Franck Muller: The Vanguard Gets Crazy at WPHH 2019

On the sidelines of SIHH this year, Franck Muller will unveil the new Vanguard Crazy Hours for men and women at the WPHH 2019.

I have been a huge fan of Franck Muller’s Crazy Hours since it was first introduced in 2003. The timepiece turns standard timekeeping on its ear by reshuffling the hours on the dial, using a special patented complication that ensures the precise jump every hour, while the minute hand keeps time in the traditional way. The result is a unique and fun way of keeping track of the passing time.

How did Crazy Hours come about?

Though Franck Muller was already considered a master of complications, he wanted to do something different. “One thing I was thinking about was that all the information shown on traditional complications could be read off your computer,” Muller remembers. “As such, I wanted to create a type of watch that offered an experience you could not have with an electronic device. This watch must evoke emotion; it must remind you that watches are iving objects and not soulless electronics. In order to do this, I had to examine the fundamental concepts behind time.”

During a vacation in Mauritius where Muller chafed under all the rules imposed upon the guests at a swanky hotel, Muller came up with Crazy Hours, a watch that breaks all the rules.

“I thought to myself, I hate rules,” he says. “But, in many ways, time itself is a rule. It is imposed on man. I wanted to create a watch that had no rules but that always displays the right time regardless. And I called this watch Crazy Hours.”

Crazy Hours is still a best-seller for the brand, and it has gone through a number of variations over the years, including a tourbillon.

For the 2019 World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie (WPHH), held at same time as SIHH at the Watchland SA headquarters in Genthod, Geneva, Franck Muller will present a new Crazy Hours for men and women in the Vanguard collection. The masculine version is in a black carbon case, its indications in yellow, along with a yellow crown and a yellow stitched alligator-rubber strap.

Frank Muller Vanguard Crazy Hours for men

For the women, it’s the Vanguard Crazy Hours Lady in a stainless-steel case with a pavé dial, set with more than 200 diamonds and over 80 rose sapphires.

Frank Muller Vanguard Crazy Hours for ladies

Both timepieces are powered by in-house Franck Muller automatic movements.

The new Vanguard Crazy Hours are just two of the spectacular timepieces the Franck Muller Group will be unveiling at the WPHH, starting January 14, 2019.

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