Ejiofor Alike
The Chief Executive Officer of Franck Muller, Mr. Nicholas Rudaz, has appealed to the Nigerian luxury community to embrace Franck Muller luxury wrist watches for the strong individual identity it confered on its users.
Rudaz made this appeal weekend during his first official visit to Nigeria that enabled him to participate in a multi-day programme that was hosted by Polo Luxury across Lagos State and Abuja.
He said that Nigeria was an important market in the African luxury conversation, adding that the visit provided an opportunity to engage directly with collectors and clients rather than experiencing the market only from a distance.
“Franck Muller has built its identity around technical ingenuity combined with an unconventional approach to design. The maison is recognised for complicated movements, distinctive cases, expressive numerals and bold use of colour. Its philosophy has never been simply to follow established conventions,” Rudaz said.
He explained that Franck Muller was known as the “Master of Complications” as its expressions reflected the maison’s history of developing highly complicated mechanical watches.
He said: “It also represents a broader culture of challenging what is technically and creatively possible in watchmaking. Examples available for discussion include: The Crazy Hours, the tri-axial Revolution 3, and the Aeternitas Mega, which the supplied Franck Muller material described as comprising 36 complications and 1,483 components.
“Crazy Hours captures the playful side of serious watchmaking. Its numerals appear in an unconventional order while its jumping-hour mechanism still indicates the correct time. It demonstrates that mechanical sophistication and creativity do not have to be mutually exclusive.”
Responding, the Chief Executive Officer of Polo Limited, Mr. John Obayuwana, said that Rudaz’s visit was a significant moment in Polo’s relationship with Franck Muller and created rare direct access between the maison’s leadership and Nigerian collectors.
He added that the visit also reinforced Polo’s strategic role in connecting Nigeria’s luxury community with leading international maisons.
Obayuwana said that luxury retail should extend beyond transactions, emphasising that collectors increasingly wanted access, knowledge, storytelling and meaningful experiences.
On her part, the Executive Director of Polo Limited, Ms. Jennifer Obayuwana, said that clients were getting the opportunity to engage directly with the CEO of an important Swiss watch maison, listen to the brand story first-hand and experience the collections in a more intimate environment.
She said: “A greater appreciation of the creativity and craftsmanship behind the Maison, and the understanding that Polo can provide not only access to exceptional timepieces but also access to the world surrounding them.”