The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime

Franck Muller Long Island Crazy Hours
Color Dreams with black diamonds
OPPOSITE Franck Muller Cintrée
Curvex Totally Crazy Color Dreams
said, ‘Mr Director, I am sorry I do not
drink Perrier, so instead I will order wine.’
As it happens, I love good wine. So without
consulting the menu, I said, ‘Instead of
Perrier, we will all drink Château Pétrus,
so please bring a bottle for each person at
the table, one for my mother, one for my
sister, one for her husband, etc.’
“The director was shocked but he
quickly complied. This continued as a
routine each night. I would put on my
bathrobe belt as a bow-tie, go to the
dining room and order Pétrus and never
Perrier.” Muller and his family began to
feel the warmth of the Indian Ocean sun
on their skin insinuating itself into their
souls and for a while, they were happy.
Says Muller, “Finally, it was the day
before New Year’s, and very early in
the morning, I heard an insistent
knock on the door. It was the director.
Without saying good morning, he
immediately said, ‘Monsieur Muller, we
have a problem.’
“I was nervous, I thought that there had
been some natural disaster or some kind
of storm coming and we needed to
evacuate the hotel. Instead, he said,
‘Tonight, it is New Year’s Eve and I want
to know what you are going to drink
this evening.’
“I was shocked that he had disturbed
me first thing in the morning, and so I
replied, ‘But that’s not your problem. Why
are you disturbing me with this question?
Don’t you think it depends on what I
eat tonight?’
“He persisted, so finally I said, ‘OK, I
will have the Pétrus this evening.’
“He replied curtly, ‘Aha! It is my
problem because you have drank all of the
Pétrus in our cellar and there is not a
single bottle left for anyone else. I need to
know what you want to drink this evening,
so I can see if we can accommodate you.’
He seemed irritated, perhaps someone
had told him that my bow-tie was not
really from Gianni Versace’s collection for
the next season.”
Muller by this point was truly beginning
to chafe at the rules, the vestigial influence
of Mauritius’ French colonial past, which
seemed determined to darken his mood.
It would be that evening that things finally
came to a head.
He states, “That evening, I arrived
again with my black jacket and my
bathrobe-belt tie. It was a special evening,
so all the women were requested to wear
white. My wife, mother and sister were all
dressed in white. We were seated around
the pool and I looked around and saw all
these beautiful French women dressed in
gorgeous white dresses completely
resplendent in jewels, glistening in their
diamonds. Immediately, the director
came to me and to appease him, I said,
‘OK, this evening we will drink Cheval
Blanc.’ Because it was New Year’s Eve, I
had suggested to Marcus and to some of
the people we had become friendly with
that we combine our tables and have one