FRANCK MULLER
Founded in 1991, the House of Franck Muller grew from the talent of its namesake: born in 1958, Franck Muller designed his own tourbillon wristwatch in 1984 and in 1993 achieved a world first combining a split-seconds chronograph, a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar. From the instantly identifiable Cintrée Curvex tonneau case to the playful Crazy Hours and the Aeternitas at the summit of complications, the Master of Complications has earned its name.
The Master of Complications, and why the name stuck
Franck Muller was born in 1958 and had designed his own tourbillon wristwatch by 1984 — before he had a company. That order of events explains the brand better than any campaign: the complications came first, the house came second.
The House of Franck Muller opened in 1991. Two years later, in 1993, it delivered a world first: a single watch combining a split-seconds chronograph, a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar. For a company barely two years old, it was an unusually direct way of stating an ambition.
A shape you recognise before you read the dial
The Cintree Curvex is the reason Franck Muller is identifiable across a room. A tonneau case curved along two axes is harder to make than a round one and harder still to fit with a movement, and almost nobody else builds it — which is precisely what makes it a signature rather than a style.
Crazy Hours is the other. The numerals are scattered out of sequence and the hour hand jumps from one to the next, so the watch tells the correct time while appearing not to. It is a joke that requires serious engineering, which is a fair description of the house as a whole.
Around them sit Vanguard, the contemporary and most widely worn line, Casablanca, Conquistador, Long Island, Master Banker and Color Dreams, with Aeternitas holding the top of the complication range.