Watchmaker Maximilian Büsser: ‘Sometimes I just go bananas and buy something’

My personal style signifiers are my sneakers. I used to wear Converse, then I saw Kill Bill and thought the Onitsuka Tigers were so cool. I’ve worn them ever since – they’re basically the same sports shoe that was made in the ’50s. From £62; onitsukatiger.com

The last thing I bought and loved was a Frank Buchwald Machine Light XL 1 in burnished steel. Although I don’t buy much any more, sometimes I fall in love with something and just go bananas and get it, even though it makes no sense. In this case, it’s a lamp. Actually, it’s a piece of art that gives light. About £30,000; frankbuchwald.com

And the thing I’m eyeing next is a Messerschmitt KR175 three-wheeler car from the late ’50s to early ’60s. If you saw Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, you’d have seen Jonathan Pryce in this little three-wheeler. It’s an extraordinary piece of mechanical art. About £32,870. 

The last item of clothing I added to my wardrobe was a dark-blue Zegna jacket made from what they call “Techmerino”. It’s extremely snug, fits perfectly and you can throw it in the washing machine. From £1,000; zegna.co.uk

The one artist whose work I would collect if I could is the Japanese artist Chicara Nagata. I’ve created a mechanical-art gallery, MAD, and he was one of the first artists we showed. In about 15 years he’s made only five motorbikes, spending three or four years on each one. They’re out of my reach and there’s only one left: Chicara Art III. I would love to have it. About £320,000; chicara.com

The grooming staples I’m never without are Santa Maria Novella body milk, which uses the same ingredients now as 400 years ago. That means something. There’s also this little Swiss company, Cellcosmet & Cellman, which makes ludicrously expensive shaving foam, but it’s got a big advantage: it’s transparent, so you can do  the line of your beard. And my fragrance is Aesop’s Hwyl. Aesop Hwyl, £90 for 50ml EDP; aesop.com. Cellman Wash n’ Shave, £100 for 150ml; cellcosmet.co.uk. Santa Maria Novella Latte Corpo Uomo, €64 for 250ml; smnovella.com

The best gift I’ve given recently is the Legacy Machine FlyingT to my wife. I’m going to have to sound my own trumpet on that one. It’s the very first horological piece I’ve created for women, for Tiffany, and she discovered it on the day we launched it. After 14 years of creating only for myself and being selfish, I decided it was maybe time I took a big risk. From £100,000; mbandf.com

The best souvenirs I’ve brought home recently are encounters – not objects. Perhaps the memory of walking the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto at 7am virtually alone, ambling through the temples, parks and cherry blossom trees as if we were the only ones on earth. 

An indulgence I would never forgo is Orfève chocolate. In the past couple of years, good friends of mine in Geneva, François-Xavier Mousin and Caroline Buechler, quit their jobs and went into creating the most amazing chocolate, from bean to bar. They sold their cars, used their savings and bought all the machines. They buy the beans from all over the world and the chocolate is so good I can’t eat any other kind now. From CHF10.30 (about £10); orfeve.com

My favourite apps include Watchville, which is for watch geeks. It’s an aggregator of all sorts of watch blogs. And I get my news from the app of Swiss newspaper Le Temps. We live in Dubai now, but if I have a minute, I still check the news there and it makes me feel close.

My style icon is Steve McQueen. He didn’t need to overdress, he didn’t need to overdo it. Whatever he wore, he looked cool.  

An unforgettable place I’ve travelled to in the past year is Japan. I trekked with my wife Tiffany around Tokyo, Kyoto and Mount Fuji. It was magical: 12 days of walking 20-25km a day. Japan, for me, is the only developed country that’s a culture shock. You really feel it’s different.

My favourite room in my house is our sitting room, where our two daughters, who are two and six, often give us a wonderfully crazy dance show at the end of the day. They make us laugh, and that moment is priceless. 

A recent “find” is Comptoir 102 in Dubai. It’s an excellent vegetarian restaurant and concept store close to the beach. It was created seven years ago by a Frenchwoman who was fed up with all the usual branded stuff. She wanted to create something different – an experience much closer to Europe. We go there a lot as a family, especially for the seaweed pesto, avocado crostini and the amazing choco pot. 102 Beach Road, Jumeirah 1, Dubai (+9714-3854 555; comptoir102.com)

If I had to limit my shopping to one neighbourhood in one city, I’d choose Omotesando in Tokyo. It started off as a luxury shopping destination, but the main street itself is a boring copy-paste of everywhere else. The fantastic parts are all the streets behind it – it’s this arty, crazy, chaotic place where every building has become a Japanese brand you’ve never heard of, with tons of pop-up stores and designer get-togethers. Tiffany went nuts at United Nude, for example. All city centres are looking the same now, so Omotesando is a breath of fresh air. unitednudejapan.com

The person I rely on for personal grooming is Stéphane Lenotte, who has been my hairdresser for over 20 years. I time my appointments for when I go back to Geneva, and if I can’t, it’s a complete disaster. He’s my age and we’ve grown older together. 19 Avenue Adrien-Jeandin, 1226 Thônex, Geneva (facebook.com/le19streethair).

The last music I downloaded was Simple Song #3 by David Lang from the film Youth. The music is just so beautiful, but you do have to like opera. I’ve got very eclectic tastes: I can easily go from heavy metal to opera.

The best book I’ve read in the past year is Sapiens, and then the follow-up, Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari. Suddenly, everything in today’s world makes sense, especially humans’ impressive capacity for auto-destruction. 

The best gift I’ve received recently is a drawing. I travel often and my six-year-old daughter always gives me a drawing just before I leave. I try to do a little video of me with the drawing wherever I am in the world to show I’ve brought it with me. It’s a little tradition we’ve built up. 

The last meal that truly impressed me was at the two-Michelin-starred L’Atelier d’Edmond in Val d’Isère. I went with Tiffany and the meal was mind-blowing. We had the Nature & Découverte set menu. On top of the amazing flavours and the use of local mountain produce were the small bites served in between, each more amazing than the last. The Fornet, 73150 Val d’Isère (+334-7900 0082; atelier-edmond.com)

In my fridge you’ll always find tons of fresh vegetables, a few slices of pata negra and a bottle of champagne (for our guests as I’m a teetotaller). I think as a family we are slowly becoming vegetarian. Today, we tend to have vegetables all year round, not in season, but in Dubai we try to go from one season to the other eating what you think we would be eating in Europe.  

An object I would never part with is an early-18th-century Katana sword I inherited from my parents. One of my mum’s best friends was the first female surgeon in the British army. She did the Burma Campaign, and during that time she saved a Japanese commander’s leg. Apparently he gave her his family Samurai sword to thank her. I don’t actually know if the story is true, but I remember my dad telling it and it resonated with me. 

If I weren’t doing what I do, I would be curating. I’ve been creating watches for 28 years, and I often say watchmaking saved my life, because it gave me a purpose. It gave me meaning; my story. And I can’t imagine doing anything else. But what’s interesting for me now is something I didn’t know I’d be good at: being a curator. With our MAD galleries, it’s something I discovered that I love and had no idea about before.