HANDS-ON: Hoisting the high spirits flag with the Franck Muller Color Dreams
Melissa PearceMy art deco admiration and monochromer habits have always had me on Team Casablanca considering Franck Muller’s selections. But it is party season after all, so I am easing up on the classic palette and eyeing off a completely different proposition. The Color Dreams collection is a parade of watches with one exuberant mission: to liven up proceedings.
There’s nowhere to run for introverts with the complete spectrum of appliqué, exploded rainbow numerals — each one in a different colour — the dial is bolstered with as saturated a hand-stitched crocodile strap, from as wide a vista as the hours’ tones. On this occasion I’ve got the gloss orange croco strap. Pink and red are winsome alternatives but the green option would also be a fine match.
At a quick first glance, the dial’s all childlike playfulness, but closer inspection reveals that Muller’s hallmark sunburst dial, with its lacquer and mother of pearl, has a depth to it, by means of a reference to the Crazy Hours collection. There is a ghosting of smaller, guilloché cut or embossed numerals around and across the dial, but just underneath the main numerals; the hours display time in the customary correct order though. This dial treatment gives a subtle iridescence to the watch when the wrist is in motion. The lustrous white gold case is also evidence of a cultivated guest.
A 1920s and 1930s American sensibility pervades Franck Muller’s models, though in recent years its jewelled pieces have been rife with 21st century gleam, and this watch does come in a jewellery version, with a bezel set with diamonds. Material choices cover steel, 18k yellow gold or red gold, and a blue dial is also available.
And a Long Island case is a further variant over the most well-known Franck Muller design where curvature is king.
The cambered case and cambered sapphire crystal – known as the Cintrée Curvex, Franck Muller’s most distinctive silhouette – underpin the ergonomic ease as well as eminent elegance, and I do like to trace the form of the hardy, domed sapphire. Dimension-wise, the territory is 32mm wide by 42mm long but it’s a case that is entirely manageable.
Last minute points are its automatic movement and luminous hands, to help you navigate the party until dawn. But colour is star of the stage, make no mistake, and P. T. Barnum and Flo Ziegfeld would surely have approved of the chipper showmanship of this wrist ringmaster.
Franck Muller Color Dreams (Ref: 5850 SC) Australian pricing
Franck Muller Color Dreams (Ref: 5850 SC), in white gold, RRP $27,000