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 FRANC VILA

Visiting the Franc Vila booth was a welcome break from the throngs of people that bustle to and fro in Hall 1. The booth is always busy, but business is carried out in a calm, serene and business-like manner that emanates from the ever-present Franc Vila and the brand’s CEO, Serge Aebischer.

Tribute to Ladies by Franc Vila

This year Franc Vila introduced several new notable models: the Neo Alto Chrono in stainless steel with its mechanical self-winding movement with it’s Gold Concept Rotor and its black carbon fibre dial with white embedded Arabic numerals; a red gold version of the Intrepido Vintage Chrono with an eye-catching blue dial and blue and red strap; the Limited Edition (18 pieces) of the Neo Alta Patriot with its classical Franc Vila case in black with a seconds counter at 6 o’clock that comes in the flag colours of various countries such as Mexico, Russia, Brazil, etc.; and the Tourbillon Intrepido II Superligero Skeleton, with a titanium case with an 18 carat red gold bezel and a hand wound movement with a power reserve of 100 hours.
For fans of skeleton watches, this model offers a glimpse of the inner workings without distracting from its raison d’être – reading the time.

However, the timepieces that really caught my attention were the second version of the Franc Vila Tribute to Ladies. A smaller version of the brand’s classic model (38 mm) is in stainless steel and carbon fibre, it is equipped, unusually for Franc Vila, with a quartz movement and interchangeable leather straps.

Miss Selenity by Franc Vila

The Miss Selenity model features a single row of Top Wesselton VS1 diamonds weighing 0.30 carats, a mother-of-pearl dial and diamond hour markers; the Royal Blue Classic version has a fully-set bezel of Top Wesselton VS1 diamonds weighing 1.60 carats and silvered coloured indices. Both timepieces feature hours, minutes and small seconds at 6 o’clock.

Prices for the Tribute to Ladies collection start at 4,900 Swiss frnacs and there is also an 18 carat gold version.

All in all, a fitting tribute to the ladies and a meaningful addition to the Franc Vila brand.