Franck Muller Casablanca 'Crazy Hours'

Franck Muller is a brand that doesn't get a lot of attention in today's steel sport watch-centric consumer mindset. And we think that's a damn shame. Muller the man and Muller the brand have brought a lot to the world of modern horology, and his colorful, mid-1990s/early-2000s tonneau-shaped dress watch collection perfectly exhibits a design language that walks a fine line between classical and whimsical. This particular piece, a Reference 5850, sure lives up to that reputation... Dating to circa the 2000s, it features a 32mm x 45mm platinum Tonneau case with a curved sapphire crystal, a signed crown, and an absolutely wild, black guilloche dial with stylized shadow indices throughout, luminous stylized-Arabic indices, and a luminous 'feuille' handset. Why have the numerals seemingly been applied by an infant you ask? Well, inside this piece you find Franck Muller's modified Calibre FM2800 automatic winding movement — where time telling is... different. The hour and minute hands do exactly what you would expect from any normal timepiece, just out of order. While the hour hand remains on the current hour, the minute hand completes it's 60-minute trip around the dial, changing over at 12:00... er.. 8:00? Despite their under-the-radar profile, Franck Muller timepieces are still some of the best in the world of dressy complications, and this wildly fun piece is no exception. Give this one a whirl and see what we mean!