The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime
The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime
The Legend of Franck Muller - Westime
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PART THREE<br />
THE REVOLUTIONARY<br />
MASTER BANKER<br />
As his brand continued to<br />
grow, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>Franck</strong>’s greatest<br />
challenges was to use his<br />
watchmaking ability to suit the<br />
needs <strong>of</strong> the contemporary consumer. <strong>The</strong><br />
greatest reality for the modern businessman<br />
relates to constant travel. <strong>The</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> us<br />
spend our days on a perennial transglobal<br />
trek from one head <strong>of</strong>fice to the next.<br />
<strong>The</strong> miasmic haze <strong>of</strong> being lost amid<br />
differing time zones can at times become<br />
overwhelming, and in this context, it is the<br />
watch that becomes a veritable Prometheus,<br />
bringing light to darkness, and order to<br />
chaos. It was precisely with the objective<br />
<strong>of</strong> illuminating the world <strong>of</strong> the constant<br />
traveler that <strong>Franck</strong> created one <strong>of</strong> his most<br />
legendary timepieces, the Master Banker.<br />
Amazingly, this watch was actually<br />
created in tandem with an actual banker<br />
friend. <strong>Franck</strong> recalls, “One <strong>of</strong> my close<br />
friends is Paul Tange, the son <strong>of</strong> Kenzo<br />
Tange, the father <strong>of</strong> contemporary Japanese<br />
architecture and one <strong>of</strong> the key proponents <strong>of</strong><br />
structuralism. At Institut Le Rosey, the oldest<br />
private boarding school in Switzerland, he<br />
befriended an Iranian boy who became a<br />
huge banker in London. I got to know them<br />
both as they spent a lot <strong>of</strong> time in Geneva.<br />
One day, we got together for lunch and this<br />
banker mentioned that he was curious about<br />
Watchland, so I brought him on a tour. As<br />
we walked through the grounds, he told me,<br />
‘<strong>Franck</strong>, I want to buy a watch from you, but<br />
the watch I want has not yet been invented.’<br />
This intrigued me immediately. He first<br />
explained his idea in 1995, but it wasn’t<br />
until 1998 that I introduced the watch.<br />
Why? Because the way I work is to put<br />
ideas in my head and then work on solving<br />
their problems in a natural way. It’s how<br />
I’ve always worked. I love to talk to people<br />
<strong>of</strong> all the different nationalities to learn<br />
about their cultures and their perceptions <strong>of</strong><br />
time, and in this way, I am always receiving<br />
inspiration. Of course, afterwards, you<br />
must figure out technically how to resolve<br />
the problems. What he told me was this.<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> world has changed forever. I spend<br />
almost no time in my actual <strong>of</strong>fice. One day<br />
I am in London, the next day in New York,<br />
the next day in Tokyo. What is important to<br />
me is speed, how quickly I can reach a new<br />
destination, how quickly I can react to the<br />
opening <strong>of</strong> the stock market there. When<br />
I wake up and I look at my watch, I want to<br />
immediately know when the market opens.<br />
Because in the time it takes me to figure<br />
out the time, I could have made or lost a<br />
fortune. So what I really need is a watch that<br />
is actually three watches, to simultaneously<br />
tell the time <strong>of</strong> three different cities where<br />
I am doing business. But I want to have<br />
all three time indications controlled by<br />
a single movement, and I want complete<br />
hour and minute indicators for each time<br />
zone… I may need to speak to my wife, who<br />
may be in Los Angeles; at the same time, I<br />
need to make a business call to Paris; yet<br />
I must also keep track <strong>of</strong> my meetings<br />
where I am. In addition, this watch must be<br />
incredibly simple to use.’”<br />
Understanding that this was a vital<br />
opportunity to bridge the gap between<br />
traditional watchmaking and the needs <strong>of</strong> a<br />
rapidly modernizing culture, <strong>Franck</strong> leapt<br />
at the challenge. He recalls, “I said to him,<br />
‘Look, what you are asking for is extremely<br />
complicated, because it is as if you are placing<br />
three clutches in a single movement. It is as<br />
if you are putting three clutches into a single<br />
car motor. I can make just one watch like this<br />
for you, but it will cost a fortune. If I can make<br />
several watches with this invention, it will be<br />
very affordable because I can amortize the<br />
cost <strong>of</strong> research and development over an<br />
entire series.’ He agreed.