Of Spanish origin, Franc Vila is so smitten with Haute Horlogerie timepieces that he decided to, well, create his own brand in Geneva. And this is good news because the watches he is offering are luxurious, quite innovative, highly contemporary, and represent very high quality timekeeping, along with particular attention paid to even the slightest detail.
FVA8
All the models share the same form, which he calls Esprit Unique, in the shape of an inverted 8, which leaves space for complications, a tourbillon, additional functions, or specific counters.
Going all the way with his reasoning, he makes mechanisms whose form can even closely adapt to the design. Vila inventively combines traditional watch finishings (hand-decorated movements, guilloché) with a new approach (notably in the use of materials, which include, in addition to rose or white gold, titanium, an extremely resistant surgical steel, and even carbon dials). His goal is to develop new contemporary codes, while making his pieces as ‘classic’ as modernity allows.
In this regard, Franc Vila recently presented two tourbillons in a limited edition. One is a minute repeater tourbillon with a carillon chime, equipped with an exclusive system called the ‘Absolute Isolated Sound System’ that eliminates parasitic sounds of the movement that can disturb the repeater.
Even more recently, he launched his first sports collection, called Grand Sport Alliance, with, as an opener, the FVa08 CH, ‘Chronographe Grand Dateur Automatique’. Its fetish form offers a very high degree of readability. Created in a mix of titanium and white gold, or in ‘Die Hard’ steel, or even in a combination of fibres, this first sports watch from Franc Vila is limited to 88 pieces in each edition. It opens a new chapter in the short history of this brand that we will certainly be hearing more about.
FVA2
Source: Europa Star April-May 2006 Magazine Issue
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