Franck Muller’s design language, like art, is open to everyone’s interpretation. A Franck Muller watch is a canvas on which the watchmaker expresses his joie de vivre and his mastery of the profession. Suffice it to say that whenever the Swiss watchmaker announces a new design, the watch world sits up and pays attention.
This design language is perfectly exemplified by the Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams, now available exclusively for Southeast Asia. Described as “the color of your wrist”, it features the eight colors of the famous Franck Muller Color Dreams collection, available in three different variants for this iteration. It’s as if psychedelia comes to life in a timepiece.
At first glance, the watch displays a complicated look. Pop colors, crisscrossing bridges and movement visible below give a sense of complexity. But there is a simplicity that these complex elements achieve. These are classic Franck Muller aesthetic touches, rebuilt from the ground up for this year’s iteration of the Color Dreams series. The Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams, designed from the outset as a skeleton watch, reveals the movement on both sides of the watch (via the exhibition case back).
On the dial side, the satin anodized aluminum movement bridges are fixed directly to the inner case, precision machined to fit the curved case, revealing the hand-wound mechanical movement within.
These plates and bridges are colored in characteristic shades thanks to the electrolytic anodizing process, which requires the special manufacture of aluminum components, instead of the brass or nickel silver traditionally used. It should be noted that each component must be processed separately to achieve the different colors here, which is remarkable. The skeletonization has the effect, in the Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams, of relegating the minute numerals to the flange, the characteristic oversized numerals being totally absent. The hour and minute hands, which are of different colors, work twice to ensure readability. The seconds race is also marked by a different colored hand, in a sub-dial with a yellow track at 6 o’clock.
This mechanical marvel is housed in the new lightweight V 43 case made of CarboTech, a synthesized carbon fiber material. The added bonus is that no two Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams are the same. The ridges on each piece, created by compressing the carbon fiber, result in different patterns on each watch. It should be noted that each case is guilloché by hand, which adds a bit of charm to traditional watchmaking.
To conclude, the Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams is the latest in a collection inextricably linked to Franck Muller. The first Color Dreams watches were born from the brand’s passions, rooted in the founder’s obsessions, which collided in a surge of creativity. The Color Dreams watch was a canvas for a rainbow display accented by oversized iconic hour markers, and resulted in various creative executions. It was always about celebrating time, and the Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams is perhaps the purest watchmaking expression of that spirit.
For more watch readings, click here.