspired by Calabrese's own creations, both priced at CHF 2'900 + VAT. The pink version is reserved exclusively for MB&F Tribe members and Friends — the clients, suppliers and partners essential in bringing our creations to life — while the blue version is available through the M.A.D.Editions raffle system.
More than an exercise in nostalgia, the M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese is a recognition of a watchmaker who has spent his life proving that there is always another way of doing things.
All Photo credits to MB&F / M.A.D.Editions
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