Now in the United States and Canada, this Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams collection will brighten any winter weary wrist with a rainbow of colors.
The imaginative Geneva watchmakers have deftly combined its top-selling 45mm Vanguard Skeleton tonneau case with a multi-hued manually wound movement. As noted on the watch’s dial, the movement offers an impressive seven-day power reserve.
The carbon-cased version of the new Franck Muller Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams.
Franck Muller’s watchmakers have built the movement from satin-finished, multi-color anodized v-shaped aluminum bridges that draw attention as framed by a metallic or darkened carbon case.
The movement consists of eight colors derived from the existing Franck Muller Color Dreams collection. While the current focus for this collection in the United States (and Canada) is on the model with a black carbon Vanguard case, Franck Muller also offers the watch in either a brushed titanium Vanguard case or a stainless steel Vanguard case.
Price: $59,700 (dark carbon case). Click here to locate a Franck Muller boutique in the United States. For a video description of the watch, click here.
The new Franck Muller x Bamford Watch Department Snoopy Crazy Hours.
While the beloved Charles Schulz canine, whose front paws double as the watch’s eccentric hands, dominates the black dial, London-based Bamford enhances the glee by surrounding Snoopy with luminous concentric circles.
The hour markers are distinctly out of order on Franck Muller’s complicated, clever automatic Crazy Hours movement, which powers one of the Geneva-based watchmaker’s best-known collections. But despite the unorthodox numeral order on the dial, the movement is designed to allow the hour paw to jump to the next marker in the correct time order.
Framed by matte black 39.6mm stainless steel case, Snoopy and Woodstock (who appears twice on the dial) are pictured in black and white on the black dial with grey numerals and text.
This 25-piece limited edition is housed in a colorful box that highlights the Crazy Hours design, though Snoopy and Woodstock also appear on it. Price: 28,000 pounds, or about $37,000.
Patek Philippe underscores its reputation as the source for the finest minute repeaters with a new model, the Ref. 5750 Advanced Research Minute Repeater, an extra-loud chiming wristwatch that utilizes a new sound amplification system.
Patek Philippe will make fifteen 40mm platinum-cased Ref. 5750 Advanced Research Minute Repeater watches.
The Geneva watchmaker says its new watch delivers dulcet time-telling tones that can be heard up to 180 feet away from the wearer’s wrist.
Patek Philippe’s new system, dubbed ‘Fortissimo ff,” consists of a sound lever, or metallic ‘blade,’ that oscillates a sapphire crystal wafer located on the back of the watch. Patek Philippe’s Advanced Research arm has spent several years developing the Fortissimo ff and will place it into fifteen 40mm platinum-cased Ref. 5750 Advanced Research Minute Repeater watches.
The watchmaker says its new system, for which Patek Philippe registered three patents, essentially builds a novel pathway for the sound to reach the wearer’s ears. The hammers on the new model, built directly from the design of Patek Philippe’s famed caliber R 27 PS (from 1989), strike in a traditional manner on a titanium ring. Then the new ‘Fortissimo ff’ module takes over to amplify the tones.
The new design transmits the gong oscillations to the sapphire wafer, which, unlike a traditional repeater, is not connected to the case and vibrates on its own. This effectively amplifies the sound, sending it out through four openings at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock in the titanium ring. A dust filter protects the movement.
As noted, the resulting chimes can be heard up to 180 feet away from the watch, according to Patek Philippe. Traditional repeaters become difficult to hear approximately when listening thirty feet from the watch.
Platinum case and components
Since the sound waves created using the new ‘Fortissimo ff’ technology never touch the watch’s case, the case metal for the watch does not affect the sound.
However, Patek Philippe did make several metal changes to the movement design when compared to the slide-activated Ref. 5178 minute repeater, which served as the inspiration for the new Ref. 5750.
A mini-rotor in platinum replaces the original model found on the Cal. R27. With its greater material density, the platinum version delivers the same winding power but with a thinner design.
The watchmaker replaced the steel hammers found on the Ref. 5178 minute repeater with platinum hammers, which produce a softer strike. Furthermore, a mini-rotor in platinum replaces the original model’s gold rotor. With its greater material density, the platinum version delivers the same winding power but with a thinner design.
Contemporary dial
Patek Philippe tops its new watch with an openworked dial of contemporary design that differs considerably from the watchmaker’s generally classical minute repeater dials.
The watchmaker says spoked wheels of 1960s automobiles inspired the watch’s skeletonized dial. The primary dial is inset with a seconds subdial with a similar pattern. And in another break from Patek Philippe tradition, the seconds dial indicates seconds using a rotating disc rather than a traditional hand.
The watch is set with a shiny orange alligator strap with black seams and a platinum fold-over clasp. Patek Philippe will make fifteen platinum-cased Ref. 5750 “Advanced Research” minute repeaters. Price upon request.
For additional technical details and several excellent videos about the Patek Philippe Ref. 5750 Advanced Research Minute Repeater, click here.
Technical Chronology
Below we list the technical achievements of Patek Philippe Advanced Research division since its first results in 2005.
2005: Silinvar, a novel, patented material based on monocrystalline silicon. It was developed in collaboration with Rolex, the Swatch Group, and CSEM in Neuchâtel, and is suitable for applications in watchmaking. Also in 2005: First escape wheel in Silinvar. This new part improves dependability because it requires no lubricants. It also reduces the mass to be moved (better efficiency), is corrosion-resistant, and remains perfectly concentric.
2006: Spiromax balance spring in Silinvar, which optimized rate accuracy by improved isochronism thanks to concentric breathing (expansion and contraction) of the balance spring.
2008: Pulsomax escapement in Silinvar, which optimized geometry of escape wheel and lever and increased energy efficiency by 15%.
2011: Oscillomax ensemble (Pulsomax escapement with GyromaxSi balance and Spiromax balance spring) .
2017: Optimized Spiromax balance spring. Also, correctors with compliant mechanism in steel. This utilizes the elasticity of materials in microstructures and replaces articulations with pivots and leaf springs. This technical development offers numerous advantages: simplified assembly (12 parts as opposed to 37 previously), flatter design, no mechanical play, no friction, no arbor wear, which results in totally lubricant-free functionality and excellent energy efficiency.
The seconds indicator on the new Franck Muller USA limited edition Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen starts with double zero at the bottom of the dial, not at the top. This layout, while rare on a watch dial, allows seconds to be read from both ends of the seconds hand and echoes the dashboard Auberlen would see while piloting his racecar.
Vanguard Racing Skeleton USA Limited Edition, here cased in the Technologie Bleu composite.
The dial layout is just one of many racer-friendly details that Franck Muller built into the sporty automatic watch, which was announced earlier this year and is reaching Franck Muller boutiques and its U.S. retailers now.
Another example can be found in Franck Muller’s choice of case materials for the tonneau-shaped 44mm by 53.7mm Vanguard watch.
The watch is the latest Franck Muller model built with Auberlen’s direct input. One of America’s most successful racecar drivers, the BMW racing driver Auberlen has won sixty-three races.
Three versions
One version of the watch is built with carbon, the same ultra-light, high-performance material racecar makers utilize. Another version features an unusual blue-tinged high-tech composite called Technologie Bleu, which the watchmaker says is created by mixing ‘high purity metals and other exotic elements.’
This non-conductive, non-metallic material is made using a process called the Micelle Phenomenon. Once the case is formed, Franck Muller cuts, carves, grinds and sands the material to a durable, gem-quality finish.
Additional sporty touches on the Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen include a generous use of racing red dial details across the skeletonized dial. The watchmakers at Franck Muller also attach a strap composed of Alcantara-like suede, reminiscent of a sports car interior, and lined with rubber. Instead of attaching the strap to the case using the usual spring bar technique, Franck Muller subtly integrates the strap into the case with two invisible screws.
In another unusual detail, Franck Muller has skeletonized the numerals visible on the date wheel to match the open-worked dial.
Franck Muller offers its Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen in three case materials: rose gold ($34,000), carbon ($27,400) and macro molecular Technologie Bleu ($26,200).
The ninth edition of the Only Watch charity timepiece auction raised $32.1 million to fund research to combat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Auctioneer Christie’s reports that the event, held at the Geneva Palexpo for the first time, resulted in all fifty-three one-off horological creations designed for the auction sold to collectors from across the globe, with many reaching final hammer results after spirited bidding volleys.
Five of the auction items drew final bids exceeding $1 million. These included pieces by Patek Philippe, F.P. Journe, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, and De Bethune/Kari Voutilainen.
The auction, which lasted more than three hours, took place to a crowd of 850 collectors, philanthropists, watchmaking manufacturer representatives, scientists and press.
To see a full listing of the Only Watch 2021 final results click here.
“As the world emerges in the post-pandemic era, it is both humbling and gratifying to see how Only Watch’s message of hope, determination and confidence in the future has again resonated so strongly both with the community of watchmakers who contributed such masterpieces and the community of watch aficionados and generous donators who participated from around the world,” says says Luc Pettavino, President of the Monaco Association Against Muscular Dystrophy and Founder/Organizer of the auction.
Here are a few of the highlights:
De Bethune and Voutilainen Kind of Magic. Estimate $219,444 to $274,306. Final was $1,426,389.F.P. Journe and Francis Ford Coppola FFCBue, Estimate was $329,167 to $438,889. Final was $4,937,500.
Patek Philippe, Complicated Desk Clock. Estimate $438,889 to $548,611, Final was $10,423,612.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Only Watch. Estimate $175,556 to $351,111. Final was $3,401,389.
