Franck Muller helped pioneer the rise of independent watchmaking. Decades later, the brand remains one of its most expressive and uncompromising voices
Whether it’s Steve Jobs with the iPhone or Henry Ford with the Model T, every field has its luminaries—the pioneers who pave the way for the ones who come after. In the world of contemporary independent watchmaking, Franck Muller ranks among those who dared to challenge the status quo.
The legendary watchmaker, after founding his eponymous brand in 1991, brought an expressive and avant-garde approach to watchmaking, releasing a collection of coveted and complicated mechanical watches that were unlike anything on the market at the time. While many brands were still licking their wounds from the quartz crisis—a disruption that nearly erased mechanical watchmaking—Franck Muller was intent on celebrating the art of traditional watchmaking with exuberance.
From creating mechanically demanding timepieces in the 1990s—including multi-complication tourbillons with minute repeaters, perpetual calendars, and split-seconds chronographs—to introducing the whimsical Crazy Hours complication in 2003, the brand has been breaking all the rules from its inception deliberately and with glee.
“The DNA of Franck Muller has always been to be extravagant, to be bold, to push the boundaries of watchmaking,” says Nicholas Rudaz, the brand’s CEO. “That’s in our blood.”
Today, more than a few watchmakers appear to possess that same passion coursing through their veins. Independent watchmaking has become a burgeoning space, increasingly favoured by seasoned collectors seeking ingenious interpretations of horology. It’s a shift Rudaz is more than familiar with.
“There is an increasing interest in smaller, independent brands,” he says. “Independent watchmakers may be limited by budget, but they are much more free when it comes to creativity, and creativity is something watch collectors are always looking for.”
If there’s one thing Franck Muller does exceptionally well, it is expressing an effusive and exuberant watchmaking language. Take, for example, two of its standout novelties from 2025: the Round Triple Mystery and Vanguard Crazy Hours Jisbar.
As its name suggests, the Round Triple Mystery is an evolution of the brand’s iconic Double Mystery—a design patented in 1998, where traditional hands are replaced with rotating discs. The new iteration adds a third disc to track the seconds, each ring spinning independently to indicate the time without a single visible hand. Set within a fully gem-set 39mm case, it’s a visual treat and technical powerhouse.
The Vanguard Crazy Hours Jisbar, meanwhile, sees the brand collaborate with French street artist Jisbar to give the Crazy Hours complication a contemporary twist. The numerals, already arranged in their signature out-of-sequence format, are rendered in bright, graffiti-style colours, layered with pop-art textures and set against the sculptural lines of the Vanguard case.
This expressive freedom doesn’t happen by chance. Having been one of the earliest pioneers in the independent watchmaking space, Franck Muller has steadily built up its manufacturing capabilities and even makes its own dials. More than that, the brand has spent the past 34 years strengthening its relationships with collectors around the world. It is this legwork that has allowed Franck Muller to operate outside the boundaries of traditional industry calendars, choosing to debut its yearly novelties at its in-house event, the World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie.
“We’ve been doing this exhibition since 1998 and people love coming here,” explains Rudaz. “We’ve been independent since the beginning and we don’t like to be copycats. That’s always been our philosophy.”
More than three decades on, it is this unrelenting desire for self-expression that continues to define Franck Muller and captivate its collectors.
“The person who wants to wear a Franck Muller is someone who wants something different,” says Rudaz. “You could have 1,000 Franck Muller collectors in one room—and 1,000 different watches on their wrists.”
This story first appeared in the August 2025 issue. Purchase it as a print or digital copy, or consider subscribing to us here
