Franck Muller puts the bling in complications

The complicated Long Island Master Jumper Skeleton

WHILE the watch is tonneau-rectangular in shape, the Long Island Master Jumper Skeleton does not feature the sparkle and loud colours that in recent years have come to be recognised as a Franck Muller creation. But look closer and you will see the Franck Muller name across the top of the dial.

Numerals decorate nearly every inch of the skeletal face, where three small windows split the dial into two halves. Framing the dial is a redesigned Franck Muller Long Island Evolution case in high-tech titanium, treated with black physical vapour deposition. It is paired with a matte black alligator strap.

The Master Jumper looks complicated; it is in fact a complication watch. This is a reminder that Franck Muller is also an imaginative creator of bold, highly technical and inventive Swiss timepieces.

An example is the Crazy Hours, still the brand’s most emblematic watch. Launched in 2003, the complication features a dial with numerals arranged not in the order of a conventional watch, but the hour hand still jumps from one hour to the next in the correct order.

Time is read from the number indicated by the hour hand, while the minute hand follows the normal 60-minute cycle.

Instead of the usual sweeping hour hand, the hour in the Master Jumper is displayed in the window at 12 o’clock on the dial. The hour stays the same until the 60th minute ends, and then it snaps instantly to the next number. A complex mechanism of five jumping discs, visible through the openwork face, keeps the jumping hour synchronised with the jumping minutes in the middle window and jumping date in the lower window.

While it is no more accurate than the standard ticker, this groundbreaking triple-jumping complication offers an avant-garde interpretation of modern timekeeping as well as unparalleled readability.

The instantaneous jumps consume a lot of energy and the watch’s movement is built with an innovative double-barrel system to supply it. The system is cleverly designed to ensure consistent torque and flawless precision throughout the power reserve.

The Master Jumper also comes in rose gold in a refreshed tonneau-shaped Curvex CX case, which has an extended sapphire crystal that stretches all the way to the alligator strap for maximum dial visibility.

The Round Triple Mystery series

There are places in the world where time is fluid and unbound, where it is embraced at one’s own pace and terms. This essence of time is captured in the Round Triple Mystery. It is an elegant tribute to the freedom and mystique of time itself. Instead of the traditional hands, a rotating disc displays the hour on this timer.

Franck Muller’s original Mystery watch featured a single disc for the hour, and the subsequent Double Mystery added a second disc for the minutes.

In its latest evolution, debuting in late 2025, the Round Triple Mystery introduces a third rotating disc for the seconds. In marking the time, the three rotating discs make the dial appear to float in motion, untethered by hands.

“More than a timekeeper, the Round Triple Mystery is a story of defiance and imagination,” Franck Muller says. “It bends the very language of time, transforming the mystery of hours, minutes and seconds into a captivating ballet of light and motion.”

Housed in a 39 mm round case, the watch has three variations: the Round Triple Mystery Invisible Baguette; Round Triple Mystery Rainbow; and Round Triple Mystery Skeleton.

The Round Triple Mystery Invisible Baguette, as its name hints, flaunts a white gold case paved with 48 baguette-cut diamonds (5.85 carats).

In pure light, the flawless brilliance of the precious stones makes their seamless setting appear invisible. Adding to the sparkle is another 139 baguette-cut diamonds (5.85 carats), meticulously hand-set on the dial.

The Round Triple Mystery Rainbow is a vibrant expression of colour, provided by a carefully orchestrated gradient of gemstones. Planted across its rose gold case are 120 sapphires, rubies, amethysts and tsavorites (4.05 carats). This is matched by 240 stones (2.07 carats) on the dial.

The Round Triple Mystery Skeleton sports an openwork design that reveals the full beauty and architecture of the in-house automatic movement that powers the timepiece.

The rose gold case is decked with 120 brilliant-cut diamonds (3.9 carats).

Vanguard Curvex Cut Flower

Fine watchmaking and gem-setting artistry meet in full bloom in this high jewellery timepiece. Diamond flowers, blossoming with remarkable delicacy, are scattered across its openwork dial. Their petals are crafted using a specialised Curvex Cut Diamond technique. Featuring 73 facets, each stone is shaped to follow the curvature of the petal, creating a sense of depth, softness and organic movement. As light touches each facet, the flowers appear to shimmer with life.

There are three larger flowers and three smaller ones, which have a total of 18 large petals and 18 smaller petals. They are decorated by three large brilliant-cut diamonds and three smaller brilliant-cut ones. The flowers are arranged in a subtly curved vertical symmetry, adding depth and movement to the design. The dial is framed in a 32 mm by 42.3 mm Vanguard case. The hand-polished case is shaped from rose or white gold like a pillow and hand-set with 310 brilliant-cut diamonds (3.62 carats).

The “stalks” of each flower are not merely there for decoration; they also function as the movement’s bridges. The watch is kept ticking by a manually wound in-house movement with a four-day power reserve.

The watch is worn with an alligator strap which has a rose or white gold buckle, sparkling with 12 brilliant-cut diamonds (0.21 carats).

Vanguard Rose Skeleton

This beautiful timepiece is bound to bring out the romance in a woman. Decked with delicate roses next to exquisite diamonds, there is nothing not to love. The roses and leaves appear to grow naturally out of skeletal bridges on the front and back of the timepiece – a visual treat visible through the openwork dial and sapphire caseback.

The roses – white in the rose gold Vanguard case model, pink in the white gold – are carefully created and hand-painted by a master craftsman. While pleasing to the eye, the flowers are also essential to the watch’s mechanism. Acting as bridges and plates, their petals help to fortify the hand-wound movement’s structure. Some 313 brilliant-cut diamonds (3.14 carats) pave the hand-polished case, while another 78 pieces of the precious stone (0.2 carats) are set on the dial. Even the alligator strap that comes with the timer sparkles with 12 brilliant-cut diamonds (0.21 carats) on its buckle.