The Breitling Watch Blog

I’ve always had a thing for Franck Muller. Perhaps it was earlier days spent listening to my father about how great the Franck Muller watches looked, but never bought one. They are pricey, so I don’t blame him. I tend to wait until an opportunity falls in my lap.. so this is only my second Franck Muller watch. My first Franck Muller was a Casablanca which had scratches on the Curvex Crystal and drove me crazy. I really really liked it aside for the crystal, but I did not want to send it in and have it replaced, so I traded it for another watch.

This Havana Hand-Wind is the same size as my previous Casablanca, but does not have a Bracelet, which the Casablanca did. Unfortunately for me, I realized too late that the Bracelet was what made that watch magical for me.

The Havana dial features a little bit more detailing than the standard exploding numbers Casablanca dials, with applied white gold indexes, sunken subdial and a lume-dot chapter ring. While I appreciate the design, it just doesn’t do it for me the way the exploding numbers dials do. I love the lumed exploding numbers on the plain Casablanca dial the best.. this Havana dial is a bit too sober for my liking.

A crown-side shot of the unique Cintree Curvex case, featuring the signed push-down FM crown. When looking at the side of the Cintree Curvex case, it reveals the unique shape of the case – one that’s not immediately apparent when looking directly from the front. Franck Muller contends that the Cintree Curvex design is an emalgamation of complex mathematics and three triangulated focal points that creates a very pleasing shape to the eye… kind of like the watch head shape version of Apple’s Retina Display. While I like the case shape, it is just like Apple: Less substance, more marketing.

A butt-shot, if you will. The standard engraved Franck Muller back, with the words “Master of Complications” on it – FM’s slogan. You can also see the 18K Gold stamps on the case back, signifying the precious metal case.

The case/box that the Havana comes in is uber-cool. It resembles a Havana Cigar, and even the label can slide off just like a real cigar! One side is rounded and the other flat. A nice little touch to make the watch a bit more deserving of its “Havana” namesake. The Havana came in several different models including the Master Banker and other more complicated versions. This is the base model.

Ah.. the movement shot. Displaying the decorated Franck Muller Caliber Ref 7500 movement, adjusted to 5 positions. The base movement is the Peseux 7001 17 Jewel Handwind movement. It looks nice, but lacks the Platinum Rotor of the automatic models obviously since it is a manual winder.

And finally the wrist shot. The 31x43mm case wears pretty decent for a dress watch, but when mounted on the alligator strap the watch lacks the impact and wrist presence of a bracelet-mounted model. While I think its a great looking watch, I have to say that I would much rather have this size of watch on the stainless steel FM Bracelet and that is the model I will seek out.

Specs:
Case: 18KT White Gold
Size: 31x43mm
Movement: Franck Mullter 7500 (Base Peseux 7001)
Strap: Alligator

This year, I don’t think I’m getting any watches for Christmas from my family. I don’t usually, but its always nice to hope! I know my wife was planning to buy me a Rolex, until she realized how much the one I wanted would cost, so she decided to pass on that. Gotta watch the budget! So I’m wondering what everyone else out there bought for Christmas as far as watches? Did you guys buy one for yourself? Or one for a wife or girlfriend?

I decided I would get myself a watch! I sold a watch, and ended up trading for a watch I’ve been on the lookout for. Its not exactly what I wanted, since I wanted the Exploding numbers, but this is a nice conservative version in White Gold. Its a Franck Muller Casablanca 2852 in White Gold! This one features the vintage looking Havana dial, and an interesting manual winding movement.. so no Platinum Rotor here unfortunately. I don’t mind either way too much, since there is no date anyway. The watch likely uses a Pesseaux movement as a base. I guess I’ll find out soon enough!

So there she is, in all her glory. Hope its as nice as I think!

Franck Muller put out a set of 4 complicated watches last year, dubbed the Aeternitas Mega series 1, 2, 3 and 4. The fourth watch is the one of interest here. With over 1200(!) parts this is one of the most complicated watches in existance.

Here is the list of impressive features:

• Grand tourbillon
• Grande and Petite Sonnerie Minute Repeater – Westminster Carillon Tune
• Split-Seconds Chronograph
• Eternal calendar
• Equation of Time
• Normal leap-year cycle
• Indication of secular years
• Moon phases
• Day and Month
• Retrograde Date
• Day/Night/24 Hour Indicator
• Two Additional Time-Zones

The Mega 4 comprises all the complications included in the first three, making it an extremely impressive peice of horology. This watch measures 40.8mm x 33.8mm with a width of 7.3 mm.

For a change, I decided to get myself a Franck Muller Casablanca watch.. Its now traded, but I really enjoyed it for the short time I had it. The Franck Muller is an interesting watch, very different from anything I’ve ever had, but very well made. The case has an extremely interesting shape, which Franck Muller calls their “Cintree Curvex” shape.

It looks really good on the wrist, and very large for it’s width because of its ellongated shape. The bracelet is a five-row affair, and reminds me a little of the Breitling Pilot bracelet, though without quite the finesse. A beautiful watch however that commands looks when its worn.

The movement inside is one of the most highly decordated ETA 2892 movements on the market, and I took a shot just for you guys to see:

Overall, a beautiful watch with a very distinct look but one that I find myself struggling to read.. the exploding numbers look fantastic but are difficult to get used to… So I’ll leave you with this shot.. and a video review.

Here is the video review that I uploaded today: