Last week the New York Times featured an article on how we have used our retail strategy to keep us in demand. Traditionally, business models are optimized for profits.  But that does not have to be the case.  But MB&F is different.  Max has chosen to optimize for creativity and quality of life.  When we make decisions, instead of focusing […]

Dropping in to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I have family in town and I’m going to try to pry myself away from my computer as much as I can.  So I will probably not be posting again this week.  Maybe I’ll try to throw up some fun links on Thursday in case you get bored of your family 😉 […]

I mentioned it in my post on Friday, but here is the official word from Max.  This was the newsletter sent out today.  Again, if you would like to subscribe to our newsletter, send me an email through the “Contact” button above and I will sign you up.

I am happy to report that both of my picks ended up being correct.  Congratulations to Van Cleef for Best Ladies’ Watch and of course, we took home the Design and Concept Watch prize for our HM4 Thunderbolt.  I know Max and the whole team are very excited, and they truly earned it.  All of the other winners were very […]

As I mentioned yesterday, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie will take place tonight in Geneva.  Today I’ll tackle what is almost always the most interesting category, Best Design and Concept Watch.  Again, go here for all of the nominees. Ok, obviously I am biased.  First of all, MB&F has two watches nominated in the category: HM3 Frog, and HM4 Thunderbolt.  For […]

Thursday, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie will take place in Geneva.  The Oscars of watchmaking, every year there are some very deserving winners and some surprises.  I thought I’d give my picks for the two most interesting categories as I see them: Ladies and Concept.  As a disclaimer, I have not seen all of the Official Selections in person, so I […]

This Tech Tuesday, I thought I would offer a little update on the state of TickTocking.  I have to say, this project has exceeded my wildest expectations.  I’m sure you have noticed that I have not been able to keep with my goal of blogging every day.  Some days I just don’t have much to say and I don’t want […]

Over the weekend, a very interesting discussion broke out on The Watch Lounge.  I encourage everyone to read the post and the comments there, they are from some of the biggest players in the watch media.  I wrote a comment, but wanted to expand a bit here. There are a few issues at play.  In my comment, I address the […]

When I came on board with Max, clearly we needed to open a few more retailers.  The challenge was that we had no connections at most of the stores.  Luckily, I have no shame whatsoever in cold calling or showing up somewhere unannounced.  I would never pressure anyone to become a dealer, either they get it or they don’t, but […]

Last year I received an invitation from Lussori to join them in their store during the Pebble Beach car shows.  Generally I turn down offers to appear at stores other than our Authorized Dealers, but this was too good an opportunity to miss.  Their store was on the main street in Carmel – an obvious destination for the biggest gathering […]

Rewind back to September 2008.  Max and I had just decided to start MB&F North America.  I knew business and I knew watches, but I had zero experience with the watch business. The organizer of SIAR, the great watch show in Mexico City, had invited Max to visit the Salon.  It was an invitation that Max was going to decline […]