Thin and time only, the Vanguard Slim is Franck Muller’s take on a modern dress watch. It’s been reimagined by the brand’s distributor in Mexico, Raconli Group, which tapped Marcos Cojab, an architect who’s also a sculptor working under the moniker Alquimiamc. The result is the Vanguard Alquimiamc clad in bronze – the case and dial are aged bronze, brushed by hand.

The 15-piece edition is made up of two variants, one in the familiar Vanguard configuration, and another with a minimalist dial free of numerals. Thanks to the styling and materials, both versions are intriguing designs that depart from the usual Franck Muller style.

Initial thoughts

The Vanguard Slim is one of Franck Muller’s most appealing current models. While the typical Franck Muller is oversized and sometimes over designed, the Vanguard Slim is the opposite – the curved case is under 10 mm high, giving it an elegant profile, while the dial is cleaner thanks to just two hands.

Earlier versions of the Vanguard Slim were already simple, but the Alquimiamc goes even further, with less obvious branding, though the version with numerals is still recognisable as the Vanguard. Instead the Alquimiamc emphasises the texture and shading of the aged bronze, which gives it an unusual appeal.

Bronze inside and out

The Alquimiamc edition is derived from the Vanguard Slim (also known as the Line Cut), a sleek time-only version of Franck Muller’s bestselling model. While the brand is best known for its extravagant styling, the Vanguard Slim variants are inherently cleaner.

The Alquimiamc edition has the same dimensions as the standard model, but in different materials. The case is large but thin, 41 mm wide but only 9.1 mm high. Here the case front and back are in bronze that’s first brushed by hand and then aged so it has a ready-made patina. And instead of the rubber insert on the case sides found on some Vanguard models, this has a green anodised aluminium insert.

The Vanguard Alquimiamc arrives in two dial variations. The first adopts the standard Vanguard design with large Arabic numerals on the dial, with Alquimiamc’s skull emblem in the centre. Brushed and treated green to match the case, the numerals are applied on the curved dial, while the hands are in brushed bronze.

The dial itself is also patinated bronze, but covered in clear lacquer to prevent further oxidisation. In effect, the patina is frozen in time.

The minimalist version is exactly that. The dial is essentially the same, but does away with the applied numerals, leaving a bare expanse of the lacquered, aged bronze. Because of the absence of numerals, this looks a little less like a typical Franck Muller.

Under the solid back is the FM 708, a thin automatic movement that’s a proprietary Franck Muller calibre. The brand hasn’t provided photos of the movement, but its specs, namely diameter, thickness, and 21,600 beats per hour frequency, lend credence to the in-house claim.

The 38-hour power reserve is short by modern standards, however, and might indicate the calibre borrows elements from existing constructions.

Key Facts and Price

Franck Muller Vanguard Alquimiamc 
Ref. V 41 S AT ALQUIMIAMC NBR BR (VE)
Ref. V 41 S AT ALQUIMIAMC AP BR (VE) (minimalist dial)

Diameter: 41 mm by 49.95 mm
Height: 9.1 mm
Material: Bronze
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 30 m

Movement: FM 708
Features: Hours and minutes
Frequency: 21,600 beats per hour (3.5 Hz)
Winding: Automatic
Power reserve: 38 hours

Strap: Fabric and rubber with folding buckle

Limited edition: 15 pieces
Availability: At Franck Muller boutiques and retailers in Mexico
Price:

For more, visit franckmuller.com.

World time watches are notoriously imperfect, often out of sync with the realities of daylight savings and partial-hour time zone offsets. Yet their appeal endures thanks to their mechanical ingenuity and jet-set romance. The Richard Mille RM 63-02 Worldtimer stands out in both respects, with a planetary differential that enables the wearer adjust time zones with a simple twist of the bezel.

Limited to just 100 pieces, the RM 63-02 offers commanding presence thanks to its 47 mm case in 18k rose gold and titanium, and its bold pink and burgundy colourway. While not a fit for every wrist or every budget, it’s nonetheless more wearable and accessible than expected.

Initial thoughts

From a strictly practical standpoint, the standard format for world time watches is inherently flawed, as about half the world observes daylight savings time for about half the year, and a fifth of the world’s population lives in time zones with partial-hour offsets. Flaws aside, they capture a certain jet set romance, and are frequently beautiful or clever. Richard Mille’s world timers are the latter, and maybe even the former too, depending on your disposition.

The RM 63-02 is clever in its operational and conceptual simplicity, though the actual implementation is quite sophisticated, enabling the user to adjust to local time with a simple turn of the bezel. This functionality is reminiscent of the IWC Timezoner, which was itself based on a patent acquired from Vogard. Richard Mille’s approach captures the best parts of this design, but does away with the cumbersome auxiliary buttons and levers required by other watches with bezel-adjustable world time functionality.

The CRMA4 calibre is proprietary to Richard Mille, and while it might look small in the massive case, it’s actually rather large at almost 34 mm in diameter. The bridges and plates are Titalyt-coated titanium, while the rotor is part rose gold. It has solid chronometric fundamentals, including a free-sprung balance with moderate inertia, a robust 4 Hz beat rate, and a fast-rotating barrel (also used by Greubel Forsey) to reduce mainspring adhesion.

Richard Mille is not known for value for money, but pricing for the RM 63-02 is somewhat less unreasonable than expected. When it comes to oversized highly technical watches, Richard Mille has few peers and enough fans to ensure the market will absorb the 100 pieces that are planned.

A new twist on the world timer

At 47 mm in diameter, the case is large even by Richard Mille standards, though at just under 14 mm it’s not overly thick for the brand. The mid-case is titanium while the bezel, case back, lug hood, crown and buttons are made of 18k rose gold. Like most Richard Milles, the case back is cambered to wrap around the wrist; it doesn’t wear small, but that a 47 mm watch is wearable at all is a feat in itself.

The case comprises well over 100 parts, though the line between case and movement becomes somewhat blurred as you move inwards. A planetary differential links the hour and minutes hands and the 24-hour ring to the rotating bezel, which is emblazoned with the names of 24 cities. Whichever city sits at 12 o’clock is the time displayed by the hands, and rotating the bezel counterclockwise effortlessly jumps the local hour forward in discrete steps.

Switching between time zones also advances the semi-instantaneous double-disk date display at 12 0’clock, which can also be adjusted independently using the button at 10 o’clock. While the rotating bezel seems like an obvious weak point for water ingress, Richard Mille claims to have tested it thoroughly – though the water resistance stands at just 30 m. This is likely aided by a locking mechanism integrated into the bezel, engaged by rotating the bezel clockwise.

The planetary differential.

Rather than pulling the crown to set the time, the button just below acts like the gear selector in a car, cycling through Neutral, Winding and Hand setting crown modes. Inconveniently, hand-setting mode also hacks the movement, so you can’t go from winding to neutral mode without stopping the seconds and disturbing the time. The crown also has a soft-touch red TPE ring for easy manipulation.

The sapphire crystal dial is reasonably legible, at least by Richard Mille standards, revealing the open-worked plate underneath. The dauphine hands are a highlight, sharp and thick, with straight graining on top and diamond-cut bevels, similar to what you’d find on a Grand Seiko. Both hands are filled with pink SuperLuminova to match the world time flange.

With so much of the movement visible through the transparent dial, the architecture becomes a core feature of the design. The stylised bridges are very presentable, with clean industrial finishing and clear sapphire jewels that support the contemporary aesthetic. As a brand, Richard Mille has never put a big emphasis on hand finishing, which is apparent under magnification. For example, it is possible to spot un-finished machine marks behind the function selector indicator. In the context of the RM 63-02, these shortcomings are fairly trivial; by and large the movement finishing is coherent with the philosophy of Richard Mille.

Key facts and price

Richard Mille RM 63-02 Automatic Woldtimer

Diameter: 47 mm
Height: 13.45 mm
Material: 18k rose gold and titanium
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 30 m

Movement: CRMA4
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, function selector, double disk date, world time.
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 28,800 beats per hour (4 Hz)
Power reserve: 50 hours

Strap: White elastomer

Limited edition: 1oo pieces
Availability: At Richard Mille boutiques
Price: Approximately US$275,000 before taxes 

For more, visit richardmille.com

Acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, best known for films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, is selling the watch that bears his name, the F.P. Journe FFC – it is FFC’s FFC. Mr Coppola’s personal FFC prototype is expected to be the top lot at Phillips’ New York auction taking place in December.

The timing of the auction is opportune for Mr Coppola, who funded his latest – and arguably most ambitious – film, Megalopolis by selling a vineyard and then borrowing against his other holdings in the California wine industry. Against a US$120 million budget, Megalopolis grossed only $15 million, and now the legendary director is auctioning off much of his prized watch collection.

Initial thoughts

Positioned at the top of the F.P. Journe collection alongside the Sonnerie Souveraine and Astronomic Souveraine, each FFC is engraved with the customer’s name. In this case, that name is Francis Ford Coppola. That makes it arguably the FFC to own, even surpassing the unique tantalum example made for Only Watch 2021, which sold for CHF4.5 million. In this context, the estimate of over US$1 million seems conservative.

The unique FFC made for Only Watch in 2021.

F.P. Journe rarely sells prototypes. Only a handful of the brand’s prototypes have ever emerged for sale publicly, and all of those were originally sold by Mr Journe well before the firm achieved the success it does today. F.P. Journe simply doesn’t need to sell prototypes anymore.

The FFC, and Mr Coppola’s example specifically, are notable in other ways. For one thing, Mr Coppola’s FFC is distinct from the regular production version with its blackened hand and silvered minute scale. Only two such prototypes were made. In case you’re wondering what happened to the other prototype, it remains with F.P. Journe.

And the FFC is the only model ever made by F.P. Journe that was not originally conceived by Mr Journe himself, who credits Mr Coppola for the original design. This layered provenance should contribute positively to the result.

Hand as a hand

Like many F.P. Journe watches, the FFC is still interesting even without its provenance. The concept for the FFC originated with an idea Mr Coppola pitched to François-Paul Journe in 2012. He suggested a watch that indicated the hours with a mechanical human hand, inspired by finger counting methods from antiquity. With no horological challenge to great for Mr Journe, the watchmaker took a few years, but pulled it off and presented the first prototype to Mr Coppola.

Inspiration from the hand comes from Ambroise Paré’s (1509-1590) experiments with early prostheses. This is one of two matching prototypes assembled by Mr Journe’s own hand with a blackened gauntlet and white minutes ring. On the standard model, the colours for those parts are inverted.

A diagram that explains how to read the time on the mechanical fingers.

Aside from the FFC, Mr Coppola’s personal Resonance – a gift from his late wife, Eleanor – is also on the block. The necessity of the auction is unfortunate, but gives collectors an opportunity to acquire some highly desirable watches while helping one of the most important figures in modern filmmaking out of a bind.

Francis Ford Coppola’s personal F.P. Journe FFC has an estimate in excess of US$1 million, and it will be sold at The New York Watch Auction: XIII on December 6 and 7, 2025.

For more, visit Phillips.com.