time piece: (the crazy and totally crazy) franck muller

Franck Muller (born July 1958) is a noted Swiss watchmaker and the company of the same name known for creating complicated timepieces. The brand of watches carries the slogan "Master of Complications".

Franck Muller's watches are worn by various celebrities, among them are Demi Moore, Robin Williams, Elton John, 50 Cent, and José Mourinho.  - wikipidea

complicated is an understatement . . . crazy is appropriate, as acknowledged by the maker thus naming the collection . . . crazy hours

and this,  from the totally crazy hours collection:

how crazy is the watch, you ask? totally!  the minute-hand should be read conventionally while the hour-hand should be read on the number where it points . . .thus, in both timepieces shown above, it is 10:06.  but, if the real time is 2:06, the minute-hand will be on the same spot but the hour-hand will be pointing at the green no. 2, which is where our usual no. 6 is placed.  thus, 2:06 for both samples above will actually read 6:06 in our conventional watches.  crazy, right?  what makes the other totally crazy?  there is a third hand that points to the date, which again is not properly arranged.


and as if the craziness stops . . . if you think that all crazy hours and totally crazy hours collection have the same pattern 8 - 1 - 6 - 11 - 4 - 2 (clockwise) as in the above sample images. . . then you are crazy . . . of course, not!  they have all sorts of combinations!  look:

what is whacko is that an ordinary franck muller crazy hour watch would cost approximately US$20,000 - US$30,000 and the totally crazy hour watch approximately US$30,000 - US$40,000 . . . i did not even bother checking how much the diamond studded ones cost lest i faint . . .and become real crazy . . . crispin, basilio?!  bwahaha . . . 


Z


(images all from franck muller website)