Slimmer skeleton watch with reworked movement displays watchmaker’s top-notch skills

What better way to usher in the year-end festivities than with a sparkly timepiece to mark the close of yet another successful business year?

Franck Muller’s new Vanguard Slim Skeleton makes for a great gift to adorn your wrist – or that of your significant other.

With a case made from rose gold or white gold hand-set with 422 brilliant-cut diamonds (totalling 3.05 carats), and a further 144 diamonds on the numerals (0.54 carats), the Vanguard Slim Skeleton measures 37mm in width and is an instant head turner.

Like its name suggests, with a thickness of only 9.1mm, it is svelte enough to be paired with anything dressy, from suits and tuxedos to cocktail dresses and gowns. The 37mm variant joins the existing 41mm one in the Franck Muller stable.

The challenge of creating a timepiece that is both slim and mechanically sound demonstrates the manufacturer’s technical expertise and dedication to pushing the boundaries of watch design.

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The case and movement must be slim to meet the design criteria yet sturdy enough to withstand daily wear and potential shocks. Ensuring that the watch remains durable and robust over time is also a crucial consideration.

With the Vanguard Slim Skeleton, Franck Muller has once again showed its horological prowess.

Pushing the vanguard

Among the Swiss watchmakers, Franck Muller is known for its unique designs and innovative complications, having created some of the most complicated watches in the world. But it is just as adept at making simple, time-only tickers, such as the Vanguard Slim Skeleton.

In the early days of the brand’s inception, the focus was on dress watches, with collections like the Cintrée Curvex, Long Island and Master Square. But things changed in 2014 when the contemporary, sporty Vanguard collection was introduced.

Combining Franck Muller’s traditional craftsmanship with a more dynamic aesthetic, the series became known for its daring, distinctive features.

Related: Franck Muller introduces the Vanguard Revolution 3 Skeleton watch

A key feature of the Vanguard collection is its signature oversized Arabic numerals, which recall bold-faced collegiate fonts.

On the Vanguard Slim Skeleton, the watchmakers have transformed these stylised numerals into mini architectural marvels that appear to “float” in the case. It is the result of a painstaking process of skeletonising the movement, a feat that only a handful of watchmakers have mastered.

Stripped to the bone

Skeletonising a movement involves the removal of material from the movement's plates and bridges to expose its internal workings, creating an intricate, transparent, and aesthetically pleasing design.

However, careful consideration is needed to ensure that the remaining structure remains robust and stable. Excessive removal of material can lead to weak points in the mechanism, making it more fragile and unstable.

Furthermore, the intricate detailing required in skeletonising demands precision machining, as small errors in the removal of material can affect the movement's performance and overall appearance.

The challenge of skeletonising the Vanguard Slim Skeleton was magnified because of the slim case, which meant that the watchmakers had to re-engineer the entire movement, the in-house manufactured calibre FM 708.

All the components had to be carefully cut, open-worked, individually hand-polished and finessed so that the internal architecture can be admired from any angle, from dial side to case back. The result? The calibre FM 708-SQ (“SQ” stands for “squelette”, or skeleton in French.)

Working with a slimmer case also meant that power supply would be affected, as the reduced size of slim movements affects the capacity for energy storage.

To that end, Franck Muller’s watchmakers came to a compromise, endowing the Vanguard Slim Skeleton with a 38-hour power reserve. The calibre FM 708-SQ drives both the 37mm and 41mm variants of the Vanguard Slim Skeleton.

Despite a smaller power reserve, the Vanguard Slim Skeleton remains a reliable and precise timepiece. Ultimately, it strikes a perfect balance between aesthetics and functionality.

A versatile piece, the Vanguard Slim Skeleton looks equally good on male or female wrists, and works with casual fits or dressier ensembles, with the integrated alligator strap providing the finishing touch.

Learn more about the Franck Muller Vanguard Slim Skeleton collection here. Visit the Franck Muller boutiques for more information.