MB&F's Maximilian Büsser Is Making Outrageous $230,000 Watches - And His Business Is Thriving

In 1998 the venerable jewelry house Harry Winston hired a 31-year-old Jaeger-LeCoultre product manager to head the company's struggling watch division. Within seven years Maximilian Busser had boosted revenue from $8 million to $80 million and garnered industry respect by partnering with Switzerland's top independent watchmakers to produce the Opus series of ultracomplicated timepieces. On July 25, 2005 he incorporated MB&F -- Maximilian Busser & Friends -- gambling his savings to produce his first watch. In 2014 MB&F sold 279 watches, with $16 million in revenue. The company, which he says broke even in year three and reinvests profits, has gross margins approaching 35%. For its tenth anniversary the company created the HM6 Space Pirate, a biomorphic timepiece with four domed dials and a flying tourbillon in the center. Busser says the $230,000 watch is the most outrageous of his career, but tame compared with the concepts he has planned out to 2022.