Tag Archives: Franck Muller

Roar into the Lunar New Year with These Dragon-Inspired Timepieces

2024 marks the return of the Year of the Dragon. Returning once every 12 years, this celestial creature is associated with prosperity and is a symbol of luck, strength and wisdom. The dragon is also an imperial icon that embodies life and immortality. In honour of this auspicious creature, LUXUO lists the exclusive festive releases and dynamic timepieces to usher in the Year of the Dragon — from dragon motifs to dragon figurines and every scale inbetween.

Vacheron Constantin

The Grisaille High Jewellery Dragon’s grisaille enamelling technique is objectively rare, and is a first for Vacheron Constantin in this shade of green. Note the 146 baguette-cut diamonds on the bezel and case of the 40 mm white gold watch, which take nothing away from the subtlety at the heart of this unique piece. Absent even a seconds indicator, it might be the most restrained watch on this list…

Ulysse Nardin

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, Ulysse Nardin combines the majestic dragon with the alluring pearl. The Ulysse Nardin Blast Tourbillon Dragon is an embodiment of in-house innovations, métiers d’art and the magic of the Year of the Dragon. This limited edition timepiece is crafted from 5N rose gold with black DLC-coated titanium sections. The two-dimensional enamel dial features an intricate red gold dragon extending across the dial towards a pearl sculpture. The case back’s “X” shape is a signature of the watch and has become a notable feature of the modern Ulysse Nardin.

Piaget

Piaget’s new Dragon & Phoenix capsule collection features 10 daring designs of exceptional watches and High Jewellery pieces – topped off with a pair of extravagantly exclusive, made-to-order high jewellery cuff watches. Each creation brims with emotion and exuberance, joyfully channelling the codes of the Maison while celebrating the house’s unparalleled watchmaking savoir-faire. In the example seen here, the dial features the fine paillonne enamel craftwork of the famed Anita Porchet, framing a engraved gold dragon.

Chopard

Chopard’s L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Dragon is an 88-piece limited edition in ethical rose gold and boasts a continuation of the brand’s exploration of the traditional Japanese urushi craft; the dial was crafted by a Japanese Maki-e master using urushi lacquer, gold powder and mother-of-pearl inlays. The in-house L.U.C 96.17-L calibre with micro-rotor ensures that a slender profile of just 6.80 mm can be maintained. It mingles technical savoir-faire and artistic flair delivered by Chopard Manufacture.

Breguet

Classique Double Tourbillon Dragon 5345 (Special edition)

Breguet unveils two new exceptional timepieces as a tribute to the emblematic Year of the Dragon. The first is the special edition Classique Double Tourbillon Dragon 5345, which sees a hand-engraved golden dragon twirl between the watch’s twin tourbillons. The dragon is seen clutching a pearl made of mother-of-pearl in its talons. The rhodiumised gold rotating plate is hand-guillochéd with a fan motif. The gold bridge below the mainplate features an anthracite galvanic treatment and Clous de Paris hobnail motif guilloché.

Next is the Classique Dragon 7145 which features a hand-engraved rose gold appliqué dragon standing triumphantly on the dial with the watches Roman numerals, minutes track and clouds finished in a golden powder-pink hue. The manufacture calibre 502.3 beats inside a 40 mm rose gold case which is one of Breguet’s thinnest at just 2.40 mm thick.

Classique Dragon 7145 (Eight Piece numbered limited edition)

Hublot

Drawing inspiration from the traditional Chinese art of paper cutting, the Spirit of Big Bang Titanium Dragon layers its hands, wheels and H-shaped screws to form a 3D silhouette of an eastern dragon. It is a formidable expression of creativity that bridges form and function. Created in collaboration with the Chinese artist Chen Fenwan, this limited edition timepiece of 88 pieces is the perfect fusion of tradition and modernity, combining metaphors and symbols in the spirit of Hublot.

Bovet

Bovet’s artisans combined the art of sculpting miniatures with its established mastery of high horology in the Recital 26 Chapter Two Dragon. The result is a hand-engraved horological objet dárt. A domed blue quartz dial displays the local time zone’s hours and minutes in the upper part of the case. The dome located at 3 o’clock displays a second time zone specifically developed for this timepiece and patented by Bovet.

Roger Dubuis

Roger Dubuis utilised the Year of the Dragon to introduce the Excalibur Dragon Monotourbillon. The timepiece’s watchmaking innovation highlights the dance, complexity, artistry, and symbolism of the festive season all in one. For the sculpture of the dragon, the watchmakers have used 27 individual pieces of brass – each embellished with black lacquer on the sides and a pink gold treatment on the polished top surface. The pieces are then set on 25 different levels, producing a mutli-dimensional vision that is full of volume and vitality, thus enriching the skeletonised movement.

IWC Schaffhausen

IWC Schaffhausen welcomes the Lunar New Year with a special edition release of the Portugieser Chronograph. This timepiece features a 41 mm stainless steel case, a burgundy dial and contrasting gold-plated hands and appliques. Limited to 1,000 pieces, this watch features its rotor in the form of a majestic dragon, visible through the sapphire crystal case back. The watch is powered by the manufacture 69355 calibre.

Bell & Ross

Envoking tattoo artistry, the BR 05 Artline Dragon watch takes on this bold personality, with its own exclusive laser engraving. By adopting this graphic code, the timepiece visually plays on light and shadow through the relative fineness and thickness of each stroke honing in on the precision of line work that is crucial to “transcending the realm of drawing to that of a metal tattoo”. On the BR 05 Artline Dragon’s dial and integrated bracelet, the decorative motif is finely engraved.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Jaeger-LeCoultre adds a new chapter to this story of craftsmanship and artistry with the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Dragon’. The new timepiece pays tribute to the Year of the Dragon, and to the talents of the master enamellers and engravers in the Métiers Rares atelier of the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre. Created to celebrate the Zodiac Year and made only to order, the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Dragon’ is testament to La Grande Maison’s vision of culture and creativity, where the artistic crafts merge with the technical expertise of the watchmakers.

Blancpain

In 2012, Blancpain achieved a world-first when it debuted its Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar wristwatch that spanned East-West with its combination of a complex Chinese calendar and a Gregorian date and moonphase. This year, the Manufacture enters its second 12-year cycle with the introduction of a new limited edition of this grand complication featuring a dragon engraved on the red gold winding rotor in honor of the symbol of the new lunar year. This special limited edition for the first time is executed in red gold with a green enamel dial against a frosted background; the dragon is flanked by a red ruby and a Chinese character engraving of the words “dragon” and “wood”, the element of 2024.

Franck Muller

Franck Muller’s release of special edition timepieces comes every Lunar New Year to mark the procession of animals in the Chinese zodiac. Honouring the mythical dragon, the new Vanguard Dragon Slim Skeleton Limited Edition bears a customised rotor that has been engraved with a dragon, which appears to coil around and protect the timepieces’s movement like a “mystical guardian”. The Vanguard Dragon Slim Skeleton Rouge and Vert are accented in red and green respectively, with the pops of color coming from its tinted sapphire caseback – the special bright hues reflected in said caseback mirror that of the dial. Only 10 pieces will be available of each reference, including the Colour Dreams version (which is distinguished by a transparent caseback) exclusively at Franck Muller boutiques in the Asia Pacific region.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Maison Parmigiani celebrates the Year of the Wood Dragon with a magnificent restoration of a masterpiece from its Métiers d’Art collection, the “Tempus Fugit”. Inspired by the legend of the Dragon and the Pearl of Knowledge, the piece incorporates powerful symbols anchored deep in traditional Chinese culture. This piece is a reference to Parmigiani Fleurier’s vast experience in the restoration of antique clocks and its fascination with kinetic art.

L’Epée

The movement “Swiss Made Caliber 1853” was created entirely by L’Epée 1839, has 124 parts meticulously assembled by the L’Epée 1839’s master watchmakers. Two dragons “protect” on either side of the most precious part of a kinetic object — the gearing mechanism. The dragons with golden or palladium scale adopt mirrored postures, their serpentine body coils protectively around the horological craftmanship.

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Franck Muller’s Vanguard Slim Skeleton Offers a New Movement In More Wearable Proportions

If there is one element that would define Franck Muller watches apart from their tonneau-shaped case, it would be the Cintrée Curvex™ shape of their watches. This curved profile allows the watch to hug the circumference of the wrist resulting in an extremely comfortable wear. With their latest launch, Franck Muller takes this feeling of comfort to the next level by totally redesigning the Vanguard case with remarkably balanced proportions and a gracefully thinner profile. Introducing the Vanguard Slim Skeleton.

This new addition trades in the oversized nature of the Vanguard collection for a more proportional watch relative to the average size of Asian wrists. At only 9.1mm thick, the case also comes with a new size for Franck Muller – 37mm – making it wearable regardless of gender. For those with larger wrists, there is also a 41mm option which doesn’t compromise in terms of thickness.

To achieve this new silhouette, the designers at Franck Muller had to come up with a thinner movement, and thus, the calibre MVT FM 708-SQ was born. This in-house movement was redesigned specifically for the Vanguard Slim Skeleton resulting in a thinner movement, 4.15mm for the 37mm version and a mere 3.83mm for the 41mm version.

Additionally, the movement has also been open-worked with care so that its internal architecture is highly visible. During this process, the movement’s designers also ensured that the remaining parts of the skeletonised bridges synchronised with the signature oversized numerals. In doing this, there is a feeling of airiness within the case of the watch where light can freely travel from one sapphire crystal in the front to the other in the back if it is not blocked by the numerals.

Adding on to this idea of the interplay of light, the entire watch is also paved with 144 brilliant-cut diamonds on the dial and a further 422 diamonds adorning the case, totalling nearly 3.6 carats for the 37mm version. The strap of the watch seamlessly integrates into the case, extending the curved nature of the Vanguard Slim Skeleton. These hand-sewn alligator straps with a rubber underside will be available in either black or blue to accompany the 18-carat white or rose gold case.

Franck Muller’s Grand Central Tourbillon Gets A Brand New, Modern Aesthetic

As far as complications go, the tourbillon is one that often sits high up on any collector’s list. And for good reason. Its story is deeply entrenched within the history of watchmaking and more importantly it is fantastically theatrical to look at. In 2021, Franck Muller decided that it was time to let the tourbillon shine, putting it right smack in the centre of a brand new Curvex CX case making it the first ever central tourbillon in a tonneau shape.

On paper, it sounds like a simple thing to do: moving the tourbillon which is normally found at the 6 o’clock position to the centre of the dial. But, in reality, it took them over a year of research and development to finally be able to displace what was originally in the middle of a movement without disrupting the watch’s ability to indicate time.

When it was first launched, the Grand Central Tourbillon was designed with traditional aesthetics that included a beautiful guilloche dial. For their latest update to this collection, however, the new Grand Central Tourbillon Flash explores a more edgy and vibrant perspective by taking on an aesthetic that seems light-years ahead of its predecessor.

In keeping with the aesthetics of the watch, the movement is housed in a futuristic carbon case, with a bezel of blackened titanium while the 36mm case size makes it extremely wearable regardless of gender. The micro-blasted matte black dial of the watch is nicely contrasted by bright, neon indices in a choice of blazing orange, neon green or electric blue. This pop of colour also extends to the cage of the 60-second central tourbillon so as the minute ticks by, the striking neon arrow orbits around the centre, almost like the nucleus of an electron.

The extra curved profile of the new Curvex CX case draws further attention to the central tourbillon by affording greater visibility to the complication and the surrounding indices which are also elevated above the dial. Compounding this effect is the curved sapphire crystal which extends all the way to the lugs and was only possible after perfecting a special technique of fixing the glass at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock.

The calibre MVT FM CX 36T-CTR movement powering the watch offers a sunray-brushed micro-rotor and a 4-day power reserve. The watch will be paired with a nylon strap that has a calf leather underside.

The Franck Muller Grand Central Tourbillon Flash is priced at MYR MYR 572,900.

Getting A Complication Watch is Far Easier

Perhaps the strangest element in this new boom for mechanical watches is the short shrift complicated watches are getting. But wait, we can almost hear you protest, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is a chronograph, after all, and so is the Omega Speedmaster for that matter. These are facts, but we would argue that hardly anyone wants either of those watches because they are chronographs. The Moonwatch, in particular, and the Daytona, in general, have symbolic values that far exceed their functions. On the other hand, a collector who seeks out the Patek Philippe ref. 5172 probably does want it specifically because it is a chronograph. This is perhaps even clearer if the collector in question also had Ref. 7071 in his sights, or already safely ensconced in his vault. Yes, the gender of the collector also says something here, but that is perhaps a different discussion.

To break down the matter of complications, or feature sets if you prefer, this is about what is easy to understand and compare. Dive watches, bound as they are by codes both formal and informal, can easily be compared with one another. Does the watch in question have the right ISO certification? How’s the lowlight visibility? Can the bracelet be easily swapped out? There are many more such questions, which can all be fairly applied to any sort of dive watch, including those that merely look the part, or those that do the job but do not have the right looks. For complications, there are no easy comparisons to be had. To put it as simply as possible, you might like a Breguet tourbillon model, such as the Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Squelette ref. 5395, or you might prefer something like the Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Tourbillon; then again, you might also prefer your tourbillon low-key, for example in the Patek Philippe Ref. 5316P. There are no useful comparisons to be had between these watches, and no tourbillon wristwatch stands as a benchmark for the industry.

Returning to the chronograph for a moment, there are all manner of executions, including electronic ones. This complication is one half of a duo of popular functions that represents the most significant share of exported Swiss watches, according to the FH. This should mean that the chronograph should be highly sought after, but in practice, you can search for the most iconic pieces such as the Breitling Navitimer or the TAG Heuer Carrera and see what the prices you find tell you. Watchfinder in particular offers the promise of the best price (for buyers) so you might want to use this as a benchmark of sorts. To summarise, what you will find are prices well below-recommended retail, for watches that are not limited in some way, such as some versions of the TAG Heuer Monaco and the Snoopy/Speedy series from Omega.

READ MORE: The Timeless Appeal Of Steel Watches

From chronographs, it only goes downhill for pre-owned complicated models. YouTube creator Jenni Elle explains this quite logically by noting that such watches have very narrow appeal, meaning buyers may not immediately snap these up. You only need to consider for a moment why you would buy a chronograph from Tudor over one from Breitling, when both use the same base movement (with modifications of course), to use an example we used previously in issue #45. Whatever the reasons, they probably do not make sense to resellers, traders and grey market dealers, to be blunt. On the other hand, here is where you can find truly excellent value from the pre-owned market in general, if you want the Breitling chronograph. This is where we would argue the real utility of pre-owned comes into play: finding great complications at great prices.

Speaking of Watchfinder, the signature narrator — with disembodied — hands has been talking up complexity this year and this may be nothing more than clickbait and a nod to the power of his own platform. In one video, he pointed out that collectors who have shaped the market price for timepieces in years past are now up against the entire Internet. While this is particularly relevant to address the issue of scarcity, and we will return to it, it also strikes at the intriguing possibility of rekindling the legendary competition between James Ward Packard and Henry Graves Jr. Collectors have already cornered the most important segment in haute horlogerie: chiming watches from a handful of watchmakers. These have always been timepieces that are beyond the reach of mere money — to buy these you have to be in the good graces of the watchmaker in question. These watches are also undeniably rare because only a handful can be made in any given year by any given watchmaker — many individual pieces will take years to complete.

READ MORE: What You Need To Know While Looking For Preowned Watches

As traders themselves consider moving themselves up the value chain, they must consider if they want to emulate Packard and Graves Jr. To be clear, that will mean leaving behind the silly world of LNIB as encapsulated in the example of the infamous Antiquorum sale of the Patek Philippe Ref. 5711A. That aside, the Nautilus is the perfect starting point because if one wants to stick with steel models, then the story begins with Ref. 5712/1A, but the collection is a good place to get to grips with smaller complications. Since we are using the chronograph to illustrate a point here, we must move to the Aquanaut Ref. 5968A because the Nautilus only has chronographs in gold.

Unlike the tourbillon, there are a wealth of options for the chronograph lover, even when it comes to the exact elapsed time it tracks. It is also an interactive feature, which adds to the complexity of how the chronograph is valued. There is no good way to sell how the chronograph feels to casual buyers and those who do not care for what might be heavy research. Indeed, to explain the specificities of even one complication will take too long — not just for this segment but such an explainer will easily overtake the entire section.

As we have implied, most traders and flippers will not have the patience for complications. This is where collectors who have invested time, effort and money into their passion have the edge. Why? Because collectors can take advantage of great deals in the pre-owned space. These deals exist because of the aforementioned weaknesses in the trader space, hence the strong preference there for simple timepieces.

This does not mean traders do not know that complicated watches are in far shorter supply than their simpler counterparts. They just do not know what direction to strike in. As we noted last year, we think the opportunity is in small series production of small complications, such as the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso DuoTime, the Montblanc Geosphere and the Franck Muller Crazy Hours. These all play well with the Patek Philippe Ref. 5712/1A and its multiple small complications, although they are all well below the $64,300 retail price and most certainly far short of its resale market value. Interestingly, Ref. 5968A retails for $70,200 and Ref. 5905/1A — which combines the same style of chronograph with the Patek Philippe signature annual calendar — goes for $81,100.

While you mull over the above prices, do recall that Ref. 5711/1A-010 has a (notional) market value of several hundred thousand dollars, and all the above Patek Philippe references are complicated models that are certainly much more uncommon. On that note, to step outside the Patek Philippe and chronograph bubbles for a moment, tourbillon wristwatches in gold have sold in online marketplace for under $20,000. If that does not convince you that complicated wristwatches constitute an important opportunity for buyers right now, we do not know what will.

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