The Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega4 Part1

The Franck Muller AeternitasMega4

The definition of the word “awesome” means to be placed in a state of profound reverence, and was first popularized around 1600 in hymns to describe the supplicant condition of man before God.

However, in the world of contemporary high watchmaking, there is one single timepiece that so profoundly encapsulates this sense of reverence that it compels even the most jaded watch connoisseur into humbled silence — Franck Muller Watchland’s Aeternitas Mega 4.

The Mega 4 is far more than the most complicated wristwatch ever brought to life since Prometheus first brought light to the world; it is far more than the summation of its amazing 36 complications; it is far more the genetic recombination of its 1,483 components,necessitating the use of a record-breaking 99 jewels. It is, unto itself, a holy vessel: a lost Ark encoded with the entire history of true high watchmaking.

Indeed, every single significant complication and the dreams and passions of their creators since the birth of high Swiss watchmaking — is not only present within its sumptuous, oversized Cintrée Curvex case, but is executed with a sense of refinement and old-world artisanship that no longer exists in this hyper-industrialized world.

In addition, each of these 36 complications is executed so as to represent a technical evolution in terms of functionality that makes the Mega 4 the most ambitious, yet most profoundly sincere, timepiece ever produced in human history. It is a chalice of hope into which over two centuries of watchmakers have poured their cumulative abilities, and to drink from it is to be left in a state of awe and wonder.

To gaze upon its magnificent Vallée de Joux handmade levers and gears, the sinuous ballet of the tourbillon, and the amazing mechanical artistry of its split-seconds chronograph, and to listen to the majestic peals of its Westminster carillon grande et petite sonnerie, is to literally be infused with the lifeblood of horological history.

It is a watch that pays tribute to Daniel Quare, the inventor of the minute repeater, and Abraham-Louis Breguet, the creator of the tourbillon and the first minute repeaters on wire gongs; it is a testimony to the ingenuity of Ferdinand Berthoud and Jean-Antoine Lépine,pioneers in the perpetual calendar; it is an homage to Abraham-Louis Perrelet, the creator of the perpetual rotor; it is a nod to Nicolas Rieussec, the man who brought precision timing to the world through the invention of the chronograph.