The evolution of a “Revolution”: Franck Muller Revolution III

The title “Master of Complications” is not something that you can simply give to yourself. You can’t just decide one day that you are a “Master of Complications.” You have to earn such a title!

The Franck Muller line of watches is very easily distinguished from other watches. They have their own style and are very popular throughout the world. I was in China recently and spoke with a number of watch dealers in Hong Kong and Kowloon and each said that one of the most popular (and the most wanted) watches in the Hong Kong area is a Franck Muller.

A Franck Muller timepiece is very nice to own! The range of styles and functions is great and you can pretty much get whatever features you like. For example, you can choose from diamonds, platinum, gold, novelty watches like the “Las Vegas” watch or a two-zone watch or even the “Conquistador Chronograph King,” which is a steel, tonneau-shaped 56.35×40.25 mm, a very LARGE watch.

Each of the Franck Muller watches have something in common. They all are part of a family of watches that are direct descendants of a major complication created by Franck Muller. It is not too often in history that you can own a watch designed under the eye of a living “master.”

In 2012 Franck Muller unveiled his newest tourbillon, the “REVOLUTION III”. It is one of the prettiest mechanical watches that I have ever seen. Let me describe what you see when you get to watch this watch.

As you may know, the tourbillon is a very precise device (in the early days it was not always the most accurate) and it has been the Holy Grail for many a watchmaker since Breguet created the first one.

When you see a tourbillon in action, one of the first things noticed is that there is a rotating carriage doing a full rotation once a minute. On some tourbillons the carriage is used to indicate the seconds. Within that carriage is the balance wheel moving back and forth as it would in any watch. With the balance wheel going back and forth while the carriage is moving in its rotation, it becomes a mechanical work of moving art. It’s alive and it is a beautiful sight. Artwork and mechanics at their best!

There is more now! The “Revolution 3” (R3) goes another step.

If you enlarged the “R3” — you would see a similarity between it and a gyroscope but only a similarity. There are three axes: the balance wheel, the carriage and the third axis, which rotates both of the inner axes. Both the balance and the carriage are moving clockwise so to speak and the outer carriage is turning the “normal tourbillon” horizontally.

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