Understanding the Franck Muller Vanguard
Franck Muller is the brand that popularized tonneau cases in the modern era of watchmaking, and the Vanguard is their sportiest and most modern-looking tonneau-cased model of all. It debuted in 2013 and has now been made in countless variations. The overlapping sub-collections can be confusing, so here’s our quick guide to understanding the Franck Muller Vanguard family of watches.
There are way too many Vanguard models to cover every single variant, but we’ll break down the three key dimensions: case/crown guard style, complications, and color/material. First let’s briefly go over the Vanguard family’s overall characteristics.
Overview
One of the defining hallmarks of the Vanguard family is the “split” case–there’s a rubber inlay separating the front and back of the case. Well, on the Line Cut and Night Cut models, that inlay is resin instead.
When it comes to the movement, Vanguards range from simple two-hand quartz watches to the epic Tourbillon Minute Repeater Skeleton. Most Vanguards, though, are three-hand models with a circular date window.
Although they all share the same case shape and lug-less design, the various materials and style choices provide a wide range of aesthetics. Franck Muller’s model number conventions make it easy to understand the size of the watch, though: if it’s a “V32” then it’s a Vanguard with a case width of 32mm (give or take a millimeter), and so forth. The Vanguard has been made in a total of seven sizes: V32, V35, V37, V41, V43, V45, and V50. V41 and V45 seem to be the “staples” of the collection.
V35 is generally considered a unisex model, and all the sizes above that are quite big–watches with tonneau cases wear larger than round ones with the same diameter. Even the V32 size (often called the “Vanguard Lady”) can look good on a man. The V32 was offered with both automatic and quartz movements. Aside from tourbillon and skeleton models, which are manual-wind, the rest of the Vanguard family is automatic. Franck Muller uses in-house movements across the whole lineup, although before 2022 some of the basic automatic models were ETA-based.
The various styles of Franck Muller Vanguard models are largely defined by their crown guards. Let’s go over all of them now.
Franck Muller Vanguard Styles
| Style Type | Description / Notable Features | Size(s) Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Classic | No crown guard. Usually made of titanium, stainless steel and/or gold, but there are Carbon versions (and Krypton which is carbon infused with phosphorescent Super-LumiNova) | V32, V41, V43, V45, |
| Slim | Like a Classic but slimmer (9.1mm thick instead of about 12.7mm) | V37, V41 |
| Beach | Like a Classic, but with red, green or blue cases made of glass fiber composite | V41 |
| Encrypto | Like a Classic, but with a QR code for a public (receiving) bitcoin or Solana address at 12 o’clock. Comes with a USB stick containing the private key (which you need to spend it) | V41, V45 |
| Black Cobra | Black snakeskin-motif case and dial, no crown guard | V45 |
| Damascus Steel | Interesting textured case achieved with “a unique alloy of two austenitic stainless steels formed through advanced powder metallurgy,” no crown guard | V41, V43, V45 |
| Racing | Angular/blocky colored crown guard, matching “counter-crown guard” on the left side similar to a Patek Philippe Nautilus, bold colors, Carbon and Krypton versions available | V45 |
| Yachting | Tall crown guards match the color of the dial, compass imagery | V32, V45 |
| Mariner | Like Yachting, but crown guards are the same color as the case, whimsical “neo-Breguet numerals” with cardinal directions on dial | V41, V43, V45 |
| Navy | Like Yachting, but crown guards are the same color as the case, no compass imagery | V41, V43, V45 |
| Casablanca | It’s just a regular Vanguard but in classic colors like white, black or tan | V41, V43 |
| Camouflage | Matte case appearance, camouflage dial | V45 |
| Vintage | Like Classic but the center of the dial is finished with Geneva stripes (Côtes de Genève), and there’s a seconds subdial instead of a date | V41, V43, V45 |
| Slim Vintage | Like a Vintage but slimmer (9.1mm thick instead of about 12.7mm) | V35, V41 |
| Line Cut / Night Cut | A Slim but with an engraved “cut” filled with resin rather than rubber; Night Cut limited edition’s resin glows in the dark | V37, V41, |
| Lady | Smaller case (32mm), raised numerals, many colorful dials, quartz or automatic | V32, V35 |
| Sapphire | Full sapphire case, only offered with skeletonized movements | V41, V45, V50 |
| Invisible Moonphase | Diamond invisible-set case, poetic moonphase complication, quartz movement | V32, V35 |
| Golf/Backswing | Dimpled case resembles a golf ball, central swing counter complication | V45 |
| Royal Bauxite | Bold colorful cases made from a proprietary aluminum alloy that is hard-anodized | V45 |
Vanguard Complication Types
Although I’m listing complications separately from the styles of Franck Muller Vanguard models, it’s worth noting that some complications are only available in one style. A Vanguard Master Banker only comes in the Classic style, but they don’t call it a Vanguard Classic Master Banker. If you want a Master Banker complication with a Racing-style case, well, you’re out of luck.
So, although there are tons of Vanguard variants, not every complication is available in every case style. Here are all the complications that have been offered on Franck Muller Vanguard watches so far:
| Complication | Description |
|---|---|
| Two-hand | Quartz models simply show hours and minutes |
| Three-hand | Hours, minutes, seconds, date (except on Vintage or Monolith Slim, which have subseconds instead of date) |
| Chronograph | Stopwatch function with subdials; pushers mounted on the case |
| Crazy Hours | The hours on the dial are sequenced so that each number is five hours ahead of the previous one (as in 8-1-6-11-4-9-2-7-12-5-10-3) and the jump hour module jumps five spots each hour–resulting in a “random-looking” but well-thought-out jumble where the hour hand always points at the right number. |
| Grande Date | Oversized split-window date indication |
| Master Banker | Unique triple time zone layout, simultaneously displays three independent zones (main hands plus two subdials), all settable via the crown |
| Phase De Lune | Classic moonphase indicator, only available on the Lady Vanguard |
| Skeleton | Movement architecture visible through dial and caseback, lots of sharp matching angles, “Seven Days” usually written on the bottom because of its power reserve. There are even versions with specially designed decorative movement architecture like the Rose Skeleton, Heart Skeleton, and Dragon Skeleton. Plus Yachting models get their own “Anchor Skeleton” style. |
| Tourbillon | Regular tourbillon with visible bridges (so not a “flying tourbillon”) |
| Gravity | Enormous (21.2mm) suspended elliptical tourbillon (also not flying) with advanced shock resistance, sometimes skeletonized, power reserve offered on skeletonized Yachting version |
| Las Vegas | Central “roulette” hand spins to a random number on demand |
| Revolution 3 Skeleton | Skeletonized movement with triple-axis tourbillon |
| Tourbillon Minute Repeater Skeleton | Skeletonized movement with tourbillon and minute repeater |
Notable Colorways, Materials and Collabs
The Franck Muller Vanguard has been made in a broad range of materials, including stainless steel, Damascus steel, titanium, two-tone, all three types of gold (yellow, rose, white), carbon, Krypton (carbon + luminous dust), sapphire, aluminum alloy, and even glass fiber composite. The Vanguard has been produced in every shade of the rainbow, and if you want one with every shade of the rainbow, you can opt for the Vanguard Skeleton Color Dreams.
There are even models with snakeskin and golf-ball case textures. There are so many variations of the Franck Muller Vanguard that it seems like an intentional strategy not to make one big universal catalog of available models. They’re very segmented–there are tons of regional models, unusual collabs, and niche-oriented special editions that aren’t intended to appeal to everyone. They’re happy to market to cryptocurrency nerds with their Encrypto watches, for example, while courting wealthy Chinese enthusiasts with exotic lunar new year-themed limited editions.
The Franck Muller x Jisbar collab in 2025 is another great example of the quirky visual cues that Franck Muller is willing to experiment with. The Vanguard Loes Van Delft Skull and Tiger King are other notable artistic Vanguard models. Or perhaps you’d like to spend $15,000+ on a special version of the Franck Muller Vanguard Beach that features bunnies having sex on a surfboard?
The Franck Muller Vanguard Racing Skenderbeu is a limited-edition watch created as a tribute to Albania’s national hero, Gjergj “Skanderbeg” Kastrioti, featuring a gold engraving of his face on the dial. And while some of the more wacky Vanguards could be construed as “gaudy,” in my opinion the classiest model in the family is the Monolith Slim.
The Monolith Slim is the only non-skeletonized Vanguard that doesn’t have giant Arabic numerals for hour markers. It’s also one of few Vanguards with a bracelet. The monotone look is striking, and certainly different from other Vanguards. The steel Monolith Slim starts around $16,000 while solid gold ones list for about $75,000. Real secondhand values are probably a bit below that. Let’s talk more about true Franck Muller Vanguard market prices now.
Franck Muller Vanguard Prices
Most Franck Muller Vanguard watches without exotic complications sell secondhand between $5,000-$10,000, with chronographs and more interesting materials towards the higher end of that range. A gold case adds roughly $8,000 to the value.
$50,000 is enough for most pre-owned Vanguard Gravity references, and $30,000 can get you a seven-day skeletonized model. Sapphire-case luxury watches can take months of machining to make, which is why they’re among the most expensive watches in the world and you’ll have to pay around $90,000 for a Vanguard Sapphire Skeleton.
At the top of the Franck Muller Vanguard food chain is the mindblowing Revolution 3, with a ten-day power reserve and a triaxial tourbillon. The Sapphire version probably has a fair market value in the $375,000 range. The rainbow sapphire version might cost even more.
I unironically believe that the Franck Muller brand is still recovering from Jay-Z’s 2011 lyric, “Bueller had a Muller, but I switched it for a Mille ‘Cause I’m richer.” But these days it seems like they’re not trying to set the entire internet on fire at once, but rather purposefully catering to different subsets of their customers, and I respect that.
By making so many different rare variations that are actually notably distinct, Franck Muller can combat discounting. If your heart is set on a Vanguard Smurfette, for instance, it will be tough to even find one–and thus you shouldn’t expect a huge discount like you might have on a typical Franck Muller model years ago.
I should also note that while Franck Muller is one of the most underrated luxury watch brands here in the United States, they get more love in the Eastern hemisphere these days. In fact, Franck Muller seems to be aggressively opening new boutiques throughout Asia. Although they’re unlikely to achieve the stratospheric heights they achieved in the early 2000s, perhaps this highly-segmented strategy is paying off for them.
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