Muller Rolex

Hailed as the “Master of Complications,” watchmaking brand Franck Muller is celebrated for its exquisitely technical contemporary timepieces. Its cofounder — the man for whom the company is named — is known for his groundbreaking use of the tourbillon and for championing intricate mechanical watches in an era that nearly saw them disappear entirely.

Muller crafted his own tourbillon wristwatch in the early 1980s. It was a time when the watch industry was still weathering the so-called “quartz crisis,” when Japanese battery-powered quartz timepieces, which were easy and inexpensive to produce, swept through the marketplace and challenged the traditional mechanical models. While Japanese brands such as Seiko thrived, this meant economic disaster in Switzerland. Now-legendary designers such as Gérald Genta created iconic timepieces during the crisis, but it was unlikely to see such a complicated timepiece from what was even an established luxury watchmaker when Muller’s first handcrafted watches emerged.

The tourbillon was invented in the 18th century, an era of clocks and pocket watches, to battle the negative effects that gravity was having on accuracy of these devices. As a young artisan restoring vintage Patek Philippe watches, Breguet watches and other timepieces that came his way from collectors, the Swiss-born Muller, who dropped out of high school but studied for four years at the Geneva School of Watchmaking, came to admire the sophistication of the tourbillon.

"The tourbillon is very difficult to make and very difficult to associate with other complications, yet it results in a watch with better timing," Muller told Cigar Aficionado.

He decided that he would make his own watches and that a tourbillon should be visible from the front versus the back. No one had ever done that before.

The Franck Muller brand was officially established by Muller and Vartan Sirmakes in 1991 and the tourbillon — even as it requires hand-assembly by seasoned experts — would later be integrated into the faces of many of the watchmaker’s most popular watch designs, including the Franck Muller Yachting series. Today’s discerning collectors are enthusiastic about these prestigious tourbillon timepieces, the brand’s wildly inventive shaped watches and the World Premieres, in which a new line of timepieces is produced annually and boasts a feature or attribute that is brand-new to the watchmaking industry.

Find Franck Muller watches on 1stDibs.

Contemporary jewelry is inextricably linked with the moment in which it is created, frequently reflecting current social, cultural and political issues such as environmental consciousness, identity and sustainability. It’s informed by fashion trends, from the chokers of the 1990s to the large chain necklaces of the early 2000s.

Jewelry is one of the oldest forms of adornment. Lockets made of silver or gold have been treasured gifts for hundreds of years, for example, and charm bracelets, which have existed since prehistoric times, didn’t become especially popular until the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. For many centuries, fine jewelry was used primarily to express wealth or status through lavish materials. Then, in the 1960s, a concept known as the “critique of preciousness” emerged, with jewelers creating pieces that did not get their value from gemstones or precious metals. Instead, it was the jeweler’s artistic vision that was prized and elevated.

This shift still informs Contemporary jewelry being made by artists today. Whether they are using cheap, found materials and working with provocative geometric shapes or seeking out the rarest stones, they are imbuing their work with meaning through their skills, techniques and ideas. Innovative designers such as Elsa Peretti, who popularized sculptural sterling-silver jewelry for Tiffany & Co., and David Yurman, who twisted metal into the simple yet striking Cable bracelet, have also influenced the direction of Contemporary jewelry’s forms and aesthetics.

Meanwhile, technological advancements like metal alloys and laser engraving have led to new possibilities in jewelry design. Now, edgy makers and brands as well as minimalist designers are pushing Contemporary jewelry forward into the 21st century.

Find a collection of Contemporary rings, earrings, necklaces and other jewelry on 1stDibs.

Can you pull off a vintage pocket watch? Of course you can. With a suit and a waistcoat, a pocket watch can be a refreshing alternative to a wristwatch.

The earliest pocket watches were luxury items, and, owing to cost, they weren’t commonplace until the 19th century. Artfully crafted pocket watches were a symbol of wealth, and manufacturers such as Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe became known for theirs. (Today, they’re among the most sought after by collectors and enthusiasts.)

At the onset, pocket watches resembled small round table clocks, and pulling your small round table clock — perhaps of the silver variety — out of your breast pocket in front of someone else demonstrated unequivocally that you cared about punctuality. For collectors, pocket watches are big, and that means a larger canvas provided for functions without crowding the dial. For example, the Marius Lecoultre pocket watch — made circa 1890 — does everything but uncork your wine.

In the late 1800s, the open-face pocket watch became a staple on the American railroad. It was a requirement for railway workers to wear a pocket watch, as the timepieces were responsible for keeping conductors on schedule. This was a boon to the watchmaking industry, with companies like Hamilton, the Elgin National Watch Company and the Waltham Watch Company producing high-grade and workingman’s watches.

By the 1930s, wristwatches comprised the bulk of watch manufacturing in America, superseding the pocket watch. Suddenly, if you wanted to know the time, you merely glanced at your wrist. But given their vintage charm and our general appetite for good design, pocket watches are a piece of statement-making jewelry and today can prove complementary to your formal attire in a manner that is stylish and unconventional.

Let time take its course — browse a vast selection of antique and vintage pocket watches available on 1stDibs designed by legendary brands such as IWC, Cartier and more.