COVER STORY
NEW WATCHES
With such comprehensive manufacturing capabilities under
its many roofs, Franck Muller is able to present a very large watch
collection every year at its annual WPHH watch show, held each
January in Geneva.
Franck Muller is known not just for tourbillons, but for innovating on this complex escapement in new and creative ways.
Muller presented one of the first multi-axis tourbillons, followed
by the Thunderbolt Tourbillon (the world’s fastest) and the Giga
Tourbillon (the world’s largest). The firm’s latest proprietary take
on the tourbillon is the Gravity. Gravity, itself a large version of
a tourbillon very much in the spirit of the Giga, debuts a new elliptical format. This oversized tourbillon escapement maintains a
faster-than-expected rate of 28,800 bph and relatively low energy
consumption due to the use of an aluminum carriage.
One of the most important characteristics of a fine watch dial is
a uniform color gradient. Franck Muller achieves this by sandblasting all dials, a process known as sablage in French.
One of the most familiar characteristics of a Franck Muller
watch are dials with vibrantly hand-painted numerals, a trait taken
to its highest level in the famed Crazy Hours watch. This hand
painting process is incredibly labor intensive, requiring about 15
minutes per dial. Technicians painstakingly apply the pigment
to each numeral under a microscope using a precise, electronic,
handheld brush. I was rather surprised to learn that the pigment
used to achieve those vivid numbers is something as common as
nail polish.
On many dials—particularly mother-of-pearl executions—
the most effective way to print numerals and markers is through
transfer printing. As the name indicates, a transfer-printed dial is
one produced when one object—in this case a rubberized stamping
hemisphere—picks up an ink image and “transfers” its reflection onto the watch dial. According to Mr. Boillat, transfer-printed
mother-of-pearl dials take 200 hours to produce and cost Franck
Muller approximately $250 per unit. It’s this kind of labor-intensive
component that explains why a high-end watch’s value is tied up in
so much more than merely the price of gold or platinum.
52
WRISTWATCH | 2016