The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime
The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime
The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
THE<br />
LEGEND<br />
o f<br />
CHAPTER ONE<br />
Part 1:<br />
Who is <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>?<br />
Part 2:<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> and the Tourbillon<br />
Part 3:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Revolutionary Master Banker
ILLUSTRATION PK CHENG
CHAPTER I - PART I<br />
WHO IS<br />
Every genre <strong>of</strong> art and science has its<br />
era-defining heroes, none more<br />
so than in that unique merger<br />
between mathematics and mayhem<br />
known as mechanical timekeeping. With each<br />
period in horology, one watchmaker has<br />
stepped forward to be the definitive genius <strong>of</strong><br />
his time. Each <strong>of</strong> these men has not just<br />
brought about advancements in watchmaking,<br />
but also shaped our cultural destiny.<br />
Though there have been many watchmakers<br />
who have contributed enormously to the<br />
landscape <strong>of</strong> the 20th century, there is one<br />
individual whose impact has been extraordinary.<br />
He would be the first great horological icon after<br />
watchmaking faced its greatest threat ever. He<br />
would usher in a new golden era for high<br />
watchmaking that would simultaneously connect<br />
its values to an all-new generation while<br />
completely redefining the significance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
wristwatch in contemporary culture.<br />
His name is <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>, and this is his story.<br />
In many ways, <strong>Franck</strong>’s story stretches back<br />
centuries before he was born. It began with the<br />
ancient Sumerians as they first traced the<br />
passage <strong>of</strong> the day. It has its roots in the mid-<br />
14th century when Giovanni de’ Dondi <strong>of</strong> Padua<br />
would create one <strong>of</strong> the most ambitious<br />
instruments to capture the fleeting eternity we<br />
perceive as time. De’ Dondi’s ambition was to<br />
transcend the mere tracking <strong>of</strong> civil time and<br />
communicate a greater revelation <strong>of</strong> our planet’s<br />
orbit around the sun. His Astrarium was based<br />
on the writings <strong>of</strong> the renowned astronomer<br />
Johannes Campanus, and it was, simply<br />
speaking, the most advanced astronomical clock<br />
and planetarium <strong>of</strong> its time.<br />
<strong>Franck</strong>’s story is similarly rooted in that <strong>of</strong> a<br />
Yorkshire cabinetmaker turned horologist, John<br />
Harrison. Determined to give England a clock<br />
accurate enough to provide position at sea,<br />
Harrison’s H4, presented in 1761, represented<br />
31 years <strong>of</strong> unremitting labor and was the tool<br />
that allowed man to navigate the world beyond<br />
the horizon. <strong>Franck</strong>’s precursors include<br />
Abraham-Louis Breguet, the consummate<br />
showman and watchmaker whose iconic<br />
inventions include the tourbillon regulator;<br />
Christiaan Huygens, inventor <strong>of</strong> the hairspring;<br />
Pierre Le Roy, innovator <strong>of</strong> the detent<br />
escapement; Ferdinand Berthoud, fabricator <strong>of</strong><br />
the world’s most revered marine chronometers;<br />
Charles Édouard Guillaume, Nobel Prizewinning<br />
inventor <strong>of</strong> the thermal-compensating<br />
balance spring material, Elinvar. But while each<br />
<strong>of</strong> these men labored to bring a new chapter to<br />
the story <strong>of</strong> high horology, <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>’s<br />
immense challenge would be to keep the story <strong>of</strong><br />
mechanical watchmaking itself alive.<br />
<strong>The</strong> era in which he came to prominence<br />
was when the watch industry attempted to<br />
rebuild itself after suffering its most brutal<br />
and devastating assault in its 300-year-old<br />
history. It would be <strong>Franck</strong> who would<br />
become its greatest vehicle for rebirth.<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> would achieve this rebirth based on<br />
three pillars. <strong>The</strong> first involved his reintroduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> classical Swiss high watchmaking renewed<br />
through aesthetic innovation and technical<br />
audacity to an all-new audience. A chief example<br />
<strong>of</strong> this is his introduction <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> watchmaking’s<br />
most famous complications, the tourbillon<br />
regulator, to the wristwatch. <strong>The</strong> second required<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> to use his dexterity to meet the needs <strong>of</strong><br />
the modern world. A prime example <strong>of</strong> this is his<br />
creation <strong>of</strong> the revolutionary Master Banker, a<br />
watch that enables its user to simultaneously<br />
keep track <strong>of</strong> three time zones. Finally, <strong>Franck</strong><br />
also transformed the watch from a precision<br />
instrument into a canvas for the emotional<br />
expression <strong>of</strong> time. His Crazy Hours watch<br />
would delight and shock by creating a seemingly<br />
random jumble <strong>of</strong> numbers on the dial, yet the<br />
hands would always find their way to the correct<br />
index as if guided by some divine intervention.<br />
the young prodigy<br />
Who is <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>? He is part showman, part<br />
technical prodigy… part impresario and part<br />
elusive genius. <strong>Muller</strong> was born in 1958 to an<br />
Italian mother and a Swiss father, and in many<br />
ways, his equal footing in these cultures would<br />
define the watchmaker he would become<br />
because encoded within his DNA were the<br />
design acumen, aesthetic bravado and reverence<br />
for science that typified Italian watchmaking, as<br />
well as the dedication to precision and the<br />
respect for the traditional values that are at<br />
the root <strong>of</strong> Swiss watch culture.<br />
This concept <strong>of</strong> duality inhabiting <strong>Muller</strong> is<br />
fitting indeed, because in many ways, he would<br />
influence both the past and the future <strong>of</strong><br />
watchmaking. By reaching back to its historic<br />
roots, he brought an all-new relevance to its<br />
mythical language <strong>of</strong> complications; and<br />
by transmitting the value <strong>of</strong> gearwheels,<br />
hairsprings and balances to an all-new<br />
contemporary world, he defined its future.<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> enacted a rebirth for horology that<br />
continues to be the single biggest influence<br />
on the shape <strong>of</strong> contemporary horology today.<br />
Says independent watchmaking legend, Philippe<br />
Dufour, “What is clear is that without<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>, watchmaking would not exist<br />
at the same level <strong>of</strong> cultural relevance as it<br />
does today.” Michel Parmigiani, another<br />
Swiss horological hero, states: “<strong>Franck</strong><br />
may very well be one <strong>of</strong> the most talented<br />
individuals to take up the craft <strong>of</strong> watchmaking.”<br />
“What is clear is<br />
that without<br />
franck muller,<br />
watchmaking<br />
would not exist<br />
at the same level<br />
<strong>of</strong> cultural<br />
relevance as it<br />
does today”<br />
— independent<br />
watchmaking legend,<br />
philippe Dufour
CHAPTER I - PART I<br />
1970<br />
Ro digna feugiate dolore mag nim<br />
velestrud ercin vel iriure et lobore<br />
verTo dion ulluptat.
19XX<br />
Ro digna feugiate dolore mag nim vel estrud<br />
ercin vel iriure et lobore verIpit augueraessi.<br />
XerGait nissit ut lutem velit ad dolobor<br />
“My father would look at our grades and i<br />
could see the disappointment in his eyes...<br />
until one day, i came to him and explained<br />
that i wanted to enter watchmaking<br />
school. I said to him, ‘father, i will finish,<br />
and when i graduate, it will be as the top<br />
student” — <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong><br />
Ro Ro digna feugiate dolore mag nim vele strud<br />
19XX 1976 19XX<br />
ercin<br />
digna feugiate dolore mag nim vel estrud<br />
Xer It<br />
vel<br />
acip<br />
iriure<br />
ero odigna<br />
et lobore<br />
adionse<br />
verIpit<br />
duipit<br />
augueraessi.<br />
pratet<br />
ercin LuptatRe vel iriure tat dignis et lobore amconse verTueros quissecte alisi.<br />
del elis<br />
Ro digna feu gi<br />
ate dol ore vee<br />
at,bh et nummy
CHAPTER I - PART II<br />
AND THE TOURBILLON<br />
What is particularly<br />
extraordinary about <strong>Franck</strong><br />
<strong>Muller</strong> is that he was the first<br />
great watchmaker to ply his<br />
craft after the onset <strong>of</strong> the electronic era — a time<br />
when mechanical instruments had been<br />
superseded by electronic ones. Throughout<br />
the ’70s, Swiss watchmaking was devastated<br />
by easily produced, inexpensive, battery-driven<br />
quartz watches which <strong>of</strong>fered up a level <strong>of</strong><br />
precision which had heret<strong>of</strong>ore never been<br />
achieved by mechanical watches. It was amid<br />
this period <strong>of</strong> massive retrenchment throughout<br />
the industry, and uncertainty in the very<br />
sustainability <strong>of</strong> horological culture, that<br />
<strong>Muller</strong> would enter L’Ecole d’Horlogerie<br />
deGenève (the Geneva School <strong>of</strong> Watchmaking).<br />
Says <strong>Muller</strong>, “If it had not been for Nathan<br />
Schmulowitz, one <strong>of</strong> the big watch experts at<br />
Antiquorum — an auction house dedicated to<br />
preserving the high arts <strong>of</strong> watchmaking — I<br />
might have never become a watchmaker. I was 15<br />
years old and had decided to make my career in<br />
mosaic work because I was good with my hands. I<br />
had come to his attention because I loved to work<br />
on mechanical objects. Basically, I would<br />
disassemble anything and try to put it back<br />
together. Amused by me, Schmulowitz suggested<br />
that I try my hand at watchmaking. I asked him,<br />
‘But what if I don’t do well?’ You have to remember<br />
that at that time, the watch industry was in peril,<br />
the Swiss had retrenched 80,000 people,<br />
factories were closing each day and major houses<br />
were selling movements by the kilo. He jokingly<br />
said, ‘Well, don’t worry if you fail — by the time<br />
you graduate, there probably wouldn’t be any jobs<br />
anyway!’ Of course, he was joking, because he<br />
was still deeply passionate about horology. What<br />
he wanted to see was whether I would become<br />
infected with the same passion.” What is clear is<br />
that even at this early age, Schmulowitz saw raw<br />
talent in <strong>Muller</strong>. Says <strong>Franck</strong>, “Schmulowitz<br />
believed that with so many people turning their<br />
backs on watchmaking, there was a real threat<br />
that there would be no one to take care <strong>of</strong><br />
the vast horological riches <strong>of</strong> the past.”<br />
But such was <strong>Franck</strong>’s capacity to absorb<br />
information that he soon proved himself to be a<br />
prodigy. He explains, “I began watchmaking<br />
school and finished in the accelerated program<br />
in three years. I’d just turned 16 when I entered.<br />
I took all <strong>of</strong> the top Swiss first prizes for student<br />
watchmakers during this period. However, I<br />
should point out that I was not always a good<br />
student. In fact, previous to becoming a<br />
watchmaker, I was a terrible student who was<br />
consistently at the bottom <strong>of</strong> my class. It was<br />
only when I became a watchmaker that I<br />
discovered what I was talented at, what God<br />
had put me on earth to do. And from the day<br />
I stepped into watchmaking school, I never<br />
scored anything less than a perfect mark.”<br />
But delving deeper, <strong>Franck</strong> reveals a more<br />
important emotionally resonant motivation for<br />
his perfectionism. He states, “When I was young,<br />
in the classroom, I always tried to stay focused on<br />
the book in front <strong>of</strong> me, but my eyes were always<br />
drawn to the birds outside. I have a brother<br />
and he was always the top student in our class<br />
and I was always the worst. At the end <strong>of</strong> each<br />
semester, my father would look at our grades and<br />
I could see the disappointment in his eyes.<br />
This lasted all the way until one day, I came to him<br />
and explained that I wanted to enter<br />
watchmaking school. He asked me, ‘Are you sure<br />
you will finish?’ I said to him, ‘Father, I will finish,<br />
and when I graduate, it will be as the top student.’<br />
When I did, I could see that finally, he was proud.<br />
Unfortunately, he died not long after, and so, he<br />
never really saw what I became and what<br />
I ultimately achieved in watchmaking.”<br />
Passion was what drove <strong>Franck</strong>, and the more<br />
he plunged into horology, the more he began to<br />
understand its cultural significance. “It would<br />
have been impossible to do well in watchmaking<br />
school if I wasn’t passionate, if watches had not<br />
resonated for me on an emotional level. It was as<br />
if using my hands and mind, I could understand a<br />
universal language that God had bestowed on<br />
man. It was a language that transcended all<br />
cultures. Time was a language that was understood<br />
in every civilized corner <strong>of</strong> earth and the fact<br />
that we could create these extraordinary<br />
machines was, to me, something extraordinary…<br />
I have <strong>of</strong>ten said that if you break a watch<br />
down to its basic components — wheels, springs…<br />
just pieces <strong>of</strong> metal — it is a miracle that it<br />
works at all. That it must work constantly, that<br />
it is the sole device ever created by man that<br />
is asked to function flawlessly, 24 hours a day,<br />
365 days a year… is something truly incredible.”<br />
As he neared completion <strong>of</strong> his studies, the<br />
seeds <strong>of</strong> a dream began to germinate. But he kept<br />
his desire hidden from even his closest friends for<br />
several years. He explains, “I had the idea to<br />
create a brand almost immediately after I left<br />
watchmaking school. I could already see clearly<br />
in my mind what I wanted to do, which was to<br />
elevate this language <strong>of</strong> watchmaking to an even<br />
higher level <strong>of</strong> expression. I wanted to create an<br />
evolution that would unveil hidden truths about<br />
the way human beings express time. I wanted to<br />
connect the values <strong>of</strong> traditional Swiss horology<br />
to the contemporary world. But <strong>of</strong> course, I had<br />
no money to start my own brand. Fortunately, the<br />
beginning <strong>of</strong> my brand came about thanks<br />
to another Swiss brand called Rolex.”<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> explains, “One <strong>of</strong> the prizes I won for<br />
being the top student in Switzerland was a watch<br />
from Rolex. I have gone on record stating that<br />
from the perspective <strong>of</strong> value and function,<br />
Rolexes are probably the best watches in the<br />
world. But when I wore this watch, I felt it was too<br />
simple. So, I decided to transform it into a<br />
perpetual calendar with retrograde indications.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea was to do this without making<br />
the movement any bigger. So, I removed<br />
the Datejust mechanism and, in the same space,<br />
created this retrograde perpetual calendar.<br />
You must bear in mind that I did this in 1978, and<br />
at the time, there was no such thing as<br />
a retrograde perpetual calendar wristwatch.”
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>'s very first wristwatch tourbillon incorporated<br />
a jump-hour complication with hands; this model, the <strong>Franck</strong><br />
<strong>Muller</strong> Cintrée Curvex Jumping Hour Tourbillon replaced the<br />
hour hand with a jump-hour aperture<br />
Today, Watchland carries all the pioneering<br />
values <strong>of</strong> <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> that are expressed in<br />
every one <strong>of</strong> its timepieces
CHAPTER I - PART II<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> continues, “<strong>The</strong> watch they had given<br />
me was signed Rolex and had my name on it<br />
because I had won the top prize. So when I created<br />
a new dial for the watch, I signed it ‘Rolex and<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>’ out <strong>of</strong> respect for the brand.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n I took the watch to Rolex and I showed it to<br />
them because it was my idea to produce it for<br />
the brand. I remember that I met with an<br />
enormous <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> Rolex engineers. <strong>The</strong>y tested it<br />
for several days, but decided finally not to produce<br />
it. <strong>The</strong>y explained that the philosophy <strong>of</strong><br />
Rolex was to produce the simplest but most<br />
reliable watch possible. <strong>The</strong>y said reliability<br />
and simplicity was their religion.”<br />
But as it happened, collectors had already<br />
caught wind <strong>of</strong> the unique timepiece which the<br />
young upstart watchmaker had created. <strong>Franck</strong><br />
immediately capitalized on this, “I sold this watch<br />
to pay for all my watchmaking instruments. At that<br />
time, it was the only way for me to raise the capital.<br />
Incredibly, this watch ended up setting a record<br />
for a steel watch two years after I sold it. I sold<br />
the watch for 10,000 Swiss francs to a<br />
gentleman named Francis Meyer. His father was<br />
an extraordinary pocket watch collector and they<br />
are a very well-known family in horology. He sold<br />
it to an Italian distributor <strong>of</strong> watches, who then<br />
sold it to a collector in Monaco for 400,000<br />
Swiss francs. And so, I had the record for the<br />
most expensive steel wristwatch ever sold.<br />
This record stood for five years. Years later, I<br />
tracked down the current owner <strong>of</strong> the watch, a<br />
Japanese collector residing in New York.<br />
I made him a generous <strong>of</strong>fer to buy the timepiece<br />
back, but he turned me down."<br />
Before <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> embarked on his solo<br />
career, he realized that he still needed to plunge<br />
into the world <strong>of</strong> practical watchmaking as well as<br />
that <strong>of</strong> watch and clock restoration. He found the<br />
ideal teacher in Svend Anderson, who was, in<br />
many ways, a throwback who preferred to work<br />
using the time-honored methods <strong>of</strong> high<br />
watchmaking. <strong>Franck</strong> benefited greatly from this.<br />
He explains, “<strong>The</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> my story in<br />
watchmaking coincided precisely with the end <strong>of</strong><br />
traditional high watchmaking. Previous to the<br />
modern age, watches were made almost entirely<br />
by hand. <strong>The</strong> designs for watches began entirely<br />
within the minds <strong>of</strong> watchmakers. <strong>The</strong>re were no<br />
computer programs to perform simulated testing<br />
on complicated mechanisms. So with each<br />
watch, you ran an enormous risk, because in<br />
the end, you never knew if it would work or not.”<br />
This was the way high watchmaking worked for<br />
several hundred years. <strong>The</strong>n came the Quartz<br />
Crisis in the ’70s. In the ’80s, as the watch<br />
industry rebuilt itself, it did so using a fantastically<br />
powerful tool called the computer. <strong>The</strong> computer<br />
could assist machines to create complex parts,<br />
and it enabled technicians and micro-engineers<br />
to enter horology using their ability in threedimensional<br />
rendering. It also allowed rapid<br />
prototyping. In short, the computer changed the<br />
watch industry forever. But in so doing, it also<br />
took something from watchmaking: it took a bit <strong>of</strong><br />
that ineffable human spirit and diminished in<br />
some way the measure <strong>of</strong> soul that went into each<br />
watch; it unraveled the time-honored equation <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Franck</strong> muller<br />
understood that<br />
if the emotional<br />
impact <strong>of</strong> the<br />
tourbillon was the<br />
main criterion, then<br />
the mechanism had<br />
to be placed where<br />
it was most readily<br />
visible<br />
the watchmaker pitting his intellect, creativity,<br />
manual dexterity and internal fortitude against<br />
the laws <strong>of</strong> physics. It was no longer a matter <strong>of</strong><br />
man literally trying to bend time to his will — it<br />
became an age <strong>of</strong> automation. <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> was<br />
the rare watchmaker with equal abilities in<br />
both traditional and modern watchmaking.<br />
Though, as he describes it, the path to knowledge<br />
in traditional watchmaking was akin to the<br />
cruel tutelage <strong>of</strong> ancient kung fu masters.<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> explains, “Because everything was made<br />
by hand, the world <strong>of</strong> watchmaking was an<br />
immense world <strong>of</strong> secrets. Every great watchmaker<br />
had his secrets, his method to make time obey<br />
him, to activate the heartbeat inside the watch.<br />
Watchmakers were paid for the movements they<br />
made. A big brand would approach us and say,<br />
‘Make me 10 movements with these specifications,’<br />
but they wouldn’t tell you how to make it, because<br />
they didn’t know. So, each watchmaker was<br />
responsible for delivering the best movements<br />
he could, but in a way that was most efficient for<br />
him. As a result, watchmakers developed their<br />
own techniques. <strong>The</strong>y made their own tools to<br />
solve certain problems, and when they were done<br />
with their job, they would lock all the tools away<br />
inside a drawer or box and keep all their techniques<br />
buried in the recesses <strong>of</strong> their own minds.”<br />
When asked how a student would learn the<br />
secrets <strong>of</strong> his master, <strong>Franck</strong> laughs and replies,<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re was one way to gain the secrets <strong>of</strong> these<br />
old masters, but it was a hard path to follow. You<br />
would have to become their apprentice and labor<br />
for them in any capacity they wished. <strong>The</strong>n if they<br />
trusted you, they would allow you to watch them.<br />
But they would never explain anything, so you<br />
had to unravel the secrets as they worked.<br />
You had to memorize each move and<br />
comprehend the underlying logic <strong>of</strong> their<br />
technique without ever uttering a word or<br />
receiving one iota <strong>of</strong> instruction. This was the<br />
ancient way in which secrets were passed from<br />
master to pupil for centuries, and it guaranteed<br />
that these secrets would only be passed to<br />
watchmakers skilled enough to receive them. In<br />
many ways, it was a form <strong>of</strong> natural selection.”<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> soon proved himself an extraordinarily<br />
fast learner: “My secret was that I could repeat<br />
what I saw quite easily from memory. After Svend<br />
Anderson demonstrated something, I would<br />
immediately sit down at my bench and repeat it.<br />
Anderson was very strict. He would examine what<br />
I did with a 3x loupe. If there was even the smallest<br />
imperfection, he would simply throw the part<br />
away. I always worked without a loupe — I’ve<br />
never worn one as I have a very good eye.<br />
But when it came time for Anderson to check<br />
the part that I had made, I would always preexamine<br />
it with a 10x loupe. My rationale was that<br />
if I cannot find any flaw at a magnification <strong>of</strong> 10,<br />
he won’t find any at a magnification <strong>of</strong> three.”<br />
Throughout his days with Svend Anderson,<br />
<strong>Muller</strong> labored incessantly, soaking up<br />
information and plunging into the past to see how<br />
old masters solved the age-old riddles <strong>of</strong><br />
measuring time. It was during his immersion in<br />
the restoration <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> history’s most<br />
extraordinary timepieces that a vision for his first
<strong>The</strong> tourbillon<br />
was invented by<br />
A. L. Breguet to<br />
improve precision<br />
in watchmaking, but<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> has<br />
turned it into a device<br />
that captures<br />
and expresses emotion<br />
FRANCK MULLER'S<br />
1986 WORLD PREMIÈRE<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>’s 1986 World Première — a<br />
tourbillon with jump hour and regulatortype<br />
dial<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> realized<br />
that the pocket watches<br />
with the most commercial<br />
potential were those<br />
featuring Breguet’s famous<br />
tourbillon regulator (shown<br />
here in the Breguet No.<br />
1188). This gave him the<br />
inspiration to transport the<br />
tourbillon to the wristwatch<br />
with one major change —<br />
the tourbillon would be<br />
featured dial-side<br />
wristwatch coalesced in his mind. And when<br />
he finally did launch his brand, <strong>Franck</strong> would<br />
reach into horology’s past and transport one<br />
<strong>of</strong> its most iconic technical innovations into<br />
his first wristwatches.<br />
Says <strong>Franck</strong>, “I was the first to put a tourbillon<br />
inside <strong>of</strong> a wristwatch. <strong>The</strong> idea came to me during<br />
the time I spent restoring antique pocket watches.<br />
This was a fantastic period. I was restoring some<br />
<strong>of</strong> the most famous watches and clocks ever made<br />
for Antiquorum, and later, for the famous<br />
museums as well. [It is well known that <strong>Muller</strong><br />
and Svend Anderson restored the watches in the<br />
Patek Philippe Museum.] Watches would arrive<br />
and they would be missing key components, so we<br />
had to remake these but at the same time find<br />
historical documentation for the missing pieces,<br />
as well as interpret the horological language <strong>of</strong><br />
the master who had fabricated them. I noticed<br />
around this time that the watches most<br />
avidly collected were the tourbillons.”<br />
<strong>Muller</strong> was quick to understand the attraction<br />
<strong>of</strong> the tourbillon. Patented in 1801, the device<br />
placed all the regulating components <strong>of</strong> the watch<br />
— essentially the parts that comprised its heart:<br />
the hairspring, balance and escapement — inside<br />
a cage that rotated on its own axis. This cage<br />
averaged out the positional errors (such as those<br />
caused by the non-concentric “breathing” <strong>of</strong> the<br />
hairspring) due to gravity, which are the most<br />
exaggerated when a watch is in the vertical<br />
positions. But <strong>Franck</strong> began to look beyond<br />
the simple pragmatic benefits <strong>of</strong> the tourbillon.<br />
He explains, “When the tourbillon was first<br />
created, it was invented out <strong>of</strong> the need for<br />
precision, because <strong>of</strong> the negative impact <strong>of</strong><br />
gravity on watches in the vertical position.<br />
But today, the rationale for a tourbillon is<br />
very different. If you want a truly precise watch,<br />
then you’ll get a quartz watch or you can use<br />
your mobile phone. But precision is no longer<br />
the goal. Today, these watches are more like<br />
works <strong>of</strong> art which demonstrate what is<br />
possible through human craftsmanship, and<br />
engage the user on the emotional level.”<br />
But <strong>Franck</strong> also understood that if the emotional<br />
impact <strong>of</strong> the tourbillon was the main criterion,<br />
then the mechanism had to be placed where it<br />
was most readily visible. He explains, “When I<br />
made my wristwatch tourbillon, I decided to do<br />
one thing very differently than what you would<br />
find in the pocket watches. I decided to put<br />
the tourbillon on the front <strong>of</strong> the dial, because,<br />
after all, this was what the customer was paying<br />
for. This was the technical marvel, so why not<br />
make it the star? This way, someone who<br />
bought my watch could immediately show<br />
his friends that his watch contained a tourbillon.”<br />
Look at any <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> tourbillon<br />
wristwatch today and you’d be magnetically<br />
drawn into its magnificent microcosm: the<br />
constantly rotating cage and oscillating balance<br />
wheel that are reinforcements <strong>of</strong> the living persona<br />
<strong>of</strong> the mechanical watch. Says <strong>Franck</strong>, “We were<br />
living in a new era, a time when people<br />
were enjoying life. <strong>The</strong>y were living life to the<br />
fullest and they wanted new symbols <strong>of</strong> success,<br />
and the tourbillon was it. As such, it was introduced<br />
into the lexicon <strong>of</strong> mainstream luxury.”
FRANCK MULLER'S<br />
LONG ISLAND TOURBILLON<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> Long Island Tourbillon Minute<br />
Repeater showcases <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>'s talent for<br />
combining various complications in one timepiece
CHAPTER I - PART II<br />
the franck muller world premiÈres<br />
1987 World Première<br />
Tourbillon with minute repeater and partially<br />
skeletonized dial exposing movement components<br />
decorated in Empire style<br />
1989 World Première<br />
Inverted tourbillon with minute repeater and<br />
perpetual calendar<br />
1990 World Première<br />
Split-seconds chronograph with tourbillon on the<br />
back <strong>of</strong> the movement<br />
1990 World Première<br />
Minute repeater with world time read <strong>of</strong>f a rotating<br />
bezel on which the principal cities <strong>of</strong> the world<br />
are marked<br />
1991 World Première<br />
Monopusher chronograph with world time<br />
and pulsometric reading on the back<br />
1992 World Première<br />
Grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater,<br />
perpetual calendar, 24-hour moonphase indicator<br />
and indicator for the internal temperature <strong>of</strong><br />
the mechanism<br />
THE DREAM OF A BRAND<br />
<strong>Muller</strong>’s announcement <strong>of</strong> his brand came soon<br />
after he and several other watchmakers decided<br />
to revive a famous Geneva watchmaking guild.<br />
He explains, “At that time, the three independent<br />
watchmakers who were working in Geneva were<br />
me, Svend Anderson and Roger Dubuis.<br />
<strong>The</strong> three <strong>of</strong> us decided to get together and<br />
recreate the famous guild known as the<br />
Cabinotiers de Genève, which was a group<br />
that comprised various artisans needed to make<br />
a complete watch: enamelers, casemakers,<br />
dialmakers, engravers and watchmakers. Michel<br />
Parmigiani and Philippe Dufour were the two<br />
other famous watchmakers at the time; however,<br />
as they lived in Fleurier and Le Sentier respectively,<br />
they were not eligible for membership. We did,<br />
<strong>of</strong> course, grant them honorary status because<br />
<strong>of</strong> their extraordinary abilities.”<br />
But amusingly, <strong>Muller</strong>’s declaration that he<br />
would start his own brand was met with collective<br />
puzzlement: “One day, I said to the committee, ‘I<br />
am going to stop working on pocket watches.’<br />
<strong>The</strong>y asked, ‘What are you going to make then?’<br />
At that time, I saw that there were two groups <strong>of</strong><br />
watch collectors: the very traditional collectors <strong>of</strong><br />
high complications who were primarily interested<br />
in complicated pocket watches, and a new<br />
contemporary audience that was increasingly<br />
interested in wristwatches. However, this was<br />
before the era <strong>of</strong> complicated wristwatches. So I<br />
told them, ‘I would like to take the traditional<br />
Swiss high complications and bring them into the<br />
wristwatch world. I have been analyzing the<br />
market and the pocket watch that brings the<br />
highest premium is the tourbillon. So, I will create<br />
a wristwatch tourbillon.’ <strong>The</strong>y, <strong>of</strong> course, replied,<br />
‘You’re crazy. Who are you to make a watch? You<br />
are not a brand, who will buy your watch?’ You<br />
see, at that time, watchmakers were not stars —<br />
they generally worked behind the scenes.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y labored at the behest <strong>of</strong> big-name brands,<br />
as this had traditionally been the relationship<br />
for centuries. My response was naïve, but also, I<br />
like to think, realistic. I said, ‘Before<br />
Patek decided to start his company, he was<br />
just an individual.’ My point was that<br />
everyone has to begin somewhere!”<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> knew that without the communication<br />
budget <strong>of</strong> a major brand, the watch he created had<br />
to generate enormous attention. He began<br />
rethinking his ideas for it, “I was not satisfied<br />
with a simple tourbillon. I wanted the watch to<br />
have a jump-hour indication — not an analog<br />
indication, but one that used hands to remain<br />
classic-looking because at that time, the analog<br />
indication was too reminiscent <strong>of</strong> quartz. <strong>The</strong>
the franck muller world premiÈres<br />
1992 World Première<br />
Tourbillon with split-seconds chronograph<br />
and perpetual calendar<br />
1992 World Première<br />
Double-face chronograph with time, split-seconds<br />
and tachometric scale on first dial, and telemetric,<br />
pulsometric and tachometric readings on<br />
second dial<br />
1993 World Première<br />
Split-seconds chronograph, minute repeater,<br />
perpetual calendar, 24-hour moonphase indicator<br />
and indicator for the internal temperature <strong>of</strong><br />
the mechanism<br />
1993 World Première<br />
Minute repeater with striking indicator<br />
1994 World Première<br />
Double jump hour and calendar with independent<br />
second time zone<br />
1994 World Première<br />
Chronograph with perpetual calendar and<br />
monthly retrograde equation<br />
idea was to have the maximum dial-side animation<br />
possible so the drama <strong>of</strong> a jump-hour hand would<br />
elevate the kinetic energy <strong>of</strong> the watch significantly.<br />
What was nice about the watch was that you had<br />
the contrast <strong>of</strong> the tourbillon cage rotating once<br />
ever 60 seconds, and at the beginning <strong>of</strong> each<br />
hour, the hands would jump with this explosion <strong>of</strong><br />
energy. <strong>The</strong> tension between these two movements<br />
was very exciting. Also, I knew that in order to<br />
make a name for myself, I had to create something<br />
that the world had never seen before, something<br />
that was daring yet which even the most refined<br />
collector would recognize as being horologically<br />
legitimate. In 1984, I completed this watch<br />
and presented it to the public. I sold it right<br />
away. <strong>The</strong> following year, I created a regulatordial<br />
version <strong>of</strong> the tourbillon.”<br />
At the same time, <strong>Muller</strong> and his friends at the<br />
guild were bestowed a large honor which helped<br />
them gain even greater visibility. He recalls, “Our<br />
group was contracted to make a 10-piece<br />
production run <strong>of</strong> timepieces to celebrate the<br />
anniversary <strong>of</strong> the watch museum in Geneva. This<br />
really irritated some <strong>of</strong> the bigger brands — or<br />
rather, it made them nervous, I think, because<br />
they did not want the public to be aware that we<br />
were the people who were behind some <strong>of</strong> their<br />
most famous timepieces. This was not really our<br />
intention, but we wanted to be given a voice. As<br />
such, in 1985, we decided to create the AHCI<br />
[Académie Horlogère des Créateurs<br />
Indépendants], which today consists <strong>of</strong> 35 <strong>of</strong> the<br />
world’s greatest independent watchmakers, to<br />
celebrate and clearly put the spotlight on the work<br />
<strong>of</strong> independent watchmakers. Now that we were<br />
gaining momentum, I knew I had to submit<br />
something extraordinary. I was determined to<br />
create the world’s first-ever tourbillon minuterepeater<br />
wristwatch. At that time, the tourbillon<br />
for this watch was still at the back <strong>of</strong> the<br />
movement. Later in 1989, I wanted to make it<br />
even more complicated, so I created a tourbillon<br />
minute repeater with perpetual calendar, and<br />
with the tourbillon on the dial-side <strong>of</strong> the watch.<br />
This was very difficult because you had to move<br />
the minute repeater mechanism and also the<br />
perpetual calendar just so the tourbillon could<br />
turn on the front <strong>of</strong> the dial. It took years <strong>of</strong><br />
work, and in the end, until the watch started<br />
beating, you had no idea whether it would<br />
work because no one had ever done it before!”<br />
With each successive watch, <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>’s<br />
fame grew. Soon, some <strong>of</strong> the world’s most famous<br />
watch collectors were tracking him down in his<br />
small Geneva atelier, but his work continued,<br />
unimpeded by the success: “After I created the<br />
tourbillon minute repeater, I went after an even
FRANCK MULLER'S<br />
IMPERIAL TOURBILLON<br />
Not only is the visibility <strong>of</strong> the Imperial Tourbillon<br />
enhanced by bringing it up to the level <strong>of</strong> the dial, it is<br />
also finished by hand
Every <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> tourbillon cage is<br />
finished using either engraving as seen<br />
on the opposite page or spéculaire (a<br />
polish so perfect it reflects no light) as<br />
seen on this page
CHAPTER I - PART II<br />
more elusive goal, which was to create the world’s<br />
first tourbillon with split-seconds chronograph.<br />
Not many people realize that a chronograph<br />
is actually one <strong>of</strong> the most difficult mechanisms<br />
to create, and a split-seconds chronograph<br />
that enables the user to measure split times is<br />
even more crazy. I did not use an isolator<br />
mechanism for the split-seconds mechanism;<br />
instead, I used a big gold balance wheel with<br />
enormous inertia, so much so that the split<br />
function could be left on for up to three minutes<br />
without the balance’s amplitude being affected.”<br />
<strong>Muller</strong>’s thirst for ever- mounting<br />
complications was insatiable, and time after time,<br />
he dazzled watch enthusiasts. He recalls, “After<br />
this, I made a split-seconds chronograph<br />
tourbillon with perpetual calendar. <strong>The</strong> issue with<br />
this kind <strong>of</strong> watch is that, say, it is midnight at the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> the year — when the movement is causing<br />
all the perpetual calendar functions to instantly<br />
jump forward — and if you activate the splitseconds<br />
chronograph function, the balance wheel<br />
must continue to oscillate without a significant<br />
drop in amplitude. This was the challenge for this<br />
watch, because it is not enough to simply combine<br />
complications — you had to understand how<br />
they have a pr<strong>of</strong>ound effect on one another.<br />
This is a watch that costs 350,000 Swiss francs,<br />
so <strong>of</strong> course, it must function perfectly.<br />
In addition, at that time, I was still working on<br />
my own, making every part <strong>of</strong> the watch by hand.”<br />
THE CREATION OF A BRAND<br />
From 1984, throughout the 1990s, and well<br />
into the new millennium, <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> would<br />
dominate watchmaking, introducing new<br />
mind-blowing complicated world premieres,<br />
including the world’s most complicated<br />
wristwatch in 1992 which featured complications<br />
such as a grande and petite sonnerie, retrograde<br />
perpetual calendar, and even a thermometer.<br />
But there was one limitation to all <strong>of</strong> these<br />
watches, which was that <strong>Muller</strong> alone was<br />
responsible for each movement. He knew that<br />
if he wanted to reach a wider audience, he<br />
would have to evolve his vision.<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> tells us, “I started to receive many watch<br />
enthusiasts, but because I was working on watches<br />
in the old way, making each piece by hand and by<br />
myself, I couldn’t satisfy many <strong>of</strong> them. At the time<br />
when I was doing this, I recognized that people<br />
were excited by complicated watches again, and<br />
there was a gap in the market for accessible<br />
complications. So, based on the Valjoux 7750<br />
chronograph movement — one <strong>of</strong> the most<br />
reliable movements around, and more importantly,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the few available chronographs at the time<br />
— I patented the first rattrapante [split-seconds<br />
chronograph movement] that could be industrially<br />
produced. I took out the calendar mechanism,<br />
and in its place, I put in the split-seconds<br />
mechanism, which had to occupy a very small<br />
space. This became the first series <strong>of</strong> watches I<br />
produced on an industrial level. Later, there<br />
would be 17 brands that would end up using this<br />
patent. I ended up licensing this mechanism to<br />
these brands, and today, there are still brands<br />
that use it. People kept asking me to make this<br />
movement for them, but I told them, ‘No, I have<br />
to focus on my own work.’ But the more I<br />
thought about it, the more I thought I would<br />
like to communicate my particular perception <strong>of</strong><br />
high watchmaking to a wider audience.”<br />
At this point, <strong>Franck</strong> met the individual who<br />
would allow him to realize his dream. He explains,<br />
“It was at this time that my associate Vartan<br />
Sirmakes arrived with the idea to transform my<br />
vision for watchmaking into an international<br />
brand with a pr<strong>of</strong>ound global presence. He was,<br />
at that time, a casemaker fabricating some <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most complex cases in the industry, such as the<br />
Daniel Roth ellipse-shaped model. At first, he<br />
sent others, then finally, he came himself. I<br />
remember that he came to my garden in the month<br />
<strong>of</strong> August. He said, ‘Look, I make some <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most complicated cases in the world. Together, we<br />
can create a brand.’ I thought about it. At that<br />
time, I made movements, but I would buy the<br />
cases from a friend, because my production was<br />
so small — it was only three or four cases per year.<br />
This was an excellent supplier who, at that time,<br />
also made cases for Patek Philippe and Blancpain.<br />
But because it was such a small production, I was<br />
a low priority. So I replied, ‘Why don’t you keep<br />
your case business and I will keep my grande<br />
complication business, but at the same time, we<br />
can create an association to produce watches in<br />
series that correspond to what I feel the world<br />
needs in terms <strong>of</strong> horology? Something with<br />
exquisite movements, something that reintroduces<br />
traditional Swiss high watchmaking, but with a<br />
fresh, contemporary perspective.’ You see, I was<br />
already thinking that for the Swiss industry to<br />
come back, we had to do it in a way that made our<br />
traditions relevant to an all-new generation.”<br />
Says <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>of</strong> his vision for his brand,<br />
“I was always mindful to retain complete creative<br />
control over every timepiece. Every <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong><br />
watch is born out <strong>of</strong> pleasure and never as a<br />
commercial necessity. Every timepiece we’ve<br />
made has tried to bring something new and<br />
innovative to horology, to help in the evolution <strong>of</strong><br />
its continuous story. By 1992 we were showing<br />
our watches at the SIHH. We were incredibly<br />
successful, particularly in Italy. I had already<br />
developed a following there because in those days,<br />
the center <strong>of</strong> watch collecting was based in Italy.<br />
Everyone considered this market as the most<br />
sophisticated in the world — it was the first to<br />
produce beautiful watch magazines and it was the<br />
home to some <strong>of</strong> the world’s most important<br />
collectors. Perhaps it was the Latin flair <strong>of</strong> the<br />
nation combined with their deep roots in science<br />
and culture, but they were the first to completely<br />
embrace my vision <strong>of</strong> combining true authentic<br />
high watchmaking with a certain contemporary<br />
spirit. Many <strong>of</strong> the unique pieces I created ended<br />
up being worn by famous Italian industrialists.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y did not want to show up at a board meeting<br />
and see someone else wearing the same watch<br />
on their wrist. From there, the brand began to<br />
take <strong>of</strong>f. Some early adopters including<br />
Gianni Versace, and later, Elton John, which<br />
helped the brand become well known in the<br />
United States; others like Jackie Chan helped<br />
make <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> a recognized brand<br />
internationally. However, I’ve always had one<br />
objective in mind, which is to ensure<br />
that our watches are emotionally impactful — that<br />
they delight their owners while representing<br />
the finest quality in the Swiss industry.”<br />
One major boon to <strong>Franck</strong>’s obsession with<br />
quality has been Watchland’s extraordinary<br />
manufacturing depth. It is the only brand that<br />
manufactures 100 percent <strong>of</strong> its own cases<br />
and dials. Every movement is fabricated and<br />
assembled on premises in Genthod, and<br />
subjected to the strictest levels <strong>of</strong> quality control<br />
and internal testing; only in this way would<br />
they resonate as true <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> timepieces.
FRANCK MULLER<br />
CINTRÉE CURVEX TOURBILLON<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> Cintrée Curvex Tourbillon features<br />
a flying tourbillon displayed through a beautiful<br />
sunburst guilloché dial
FRANCK MULLER<br />
CINTRÉE CURVEX<br />
TOURBILLON<br />
<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>’s tourbillons are characterized<br />
by their incredible visibility, as the tourbillon is<br />
brought up to the level <strong>of</strong> the dial
FRANCK MULLER<br />
CINTRÉE CURVEX<br />
JUMPING HOUR TOURBILLON<br />
<strong>The</strong> carefully decorated tourbillon cage and guilloché<br />
dial shows <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>’s decorative skill and as well<br />
as the technical brillance <strong>of</strong> the company
THE COLOSSUS OF GENTHOUD<br />
BY WEI KOH<br />
Alexander the Great had conquered most <strong>of</strong> the<br />
known world when he was prematurely felled by<br />
fever. Following his death, his three greatest<br />
generals Ptolemy, Seleucus and Antigous warred<br />
for control <strong>of</strong> his kingdom. <strong>The</strong> city <strong>of</strong> Rhodes,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the world’s most important ports situated<br />
where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Aegean,<br />
sided with Ptolemy. Enraged, Antigous dispatched<br />
his son Demetrius with an army numbering<br />
40,000 and a metal armada <strong>of</strong> war machines<br />
unlike any the world had ever seen. <strong>The</strong>ir mission:<br />
bring Rhodes to its knees. Demetrius attacked<br />
using vast towers 150-feet high which were<br />
supported by six ships and could be rolled onto<br />
land by virtue <strong>of</strong> their enormous iron wheels. Yet<br />
for over one year, he could not conquer Rhodes.<br />
When he left, the citizens <strong>of</strong> Rhodes gathered up<br />
his discarded siege engines to create a statue<br />
honoring their patron god, Helios. <strong>The</strong> resulting<br />
statue was 110-feet high and stood on a 50-foot<br />
pedestal and towered over the harbor <strong>of</strong> Rhodes<br />
as a testament to the city’s resilience and courage.<br />
Dubbed “<strong>The</strong> Colossus <strong>of</strong> Rhodes”, the statue<br />
was so vast that it was said to have blocked out the<br />
sun and was considered one <strong>of</strong> the Seven Wonders<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Ancient World.<br />
In the 11th year <strong>of</strong> the third millennium, <strong>Franck</strong><br />
<strong>Muller</strong> Watchland has unveiled what is destined<br />
to become known as the “<strong>The</strong> Colossus <strong>of</strong><br />
Genthod”, a watch that is a living testament to the<br />
courage, daring and technical might <strong>of</strong> the<br />
contemporary’s world’s foremost and most<br />
successful independent watchmaker.<br />
That <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> Watchland should write<br />
this new chapter in the history and evolution <strong>of</strong><br />
the tourbillon is fitting, considering the<br />
manufacture’s pioneering role in reintroducing<br />
Abraham-Louis Breguet’s signature complication<br />
to watch lovers worldwide. Add to this that, in<br />
2003, through the collaboration <strong>of</strong> two <strong>of</strong> haute<br />
horlogerie’s brightest minds, Pierre-Michel<br />
Golay and <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>, the world’s most<br />
revolutionary timepiece — the first commercially<br />
produced, multiple-axis tourbillon known as<br />
Revolution 2 — was brought into the world, and<br />
the creation <strong>of</strong> new Giga Tourbillon seems nothing<br />
less than the brand’s manifest destiny.<br />
Says Vartan Sirmakes, Watchland’s co-founder<br />
and the man who created the underlying industrial<br />
might, “<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> Watchland was the first to<br />
<strong>of</strong>fer wristwatch tourbillons to the modern<br />
consumer. We also created an entre new era for<br />
the tourbillon when we introduced Revolution 2,<br />
Revolution 3 and Evolution 3-1, the world’s first<br />
dual- and triple-axis tourbillons. In each<br />
instance, the resulting watch came from our<br />
ambition to bring meaningful evolution to the<br />
tourbillon. As such, I very much feel as if the<br />
tourbillon complication is a fundamental part <strong>of</strong><br />
our DNA. This year, you will see two totally<br />
groundbreaking tourbillons from <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong><br />
Watchland that will assert our position as the<br />
‘King <strong>of</strong> Tourbillons’.”<br />
What exactly is the big news related to the Giga<br />
Tourbillon? <strong>The</strong> answer to this question becomes<br />
stridently obvious when you strap the watch’s<br />
substantial but totally ergonomic case, measuring<br />
59.2mm × 43.7mm, to your wrist. <strong>The</strong> entire<br />
bottom half <strong>of</strong> the watch is dominated by a<br />
tourbillon regulator so vast that the arms <strong>of</strong> its<br />
cage threaten to block out the rays <strong>of</strong> the sun.<br />
Says Sirmakes, “Every time I looked at a<br />
tourbillon, the one thing I wished was that I could<br />
see more <strong>of</strong> the mechanism. It was for this reason<br />
that we invented the Revolution 1 Tourbillon<br />
where the regulator literally rose up out <strong>of</strong> the<br />
dial. But this time, when I posed the challenge to<br />
my team, our technical director Jean-Pierre<br />
Golay came back to me with the response,<br />
‘We have an idea for a tourbillon with<br />
unparallel visibility, with a cage and tourbillon<br />
so vast that they should belong in an<br />
ancient marine chronometer.’”<br />
You can literally imagine gravity, which the<br />
tourbillon was created to defeat, whimpering like<br />
a scared dog in deference to the sheer<br />
monumentality <strong>of</strong> the Giga Tourbillon’s 20mmdiameter<br />
cage. Oscillating within this cage is a<br />
golden behemoth <strong>of</strong> a balance wheel measuring<br />
16mm in diameter.<br />
Says the brilliant Jean-Pierre Golay, cousin to<br />
the legendary Pierre-Michel Golay and<br />
Watchland’s all-round technical guru, “This<br />
balance wheel was optimized to have the maximum<br />
inertia but with the minimum weight, so that it<br />
would not consume too much power, which<br />
means that the majority <strong>of</strong> its weight was poised to<br />
the outside <strong>of</strong> the wheel.”<br />
Golay continues, “We made great efforts to<br />
lighten everything very substantially. <strong>The</strong> entire<br />
cage is made from titanium. <strong>The</strong> balance wheel<br />
is made from bronze barium, but it is very, very<br />
thin. We are really at the limit <strong>of</strong> what we are<br />
capable <strong>of</strong> creating, even with the most<br />
advanced technology possible.”<br />
If you wish to be impressed by how every hint<br />
<strong>of</strong> excess material has been pared from the cage,<br />
simply let your eyes be drawn to the points <strong>of</strong><br />
the skeletonized “M” integrated into its design.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se points are so sharp, they appear as if<br />
in an act <strong>of</strong> Euclidean magic to extend<br />
infinitely into space.<br />
What has made the critical difference in <strong>Franck</strong><br />
<strong>Muller</strong> Watchland and its ability to produce<br />
groundbreaking timepieces such as the Giga<br />
Tourbillon is Vartan Sirmakes’ insistence on<br />
pouring huge investments into the creation <strong>of</strong><br />
some <strong>of</strong> the most sophisticated in-house<br />
manufacturing facilities in all <strong>of</strong> horology. For<br />
example, the balance wheel and tourbillon cage <strong>of</strong><br />
the Giga Tourbillon are created at FHH<br />
[Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie] in Meyrin, a<br />
subsidiary <strong>of</strong> Watchland, and overseen by none<br />
other than the peerless Jean-Pierre Golay.<br />
Jean-Pierre explains, “<strong>The</strong>se tiny parts are<br />
created using wire erosion. But because we are<br />
dealing with unknowns, there is always a learning<br />
curve for the watchmakers during assembly. For<br />
example, because <strong>of</strong> how thin the balance wheel
FRANCK MULLER<br />
CINTRÉE CURVEX<br />
GIGA TOURBILLON<br />
What defines the Giga Tourbillon is the<br />
immense 20mm tourbillon cage within<br />
which a 16mm balance wheel resides
<strong>The</strong> spiral hairspring <strong>of</strong> the Giga Tourbillon<br />
is made within the <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> Group
“We made great efforts to lighten everything very substantially.<br />
<strong>The</strong> entire cage is made from titanium. <strong>The</strong> balance wheel is made<br />
from bronze barium, but it is very, very thin. We are really at the<br />
limit <strong>of</strong> what we are capable <strong>of</strong> creating, even with the most<br />
advanced technology possible”<br />
— jean-pierre golay, technical director<br />
is, it is very elastic and it takes enormous skill<br />
to poise and regulate it properly. This is a<br />
great deal more difficult.”<br />
His cousin Pierre-Michel Golay adds,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> spiral that you see in the Giga Tourbillon is<br />
made within the [<strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong>] Group. <strong>The</strong> fact<br />
that we have this ability to create our own spirals<br />
was absolutely fundamental in making this<br />
watch possible. Because, suddenly, you have a<br />
balance wheel with four times the inertia as<br />
a regular wheel, so you must have a spiral that<br />
corresponds to this.”<br />
As you revel in the microcosm <strong>of</strong> the regulator,<br />
one component that is destined to draw attention<br />
is the large but beautifully skeletonized gold<br />
escapement wheel fixed to the cage. Golay<br />
explains, “<strong>The</strong> escapement wheel is developed<br />
in-house, but manufactured for us by Mimotec.<br />
It is created using the LIGA process, which allows<br />
us to create extremely light, complex and precise<br />
parts. You can see that this escapement wheel is<br />
very light; it is totally skeletonized, which is<br />
possible when you make things using LIGA.<br />
<strong>The</strong> material <strong>of</strong> the balance wheel is nickel<br />
phosphorous, which is then coated with a<br />
thin layer <strong>of</strong> gold. All the new tourbillons<br />
have escapements that are designed and<br />
produced in-house.”<br />
When asked <strong>of</strong> the possibilities new technology<br />
has allowed him, Golay explains, “Mimotec is<br />
incredible because it gives us the possibility to<br />
make parts that would otherwise be impossible to<br />
make, for example, wheels on two levels. Also, in<br />
the mysterious tourbillon rattrapante movement<br />
we created for Pierre-Michel Golay and for<br />
CVSTOS, the drive wheel uses teeth with a special<br />
elastic pr<strong>of</strong>ile that allows traditional lateral<br />
engagement with no displacement <strong>of</strong> the<br />
chronograph hand when the teeth <strong>of</strong> the<br />
chronograph wheel and the drive wheel mesh.”<br />
However, Golay is quick to dispel the notion<br />
that LIGA is a universal cure for all technical<br />
issues. He explains, “For certain applications,<br />
though, in general, I prefer steel. With spark<br />
erosion, we can produce springs with a diameter<br />
thinner than the human hair, so for the majority <strong>of</strong><br />
applications, this is already fine. <strong>The</strong> other thing<br />
is that the material properties <strong>of</strong> nickel parts made<br />
with LIGA are not as good as the steel parts made<br />
with wire erosion. <strong>The</strong> problem with nickel parts<br />
is that they do not slide easily — they grip.”<br />
Look closely at the mounting point <strong>of</strong> the<br />
escapement wheel on the cage. Notice anything<br />
different here? In most tourbillons, the<br />
escapement wheel pinion is fixed directly to the<br />
cage. Here, the escapement wheel pinion rides on<br />
a special jewel to reduce friction even further.<br />
Says Golay, “This is really the optimum!”<br />
Powering this mighty behemoth are no less than<br />
four spring barrels arrayed in two stacked pairs.<br />
Each <strong>of</strong> these individual barrels are already larger<br />
than the traditional barrel found in a normal<br />
watch; together, they provide 10 days <strong>of</strong><br />
uncompromised power to the Herculean<br />
regulator. Like the escapement wheel, these<br />
barrels are mounted on rubies to aid in smoothness<br />
<strong>of</strong> winding while harnessing their massive torque.<br />
A tiny power reserve indicator appears at 12<br />
o’clock to tell you how much gas is in the tank.<br />
Finally, the Giga Tourbillon is really an<br />
uncompromised haut de gamme tourbillon in<br />
the very strictest sense <strong>of</strong> the term: to begin with,<br />
while other <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> tourbillons are<br />
powered by a pinion that engages the toothed<br />
perimeter <strong>of</strong> the cage, here, a traditional tourbillon<br />
design has been used where the third wheel<br />
directly engages the pinion <strong>of</strong> the massive cage.<br />
In addition, the tourbillon is <strong>of</strong> the flying variety,<br />
where there is absolutely no upper bridge to<br />
obscure what is the most unadulterated<br />
viewing pleasure in all <strong>of</strong> horlogerie.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Giga Tourbillon is available in several<br />
different variations, though, to us, the one and<br />
only version has to be the fully skeletonized model<br />
that allows you to witness the dazzling power flow<br />
in this watch, which is an incredible testament to<br />
the in-house manufacturing capabilities and the<br />
tradition <strong>of</strong> technical innovation that is at the<br />
epicenter <strong>of</strong> <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong> Watchland. In<br />
conclusion, we can only state that the Colossus <strong>of</strong><br />
Genthod is destined to soar above <strong>Franck</strong> <strong>Muller</strong><br />
Watchland — a shining beacon to its creative<br />
capacity and revolutionary daring. H
FRANCK MULLER<br />
CINTRÉE CURVEX<br />
GIGA TOURBILLON<br />
Set within a full pavé diamond case, the<br />
Giga Tourbillon stands out even more