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| Franck Muller Watches |
If you are looking for an example of a meteoric rise by a newly founded watch brand, you won't have to look far: Franck Muller is your brand. At the beginning of the 1990s still an unknown outside of specialized watch circles in the Geneva area who were well aware of his unusual talents, Franck Muller has in the meantime become one of the big names in the industry.
The brand's textbook image transfer from legendary "ingenious complications" to a complete collection of unspectacular serial mechanics in a steel case was surely the result of a very clever model policy. The double¬curved case shape of the Cintree Curvex was incomparable in its characteristic 1920s gracefulness and brought Franck Muller his commercial breakthrough. The models of this collection wonderfully document the creative conflict between "young" and "old" that has characterized the life and work of the Genevan watchmaker since the very beginning.
At the time of the Genevan watch salon S.I.H.H., Franck Muller celebrated the completion of his Watch land project and the purchase of the large building on the property situated on Lake Geneva where his entire watch production will be housed - including the manufacture of the cases, which is still done by outside help. Each workplace and department at Watch land has been carefully arranged so that the interested customer can actually observe the creation of his or her watch. The concept includes visitations by entire groups of consumers, guided by Franck Muller dealers along a preordained route through the
"transparent manufacture" - without disturbing the work going on.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the company, Franck Muller presented his Tourbillon Revolution, a timepiece that pays homage as no other to the playful instincts of the man. When a button on the case is pressed, the hands go to the 12:00 position and the flying tourbillon cage
lifts itself up out of the movement level to literally hover over the dial.
In 2003 a double-axis tourbillon was presented, attached by a type of Gimbal suspension and sitting in a spherical cage like a prima ballerina, rotating as if on tippy toes, while simultaneously performing a series of somersaults. If the horological world needed one last piece of evidence that tourbillon technology has given way to pure amusement when compared to its original raison d'etre, rate precision, then Franck Muller's Tourbillon Revolution 2 is it - a fact that in no way belittles the accompanying horological performance.
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Franck Muller USA, Inc.
207 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
212-463-8898
www.franckmullerusa.com
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