The M.A.D.Editions story is by now familiar. Max Büsser made a one-off watch in 2021 to thank suppliers and friends who could not afford an MB&F. Word leaked. The annual raffle that followed has produced the M.A.D.1 in five colours, a slimmer M.A.D.1S, and last year's M.A.D.2 by Eric Giroud, the watch that took the brand's kinetic-rotor language and bent it into something inspired by Technics turntables and 1990s club culture.
The 2026 release is unusual. There are two new M.A.D.2 references, and they have very different paths to the wrist.
R&B: the raffle, with a music reference
The first watch is the M.A.D.2 R&B, short for Red and Black, as Monochrome documents. The dial plate is black, grooved like a vinyl record, with two raised sub-dials in red for the jumping hours on the left and the trailing minutes on the right. The case is the same 42mm polished steel pebble Giroud drew for the original M.A.D.2, with a rounded bezel, traditional lugs, and domed sapphires on both sides. Beneath the dial plate, a black perforated rotor swings across a band of Super-LumiNova stop pins, mimicking the stroboscopic strip on a Technics SL-1200 Mark 2. The same alien face that has appeared on every M.A.D. crown is here too, plus a matching alien on the deployant clasp.
Allocation is the established model. The raffle page opened on April 14 and closed on April 20. A bailiff supervises the random draw. Winners are notified afterwards and given the option to purchase. The retail price is CHF 2,900 excluding tax.
REDemption: a watch you cannot buy unless you have lost four times
The second reference, the M.A.D.2 REDemption, inverts the colour scheme. The dial plate is bright red. The hour and minute discs are black. The rotor on the back is engraved with the line "They say I'm stubborn, I'd say persistent." The crown's alien sits on a red background instead of black.
The interesting part is the allocation. The REDemption is not raffled. It is reserved for fans who have registered for at least four prior M.A.D. Editions raffles and walked away empty-handed every time. M.A.D.Editions contacts those people directly. They are offered the watch. They do not enter a draw.
This is a small experiment in how a brand handles its own demand structure. The raffle model, originally a way to keep allocation fair when supply could not meet interest, has produced a known side effect: the same people enter year after year and never win. The REDemption recognises that group as a category. The line on the rotor is not subtle. The price is the same as the R&B, CHF 2,900. The supply is whatever number of confirmed four-time-loser registrations exist in the M.A.D.Editions database, which the brand has not disclosed.
The colour reversal is, in the brand's framing, a visual nod to the inverted path: the watch you receive without entering, instead of the watch you might win.
Movement and shared specifications
Both references run the same powertrain. The base is a Swiss-made La Joux-Perret G101, an automatic at 4Hz with 64 hours of reserve. Above that sits an MB&F-developed module that drives the bi-directional jumping hours and trailing minutes display. The movement is visible through the sapphire caseback, with the perforated stroboscopic rotor as the visual centerpiece. Water resistance is 30m on both versions. The case is steel, polished and brushed. The strap is leather with a steel folding buckle.
As Watch Collecting Lifestyle frames it, the pairing also gives the M.A.D.2 a spread it did not have in 2025: an entry through the front door (the raffle) and a quieter back door for the brand's most patient followers. Whether the REDemption mechanism becomes a fixture or a one-off remains to be seen. For 2026, it is the watch you are not allowed to buy unless you have already lost four times.
Sources: Monochrome on the M.A.D.2 R&B and REDemption; M.A.D.2 R&B product page; M.A.D.2 REDemption product page; Watch Collecting Lifestyle on the dual release; Time and Watches on the M.A.D.2 RB and REDemption.
