The Revolution series of tourbillons from Franck Muller Watchland represents some of the most ambitious, radical and amazing achievements in the history of contemporary watchmaking.
Franck Muller Revolution 1
From the very beginning, Franck Muller understood the emotions that a swirling tourbillon bring to a watch owner. And emotion is the reason why Franck Muller produces mostly flying tourbillons, because without the top bridge you have a much clearer view of the tourbillon mechanism.
But even then, Franck noticed that tourbillon owners were always bringing their watches close to their eyes so they could peer inside this mechanical universe. He wondered if he could create a tourbillon that rose up out of the dial, so the owner could have a real view of the mechanics of the cage. He began experimenting with this idea and came up with an extraordinary mechanism, the Revolution 1.
By pushing the button on the left-hand side of the case, the tourbillon carriage rises up until it is scant microns from the sapphire-crystal top glass. Look from the side and you are able to see that the balance wheel is completely elevated above the level of the watch dial. The result is a view of this horological complication like never before.
Franck faced one challenge during the conception of the watch. The watch’s hands could be damaged by the tourbillon if they happened to be over the aperture when the button was pressed – for instance when at 6 o’clock.
So he decided to create a function that no matter where the hands were on the dial, they would leap to 12 o’clock to ensure that they were not in the way for the rising tourbillon cage.
But even more importantly, when you released the button, these hands must jump back to the correct time-telling position without losing even one second of accuracy. While this sounds straightforward enough, the underlying technical challenge was extreme.
Getting the hands to jump back to the correct time was far harder than simply causing the tourbillon to rise. Essentially what Franck did was create a system similar to the return function found in a split-seconds chronograph for each of the hands.
This is why the Revolution 1 was such a hard watch to develop because he had to essentially make two rattrapantes — one for each of the hands. Thus, for Franck Muller, the success of the ensuing Revolution 1 demonstrated the still untapped potential of redeveloping the tourbillon for the contemporary consumer.
The acclaim achieved by Revolution 1 soon paved the way for what would become one of the definitive horological breakthroughs in the new millennium, the first-ever multi-axis tourbillon wristwatch.
Technical details
Model: Franck Muller Revolution 1
Case
Platinum 950
Width: 35.3 mm, Length: 48.7 mm, Height: 11.6 mm
Functions
Hours and minutes
Movement
Manually-wound mechanical movement
Flying tourbillon
Dimensions: 22.90mm x 31.00mm and Height: 7.50mm
60 hours power reserve
18’000 vibrations/ hour
299 components
Hand-engraved with an Art Deco motif, Côtes de Genève, circular graining, hand-chamfered
Dial
Sun-stamped translucent lacquered dial with Luminova numerals
Strap
Hand-sewn alligator
Franck Muller Revolution 2: The Double Axis Tourbillon
The tourbillon is the most richly researched, lavishly praised and universally revered complication in high watchmaking. It consists of a cage in which all the regulator organs of the mechanical watch, including the balance, the hairspring and the escapement, are placed. It then rotates once upon its own axis every 60 seconds to average out the errors caused by gravity on these components when the watch is in the vertical positions.
Since it was designed for the pocket watch, the “classical” tourbillon can only compensate for the negative influences of gravity in its vertical position. Therefore, after numerous months of research and development, Franck Muller unveiled the Revolution 2, the wristwatch counterpart to the tourbillon.
The Revolution 2 revolves around two axes and thus compensates for the effect of gravity not only in the vertical position but also in the horizontal position. This for the first time gave an all-new relevance to the tourbillon in a wristwatch form.
Technical details
Model: Franck Muller Revolution 2
Case
Platinum 950
Width: 35.5 mm, Length: 48.7 mm, Height: 12.3 mm
Functions
Hours and minutes
Movement
Manually-wound mechanical movement
Bi-axial Tourbillon
Seconds carriage revolving in 1 minute
Middle carriage revolving in 8 minutes
31.15mm x 37.45 mm and Height: 2.25mm
70 hours power reserve
18’000 vibrations/ hour
259 components
Hand-engraved with an Art Deco motif, Côtes de Genève, circular graining, hand- chamfered
Dial
Sun-stamped, translucent lacquered dial with Arabic numerals
Strap
Hand-sewn alligator
Franck Muller Revolution 3
The tourbillon was designed for the pocket watch and so for a vertical position. With a wristwatch, however, the average position may vary considerably depending on the wearer’s movements and this, in turn, can give rise to significant variations in running.
Thus, in 2004, after years of development, Franck Muller revolutionised the watchmaking industry by making the very first tri-axial tourbillon in the world. Franck Muller engineers have gone even further Revolution 2 and have truly created a masterpiece. The Revolution 3 offers an exceptional technical spectacle as well as emotions only to be found at Franck Muller.
This triple axis Tourbillon corrects the forces of gravity in all positions, contrary to a classic one which only compensates when the wristwatch is in vertical position. This stunning complication is the result of one of the most complex creations in Haute Horlogerie.
This technical marvel compensates the effect of gravity thanks to its complex system of cages arranged as follows. The first one-minute cage rotates around its own axis, which is the centre of the balance wheel. The second cage rotates from top to bottom, or along the vertical axis.
This second tonneau-shaped cage completes a 360-degree rotation once every eight minutes. Finally, a third cage rotates from left to right, or along the horizontal axis, and completes a full revolution once every hour.
Power flows from the gear train through all three cages to impulse the balance wheel five times each second. As the Revolution 3 has three cages, there is much resistance for the gear train to overcome.
The watch needs abundance of good energy to drive this triple-axis tourbillon so, Franck Muller has created a massive 10-days’ supply of power.
And as with the Revolution 2, there are two retrograde indications for the eight-minute cage as well as the 60-second cage’s progression.
Technical details
Model: Franck Muller Revolution 3
Case
Platinum 950 or 18 carat gold
Width: 41.2 mm x Length: 55.5 mm x Height: 15.5 mm
Functions
Hours and minutes
Movement
Manually-wound mechanical
Tri-axial Tourbillon
First cage revolving in 60 seconds
Second cage revolving in 8 minutes
Third cage revolving in 1 hour
34.73 mm x 41.40 mm and Height: 16.60 mm
10 days power reserve
18’000 vibrations/ hour 315 components
Hand-engraved with an Art Deco motif, Côtes de Genève, circular graining, hand- chamfered
Dial
Sun-stamped, translucent lacquered dial with arabic numerals
Strap
Hand-sewn alligator
Franck Muller Evolution 3-1
So excellent were the chronometric results of the Revolution 3 triple-axis tourbillon, thanks to its healthy power supply as well as its logical multi-cage design, that Franck Muller realized that it might be possible to add further complications to this already titanic technical achievement.
The Evolution 3-1 combines the incredible triple-axis tourbillon with Franck Muller’s retrograde perpetual calendar.
There is something very beautiful about witnessing this complex turning of the tourbillon on three axes, and then to have the empirical functionality of the perpetual calendar.
Observing this watch change over the end of the month, or in particular, at the end of the year, is a symphony of high complication achievement unlike any other.
Technical details
Model: Franck Muller Evolution 3-1
Case
Platinum 950 or 18 carats gold
Width: 41.2 mm x Length: 55.5 mm x Height: 16.55 mm
Functions
Hours and minutes
Movement
Tri-axial Tourbillon
First cage revolving in 60 seconds
Second cage revolving in 8 minutes
Third cage revolving in 1 hour
34.73 mm x 41.40 mm and Height: 16.60 mm
10 days power reserve
18’000 vibrations/ hour 315 components
Hand-engraved with an Art Deco motif, Côtes de Genève, circular graining, hand- chamfered
Dial
Sun-stamped, translucent lacquered dial with arabic numerals
Strap
Hand-sewn alligator
