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News broke this morning that Chanel has invested a 25% stake in MB&F, one of our favorite independent brands. The investment comes on the eve of MB&F’s 20th anniversary year, and is being framed by the brand as future-proofing the company. “It was our responsibility,” according to a statement from founder Max Büsser, “in today’s very favourable context and with our management team in its prime, to take this major step to ensure our long-term future.”
Büsser retains a majority stake in the company (60%) while his partner and Head of R&D & Production Serge Kriknoff owns 15%. According to the statement released by MB&F, the brand will continue to be run independently by the current leadership team, which also includes Charris Yadigaroglou (Head of Marketing Communications) and Thibault Verdonckt (Head of Sales).
Brands taking on investment is of course nothing new, and the decision of a niche independent that has displayed over multiple decades that it’s capable of not only sustaining itself but growing feels like a smart business decision. It plays directly into a topic that comes up a lot in the world of independent watchmaking: What happens when a founder moves on? While there is no indication that Büsser is stepping aside anytime soon, longevity is something always on the mind of watch collectors. This is an industry, after all, where some brands can trace their roots to the 18th century. We covered this very topic in a Q&A podcast recently in a slightly different context. MB&F’s choice to bring in a significant watch industry player with lots of capital and a great deal of stability will help ensure that they can survive any number of potential future scenarios while expanding the possibility of what the brand can do right now. It’s an exciting moment if you’re a fan of MB&F and independent watchmaking in general.
Chanel is not a brand that we cover closely on Worn & Wound, but their presence in the watch industry has grown rapidly in unexpected ways in recent years. In addition to owning a stake in MB&F, Chanel has equity in three other notable independent brands: F.P. Journe, Bell & Ross, and Romain Gauther. All have continued to operate as independent entities since Chanel’s investment. Perhaps more notably for Worn & Wound readers, Chanel is one of the brands that has an ownership stake in Kenissi, the watchmaking firm that is majority owned by Tudor (Kenissi produces movements for Tudor, Breitling, Chanel, and Norqain, among others). This, of course, connects Chanel to Rolex, Tudor’s sister company, as well as every brand Kenissi produces calibers for. It’s fascinating to see the family tree slowly expand.
Chanel, in addition to purchasing ownership stakes in watch brands and movement makers, has also gained a more prominent role in the industry writ large through their involvement in Watches & Wonders, the industry’s largest trade show. Earlier this summer, the Watches & Wonders Geneva Foundation announced that Chanel would be added to the board that directs the show (the LVMH group and Hermes were also added). Chanel was part of the group of brands that made up the very first Watches & Wonders show in the wake of Baselworld’s decline, and they now have an even stronger footing in the singular event on the watch industry calendar.
We’ll be in Geneva next week for Geneva Watch Days, and will be meeting with MB&F as well as a host of other brands, and will be sure to bring you more information on this story soon.
