MB&F’s M.A.D.3 Brings Vincent Calabrese’s Wandering Hours to a Wider Audience

MB&F’s M.A.D Editions line has always worked best when it treats accessibility as a creative constraint rather than a compromise.

The M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese takes that idea into especially meaningful territory, pairing MB&F’s playful engineering language with one of independent watchmaking’s most quietly influential minds.

At CHF 2,900 plus VAT, it’s not merely a lower-priced offshoot of the MB&F universe, but a watch that reflects Calabrese’s long-held belief that inventive watchmaking shouldn’t be reserved for the few.

At a glance

Vincent Calabrese gets his M.A.D Editions moment

Vincent Calabrese is the sort of watchmaker whose influence is larger than his name recognition outside enthusiast circles.

Now 82, he co-founded the AHCI, developed 40 patented mechanisms, and created one of modern watchmaking’s most recognisable movement-as-architecture designs in the Corum Golden Bridge.

His work has often sat at the experimental edge of horology, but not always at unreachable prices.

That makes him a particularly natural fit for M.A.D Editions, MB&F’s platform for bringing unconventional mechanical ideas into a more approachable bracket.

The new watch continues the line’s developing theme of celebrating figures close to the brand’s creative orbit, following the M.A.D.2 by Eric Giroud.

A moving jump hour with a human touch

The M.A.D.3 draws on Calabrese’s Baladin, a watch built around a wandering jump hours display.

In practical terms, the current hour appears in an aperture that travels around the dial once every 60 minutes, meaning the jump hour display also serves as the minute indicator.

The separate hand on the dial is used for the seconds.

It’s a small conceptual twist with a distinct emotional logic.

Calabrese developed the idea as an answer to static jump hour displays, which can feel detached from the continuous way we experience time.

By putting the hour aperture in motion, the display becomes less abrupt and more alive, while still preserving the clarity of a jumping hour.

Modern mechanics behind an old idea

The M.A.D.3 is not a simple revival of the Baladin.

MB&F and Calabrese have translated the concept into a modern production watch, using a wandering jump hours module fitted to the La Joux-Perret G111 automatic movement.

That choice matters because jumping indications can be demanding mechanisms.

Each hour change requires a sharp release of energy, and poor execution can compromise reliability over time.

For this project, the G111 has been customised with tighter tolerances and improved stability, supporting both the 55-hour power reserve and the long-term operation of the jump hour system.

The result is a watch that presents a poetic display without treating the engineering as secondary.

Raspberry, blue and a message under the rotor

Eric Giroud designed the 40mm stainless steel case, giving the M.A.D.3 visual continuity with earlier M.A.D Editions models without making it feel like a repetition.

At 12.7mm thick with sapphire crystal front and back, it has the proportions of a wearable contemporary steel watch rather than a showcase object.

Water resistance is rated to 30 metres.

Two sunray-brushed dial colours are offered, with raspberry reserved for MB&F’s Tribe and Friends and blue made available through the public raffle.

Both colours lean into the graphic nature of the display, helping the wandering aperture read as part of the dial’s personality rather than just a mechanical trick.

Through the caseback, a 360-degree rotor with cut-outs reveals an inscription beneath.

It reads “Il est assez aisé de plaire aux autres, bien plus ardu d’être fier de soi”, translated as “It is fairly easy to please others, far more difficult to be proud of oneself”.

It’s a fitting line for a collaboration between MB&F and Calabrese, two names more interested in pursuing their own horological instincts than polishing familiar templates.

Details & Specifications

The M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese should appeal to collectors who enjoy independent watchmaking’s ideas as much as its finishing codes.

It’s approachable by MB&F standards, intellectually tied to an important watchmaker, and mechanically distinctive enough to feel like more than another colourful limited-run conversation piece.