Technical innovation is a quality that resides at the heart of Franck Muller’s philosophy. This is evident not only in our high and grand complication timepieces, but also in our case and dial making, gemsetting techniques, and the materials we use in our timepieces. This is demonstrated in our very first shaped wristwatch case, the Cintrée Curvex in 1987, and continues with our latest evolution of the Long Island case.
The Long Island was first presented in 2000 as a three-hand timepiece. The rounded rectangular case with a gentle curved form, short lugs, and arched numerals that followed the design of the case paid tribute to the Art Deco era and quickly became a popular model among collectors.
A New, Complex Construction
This year, Franck Muller is pleased to introduce a modern evolution of the Long Island case. The new design retains the silhouette of the original, which was conceptualised by our co-founder Vartan Sirmakes, while injecting a new dynamic to the case. In order to reconstruct the new Long Island, we had to deconstruct the original design and bring out a refined proportion that highlights the curves, angles, and fine lines of the Long Island.
Compared with the original Long Island design, the new case incorporates an additional inner case that secures the shaped movements driving the watch. Franck Muller is one of the few watchmakers that can develop movements designed to precisely fit each case, because it designs, engineers, and produces its cases, dials, and movements independently at Watchland.
Shaped movements completely utilise all of the space within the watch case, making them more appealing visually, but are also a challenge to configure and engineer. The additional inner case of the Long Island Evolution offers added security and shock protection to the movement. The multi-layered construction also offers one benefit – it enables the sapphire crystal protecting the display of the watch to be attached to the flange without any visible fixing screws.
The aluminium inner case is anodised in a pine green colour, while the titanium outer case has a black PVD treatment with satin-brushing. Luxurious alligator leather straps in matte black featuring contrast stitching and edges in the same pine green colour are paired with the new Long Island cases, creating a continuous green line that encircles the entire watch on both sides.
Triple Jumping Complication
Franck Muller is always coming up with new ways of expressing time, by taking existing complications even further to reach new standards in mechanical watchmaking. This year, it showcases a triple jumping complication with numerical displays for the hours, minutes, and date in the Long Island Evolution Master Jumper. While triple jumping displays are not new in high watchmaking, they relate only to calendar functions in perpetual calendars. There has never been a watch with three numerical indications for the time and date functions combined.
For the first time at Franck Muller, we have also added an inner sapphire crystal at the level of the inner bezel, giving three-dimensional depth to the timepiece. This is where useful text elements are printed, as well as where the three apertures’ frames are directly incorporated. This has allowed us to keep the movement open-worked, while highlighting technical indications on the movement with a high-technology look.
Jumping hour watches have existed since the 19th century but a complete numerical display of time in a mechanical watch only emerged in 2009. The Long Island Evolution Master Jumper goes even further with a new vertical and equidistant jumping display, featuring three windows arranged in a column down the middle of the watch case, with the hours at the top, the minutes in the middle, and the date at the 6 o’clock position. The minutes and date windows each use two separate discs for the tens and ones, both jumping at each decimal number. The hour window, on the other hand, employs one single disc to indicate the hours from ‘1’ to ‘12’. The watch’s five discs as well as the wheels that drive their motion are all visible through the front of the watch, via a supporting bridge with machined cutouts.
The greatest challenge of the Master Jumper is powering the numerical displays. Delivering an instantaneous jump for the hours and minutes requires significant amounts of energy, especially at the hour jump, and even more so at the end of the day when the date jumps as well. To achieve sufficient torque even towards the end of its power reserve, we came up with an innovative double barrel system with the first barrel, located at 12 o’clock, engaging the hours and minutes disc, and the second barrel, located at 6 o’clock, powering the movement and the two discs associated with the date.
On the sapphire crystal, details of the Calibre FM 3100 designed just for this timepiece are printed to express the technical prowess of this movement in a creative manner. The result of four years of development, it is hand-finished with the numerous techniques practiced in our manufacture, for a movement that is both beautifully and technically breathtaking.
A Grand Tourbillon
The tourbillon is the most iconic design in haute horlogerie today, and Franck Muller has created numerous types of tourbillons for its wristwatches since our earliest days. We were the first to develop a multi-axis tourbillon, and we also hold the record for the most complex wristwatch ever created. Now, our Giga Tourbillon movement, featuring a cage of 20mm will also be available in the Long Island case with a sexy and modern interpretation, and an all-black treatment that matches the titanium case.
The large tourbillon cage of the Long Island Evolution Giga Tourbillon occupies over half of the entire movement, with a three-pointed supporting bridge that is closely mirrored in the bridges of the barrels that hold four mainsprings in total. These provide a generous four-day power reserve that is indicated in a display between the barrels. Two Super-LumiNova filled hands indicate the hours and minutes, with the oversized tourbillon doubling as a running seconds counter.
A Steadfast Classic
To round off the collection, we’ve created a third three-hand model equipped with our hand-wound FM 1745 calibre in a fully skeletonised design. This impressive timekeeper provides a seven-day power reserve, with a precise oscillator running at a steady 18,000vph. The Long Island Evolution 7 Days Power Reserve hearkens back to classic pocket watch movements, but it has been given a novel and bold makeover that fits the new Long Island case to a ‘T’.
The bridges of the movement are fully skeletonised to maximise the view of the movement through the sapphire crystal, with a small seconds counter at the bottom of the display that’s perfectly balanced with the enormous mainspring above it. The gear train and winding gears are also partially revealed, and can be further discovered through the back of the watch. Above the movement, large Arabic hour numerals painted with luminous material indicate the time clearly; turn off the lights and enjoy the view of this watch in glowing detail.
These three new Long Island models pay homage to the original Long Island, but with radically new expressions and designs of a three-hand timekeeper. They demonstrate just how far Franck Muller has come in over 30 years, and how we’re constantly reaching for greater heights.
Asia Pacific Exclusive Limited Edition
The Long Island Evolution is exclusive to the Asia Pacific region, with just 300 pieces of the Long Island Evolution 7 Days Power Reserve, 100 pieces of the Long Island Master Jumper, and 8 pieces of the Long Island Evolution Giga Tourbillon.
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