Master of complications

 

We'd passed the sign Master of Complications on the front of the Swiss watchmaker  Franck Muller and commented we had to stop for a photo.

What would be a complication that anyone would want to be a master of???? (Sorry Julia about the preposition at the end of the question.)

We agreed that we might be mistress and master of complications such as forgetting dates and things, dropping stuff, etc. We weren't sure why anyone would brag about it.

Today we decided no more postponements of photos.

"Do you want me to ask what the slogan means?" I asked Rick.

He felt that it had to me because of his poor French.

The store is of so high a quality that it requires a concierge to open and the door and direct you. I explained what we were looking for. He sniffed and called another man over, who quickly switched to English (my accent does it everytime). He explained it was his first week on the job, but called his boss, a lovely woman who gave us a language choice. (All this English is NOT helping Rick learn French).

She invited us to sit on one side of a gold-leaf table. She sat down on the other.

"A complication is a layer of difficulty in watch making. Telling the hour is only one complication. A date is another complication. More than one time is still another."

She showed us the catalogue. One of the watches had the hours not laid out in traditional 1,2,3, hours but randomly. "The hands jump to the correct time," she explained.

Another watch had more space for mornings and less for lunch time.

As far as Swiss watch makers are concerned Muller is the new kid on the block. Many Swiss watch makers go back centuries. His firm was opened in 1991.

The woman, who apologized that the store was being set up for their new collection and therefore chaotic (we hadn't noticed any chaos), also said that this was good for the new employee to hear. I felt less guilty for taking her time. 

We learned another term...tourbillon. This type of watch counters the effect of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage. Abraham-Louis Brequet developed the idea in 1795.

The watches were beautiful. The average price is  €38,000 or 46689 CHF or US$51649.

I hoped she wouldn't notice my 81CHF ring watch.

(Note: At some point I suspect Rick will have his own version of the adventure.  http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.fr)