• By Steven Hilbert
• Published 05/31/2011
• Fiction

Got lots of money burning holes in your designer pockets? Want to impress impressionable loonies and gangstas? Then you need a watch, timepiece, chronograph or whatever you prefer to call it, that the really really really rich buy. In this case what you need is not a flashy and tacky Rolex, but a far more exclusive Franck Muller complication (Franck Muller likes to call his watches Masters of Complications). How do we know that the super rich buy Franck Muller watches? Because Robert Frank says so in his book Richistan, where he also says the super-rich don’t buy BMWs either, they go for Maybachs.

How expensive is a Franck Muller watch? And indeed, you might ask, which is the most expensive watch in the world? Well on Saturday 7th November 2009, the first Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4 Grande Sonnerie Westminster Carillon was delivered in the prestigious setting of the salon ‘Empire’ in the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Price : $2.7 million. This makes

it the most expensive watch ever sold outside of an auction.The Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4 Grande Sonnerie Westminster Carillon is the culmination of a project that began in 2004. The Aeternitas Mega 4 is the worlds most complicated wrist-watch. It features 36 complications, 25 of which are visible on the dial and on the back, comprising 1,483 individual components. Who bought the most expensive watch in the world? A gentleman called Michael J. Gould, a passionate watch collector who traveled to Monte Carlo in his private jet to take delivery of the first Aeternitas Mega 4 personally from Mr. Franck Muller and Mr. Vartan Sirmakes, co-founders of the Franck Muller Manufacture. Between the 6th and 8th November, the Conquistador Grand Prix collection with the automatic Chronograph and Tourbillon models were presented to distributors and retailers. The Infinity collection features Reka Diamonds and Reka Safari Diamonds and brings a sensual design to the already strong ladies collection. 

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