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Throwback Thought: Franck Muller’s Vintage Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar From 1992

12 มี.ค. 2026

A look back at a rare, classically inclined Franck Muller complication that smashed pre-sale estimates at the Sotheby’s Important Watches auction in 2024

Back when MTV, Friends, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were dominating television screens, and Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell ruled the runways, luxury watch collecting was a niche preserve for enthusiasts in the know. It was around this time, in 1992, that Franck Muller, a young watchmaker already creating a buzz for his prodigious talent, put the finishing touches on his latest masterpiece—a classically styled, hand-wound yellow gold watch housed in a 37.5mm case featuring both a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar.

Fast forward to 2024, and the watch that Muller made when he was 34 years old surfaced at the Sotheby’s Important Watches auction. Listed as Lot 48, the watch carried pre-sale estimates of between 10,000 and 50,000 Swiss francs. It eventually sold for US$252,192 (including fees), nearly five times its high estimate.

So how did a classic complication that bears almost no resemblance to Franck Muller’s later creations—made after he established his eponymous watch brand that would eventually become a flagbearer for independent luxury horology—do so well at the auction? The short answer, as always for strong auction performance, is rarity and intrigue.

For starters, the dual-complication is a one-of-a-kind “pre-brand” Franck Muller watch. On the silvered dial, the sign-off simply reads “Franck, Geneve”, while at the back of the watch, the snap-on case back is inscribed with “No. 1”. But that’s not all. Flip the back cover open, and one finds yet another remarkable piece of provenance—a stamp that says “JHP”. It is the mark of Jean-Pierre Hagmann, the legendary Swiss master watch casemaker renowned for his work with illustrious brands like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin.

Taken together, this timepiece is more than the sum of its parts: the technical refinement of pairing a perpetual calendar with a minute repeater in a svelte wristwatch; the skill of a young watchmaker who conceived and crafted it; and the touch of an elder horological statesman who clothed the creation. The watch is a true pièce unique, made with unencumbered ambition.

At the frenzied bidding session in 2024, this “pre-brand” Franck Muller watch certainly commanded attention with its exclusivity and horological virtues. But perhaps more importantly, it harks back to a moment when haute horlogerie stood at the cusp of its second golden age—a time when a watch like this embodied the promise of what independent luxury watchmaking could become. And that was exactly what the lucky owner acquired.

Explore a fine selection of Franck Muller’s complications at our boutiques today.

Throwback Thought: Franck Muller’s Vintage Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar From 1992

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