Franck Muller

Born in Switzerland on July 11th 1958, of an Italian mother and a Swiss father, Franck Muller was raised in a multicultural environment. From a very early age, he develops a growing interest for all mechanical devices. It does not take long before the young Franck starts to disassemble all the machines in the house to study their "hearts". During his teens, he collects antique astrological instruments that he buys at the flea market. Mechanics and time, an equation reveals itself naturally: it is Time to which he is going to devote himself.

He enters the famous Geneva School of Watch making in 1981. After 4 years of remarkable studies, he receives the highest distinction and prizes. Faithful to his independence of state and mind, he chooses the most difficult path: to create his own workshop instead of joining a brand or a group of watchmakers. It does not take long before his reputation is made: gifted by exception technical talent, auction houses and collectors from all over the world send him their treasures for restoration.

Unique timepieces

After a few years in this field, he starts the creation of unique timepieces under his own name. Throughout his studies and first years as a watch restorer, Franck Muller comes to a conclusion regarding the horology world: since XIXth century, few technical inventions have been developed and applied to wristwatches. Willing to change this situation, he decides to devote his work to the realization of unique timepieces, wristwatches to be specific, which offer the same level of technical feats as those presented in pocket watches. This prerogative becomes a goal that the young entrepreneur will always hold at hearth.

In 1983, after months of research and micro-mechanical tests, Franck Muller is proud to present his first wristwatches. They all present a complicated movement that has been entirely created by him.

Every year since 1986, Franck Muller has been presenting his World Premieres, based on prestigious complications. These creations are technical feats coveted by collectors throughout the world and are already regarded as milestones in the history of Fine Watchmaking.

1991

The Franck Muller brand was co-founded in 1991 by Franck Muller and Vartan Sirmakes, two men who shared the same resolute passion for watchmaking and each of them had vast, complementary experience in the field.

The Franck Muller Group is located at a stone's throw from Geneva, in Genthod, a peaceful small village with a magnificent view on the lake and the Mont Blanc. The main building was built in 1905 by the renowned Swiss architect Edmond Fatio in a neo-gothic style.

The brilliant Inazo Nitobe, secretary general of the League of Nations in Geneva, used to live in this beautiful mansion in the 1920s. During this time he welcomed prestigious guests such as the scientists Marie Curie and Albert Einstein, the philosopher Henri Bergson and the president Eisenhower.

Following the same design, two buildings were added in 1997 to house the workshops of the watchmakers, the engravers and the stamping as well as the polishing and the turning workshops. This magnificent site of 16 hectares overlooking Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc is more than just a production site; it turned into a concept called Watchland.

Independence of production

The Group Franck Muller has devoted itself, for several years now, to controlling all the different stages of production. Thanks to this industrial verticalisation, the brand can push the barriers of watchmaking even further with an innovative spirit and great technique whilst fully respecting the Swiss watchmaking tradition. Since the beginning, the brand was able to anticipate the market evolutions and created very different watchcases.

A multitude of arts and crafts are necessary to perpetuate the watchmaking know-how. Mastering them all gives us the legitimate designation of Haute Horlogerie. The Franck Muller Group has its own R&D laboratories, the group also covers all the production steps from designing to manufacturing its watch components.

In less than 20 years, the watchmaking brand has gained worldwide renown. Today the brand has 6 production sites in Switzerland, nearly 500 employees in Switzerland, 48 exclusive shops and 600 points of sale in more than 100 countries.

Franck Muller and Vartan Sirmakes have managed to transform what had started only as a "boutique brand" into a truly major success of the Haute Horlogerie.