Consider 2024 the year of the high jewellery watch. We’ve seen celebrities like Anya Taylor-Joy and Rosamund Pike wear some stunning examples on the red carpet, and many watchmakers responding to this desire for a women’s timepiece to be as much haute horlogerie as it is haute joaillerie. One of the freshest and most fabulous designs from the year is the Round Skeleton Baguette 31, a new creation exclusive to Asia Pacific by the independent Swiss watch brand Franck Muller.
The idea of a high jewellery watch can be taken in many different directions. Fanciful in form and otherwise unrecognisable as a timepiece in its most extreme; but in the case of the Round Skeleton Baguette 31, Franck Muller has gone the route of a classical kind of beauty.
To wit: the watch is, quite unlike the more signature tonneau-shape cases of Muller, round. And the choice to create a skeletonised movement and dial works as a design decision in service of a wearer who might appreciate the vista of fine horological workings as much as its jewellery details.
But, of course, the main feature of the Round Skeleton Baguette 31 is its gemstones. As its name suggests, the watch features a bezel of baguette-cut gems as its signature design detail. It is offered in six different variations, in 18K white or rose gold cases, and set with either a rainbow bevy of coloured gems, or the cardinal gemstones diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.
The high level of detail in gem setting doesn’t simply end at the bezel: the lugs and strap buckle themselves are also set with each model’s matching gemstones, the side of the bezel comes set with diamonds, as do the sides of the case with two rows of pavé diamonds. The latter detail of diamonds set into the case side are both new and exclusive to the Asia Pacific region. In total, each Round Skeleton Baguette 31 is hand-set with 60 baguette-cut gemstones totalling around 4.61 carats, and 156 round brilliant diamonds weighing around 0.88 carats.
Even the hand-sewn alligator leather straps have been thoughtfully considered. The red, green and blue straps that are offered with the ruby, emerald and blue sapphire models are carefully colour-matched to the gemstones to make a gorgeous chromatic statement. The rainbow and full-diamond models, meanwhile, are matched to more neutral white and black alligator respectively.
At 31mm, this new Round Skeleton Baguette is among the daintier watches offered by Franck Muller today—and the smallest in the brand’s repertoire of Round Skeleton timepieces, otherwise offered in 39mm and 42mm case sizes.
In order to harmonise its elegant proportions and design, the brand developed an in-house open-worked movement that is the smallest skeletonised movement that Franck Muller has ever produced. Not to say that the miniaturisation lessens any of the movement’s technical capabilities—the manually-wound MVT FM 1540-RS that beats at the heart of the timepiece offers a generous four-day power reserve.
That, on top of the painstaking attention to both minimising and decorating parts of the movement so that its see-through aesthetic is captivating. Techniques include mirror polishing, bevelling, diamond polishing, and satin brushing—feats of beauty that make the mechanics of the timepiece as dazzling as the precious gemstones that adorn it.
