Franck Muller, born in 1958 in Switzerland to an Italian mother and Swiss father, showed an early fascination with mechanics and enrolled in a watchmaking school at age 15. He graduated from the Geneva School of Watchmaking (École d’Horlogerie de Genève) in the early 1980s, where his technical skills quickly garnered attention.
Muller’s early career was dedicated to restoring high-end pocket watches for museums and private collectors—including handling complicated pieces from Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Breguet. He also famously added a custom perpetual calendar module to a Rolex.
By 1984, Muller had constructed his first tourbillon wristwatch, a rare feat at the time for an independent watchmaker. Thanks largely to his colorful non-traditional designs, his eponymous watch brand experienced a meteoric rise from its launch in 1991 until the early 2000s. Large stylized Arabic numerals and tonneau cases were novel at the time and Franck Muller’s influence on the high-end watchmaking world is still seen today.
Around 2003, drama between Franck Muller and his co-founder Vartan Sirmakes culminated in Muller leaving the brand for good. But the Franck Muller company has managed to survive, albeit in a more upscale/niche form than its mainstream heyday.