Has Franck Muller become the Rodney Dangerfield of watchmaking?
Franck Muller, the "Master of Complications" is arguably one of the great watchmakers of his day. At age 26 he designed and built his own tourbillion. He has built all of the most difficult complications and fitted them into his tonneau curvex cases. He was the mentor to a watchmaker named Richard Mille. In the 1990s Muller's watches were all the rage and celebrities waited for a chance to own one of his limited editions, yet WatchCrunch doesn't even have a content badge for the brand yet. Franck gets no respect.
Why has the momentum left this brand? The watches are just as good and stylish as they were 15 years ago. Does the hype in luxury watches just travel with the opinions of influencers? The only thing that comes to my mind is that this may be a great time to buy a Haute Horology watch from one of the masters, Franck Muller, at a discount before the masses realize that these watches should never have been taken for granted.
My name is Rich and I am building a collection of unique complications. I know it sounds more like the way you start a watch museum and not a personal collection. So far I have a Tourbillion, Retrogra...
I think Franck Muller lost touch with their customers. The hardcore fanbase remains, but the tagalongs chose other brands to tag along to.
Which makes wonder how AP would fare if the who's who in the watch game decide to go to another brand once/if the Royal Oak craze passes.
I think Franck Muller lost touch with their customers. The hardcore fanbase remains, but the tagalongs chose other brands to tag along to.
Which makes wonder how AP would fare if the who's who in the watch game decide to go to another brand once/if the Royal Oak craze passes.
Do you think it is Franck Mullers fault that they are no longer in vogue or is it just the crowd searching for greener pastures?
Do you think it is Franck Mullers fault that they are no longer in vogue or is it just the crowd searching for greener pastures?
Half and half, I suppose. It's hard when crowds fall out love with a brand's design aesthatic hallmarks but that's what different collections are for, I guess.
Shrugs
Yes, Mueller was a young watchmaking genius, but he left the brand a while ago under acrimonious circumstances, if I remember correctly.
The current brand isn’t at all connected to him anymore
I have tried some on at watch shops and thought they were quite beautiful but too pricey for me.
It also seemed a bit much to have ‘master of complications’ carved into the back of a basic 3 hand watch
all that said, I’ve ’favorited’ an older model on chrono 24 from time to time if price is low enough
Can anyone tell me about this vintage Franck Muller? What's it worth?