The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime

CHAPTER I - PART II
the franck muller world premiÈres
1987 World Première
Tourbillon with minute repeater and partially
skeletonized dial exposing movement components
decorated in Empire style
1989 World Première
Inverted tourbillon with minute repeater and
perpetual calendar
1990 World Première
Split-seconds chronograph with tourbillon on the
back of the movement
1990 World Première
Minute repeater with world time read off a rotating
bezel on which the principal cities of the world
are marked
1991 World Première
Monopusher chronograph with world time
and pulsometric reading on the back
1992 World Première
Grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater,
perpetual calendar, 24-hour moonphase indicator
and indicator for the internal temperature of
the mechanism
THE DREAM OF A BRAND
Muller’s announcement of his brand came soon
after he and several other watchmakers decided
to revive a famous Geneva watchmaking guild.
He explains, “At that time, the three independent
watchmakers who were working in Geneva were
me, Svend Anderson and Roger Dubuis.
The three of us decided to get together and
recreate the famous guild known as the
Cabinotiers de Genève, which was a group
that comprised various artisans needed to make
a complete watch: enamelers, casemakers,
dialmakers, engravers and watchmakers. Michel
Parmigiani and Philippe Dufour were the two
other famous watchmakers at the time; however,
as they lived in Fleurier and Le Sentier respectively,
they were not eligible for membership. We did,
of course, grant them honorary status because
of their extraordinary abilities.”
But amusingly, Muller’s declaration that he
would start his own brand was met with collective
puzzlement: “One day, I said to the committee, ‘I
am going to stop working on pocket watches.’
They asked, ‘What are you going to make then?’
At that time, I saw that there were two groups of
watch collectors: the very traditional collectors of
high complications who were primarily interested
in complicated pocket watches, and a new
contemporary audience that was increasingly
interested in wristwatches. However, this was
before the era of complicated wristwatches. So I
told them, ‘I would like to take the traditional
Swiss high complications and bring them into the
wristwatch world. I have been analyzing the
market and the pocket watch that brings the
highest premium is the tourbillon. So, I will create
a wristwatch tourbillon.’ They, of course, replied,
‘You’re crazy. Who are you to make a watch? You
are not a brand, who will buy your watch?’ You
see, at that time, watchmakers were not stars —
they generally worked behind the scenes.
They labored at the behest of big-name brands,
as this had traditionally been the relationship
for centuries. My response was naïve, but also, I
like to think, realistic. I said, ‘Before
Patek decided to start his company, he was
just an individual.’ My point was that
everyone has to begin somewhere!”
Franck knew that without the communication
budget of a major brand, the watch he created had
to generate enormous attention. He began
rethinking his ideas for it, “I was not satisfied
with a simple tourbillon. I wanted the watch to
have a jump-hour indication — not an analog
indication, but one that used hands to remain
classic-looking because at that time, the analog
indication was too reminiscent of quartz. The