Chanel Invests in MB&F - A Broader Market Trend Emerges
Well, here we go again — Luxury brands investing in watch companies. In case you missed it yesterday, MB&F announced that Chanel has made a 25%investment in the company, with the investment in MB&F following investments in independent watchmakers Romain Gauthier and F.P. Journe.
I’ve suggested for some time there is a looming second Quartz Crisis in the watch industry. I don’t mean that as an existential crisis, where the industry had a complete reckoning of whether the mechanical watch is still relevant, although that may come. What I am suggesting we’re looking at in relation to the Quartz Crisis in the current market is a consolidation of brands. And not just a consolidation of smaller brands into conglomerates, I mean luxury brands investing heavily in the watch industry.
We’ve seen a number of luxury brands getting more heavily involved in watchmaking — LVMH is a perfect example, putting a huge amount of effort into watchmaking and purchasing clockmaker L’Epée. They are also taking over as the Global Timing Partner in Formula1 from Rolex.
Luxury brands have their sights firmly set on watchmaking. And for now, I think luxury brands are looking for partners and brands that they can invest in, to create a portfolio of brands that could later be spun off, or if a brand fails, they could leverage the designs, suppliers, and talent across the rest of their portfolio.
Now allow me to be clear. In this instance, for MB&F do I think this is a bad thing?
No, I do not.
While I don’t think this is a positive trend for watchmaking (Looking at Heuer as a historical example), I do not think this is a bad thing for MB&F. Why not?
So glad you asked.
For over a year, I’ve wanted to write an article on succession planning for independent watchmakers for over a year. I have reached out to multiple brand CEOs and watchmakers for interviews. Despite my best effort and personal relationship with most of these folks, I have faced refusals, acceptances that later turned to rejections, and so far only one interview has materialized — and it was granted by none other than Maximilian Büsser.
In our interview, Max explained his multiple roles within the company. He is the CEO of the company, he is the creative director, and he is the ultimate decision maker when critical choices need to be made.
Replacing Max would require hiring or promoting at least three individuals to take on those roles. Max has already taken steps in that direction with the hiring of Maximilian Maertens, a designer who has collaborated with MB&F on a number of projects, including a number of the L’Epée clocks. Maertens will likely succeed Max as the Creative Director of the brand. As for the CEO role there are amazing internal candidates, but with Chanel’s involvement, there might be an opportunity to bring in an experienced operator to run day-to-day operations. The access this investment provides the MB&F team to a broader talent pool, specifically HR and leadership, might alleviate some of the pressure on Max to take on everything all at once.
I don’t believe Max is going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, I think Max will view this as an opportunity to level up his creativity, and really push boundaries over the next decade, from MB&S 20th to 30th anniversaries. With the potential for more help from Chanel on the operational side of the business, Max could be freed up to focus solely on creation.
Will Max ever fully step away? I don’t think so. I can imagine him in a Chairman Emeritus role, but I think he will still be a presence at MB&F.
Another intriguing aspect of this investment is the doors it opens to Chanel’s suppliers. I do wonder if this changes the relationship with BVLGARI, with whom they’ve done gem-set pieces, and artists like Emmanuel Tarpin, who worked on the latest gem-set edition of the LM Flying T.
Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like much has changed with other independent watchmakers Romain Gauthier and F.P. Journe following similar investments. I anticipate smooth sailing for MB&F, with potentially more creativity and deeper introspection in the realm of independent watchmaking.
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