News · Franck Muller

Franck Muller puts Amador Montes’ crane fly into the Vanguard Slim’s hands

Camel-coloured illustrated dials and pink crowns connect four steel and rose-gold variants to the Mexican artist’s visual world.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 26 October 2026

• Franck Muller collaborates with Mexican artist Amador Montes on four limited Vanguard Slim variants, combining his illustrations with the brand’s curved tonneau case.
• Crane-fly-inspired hands, a camel-coloured micro-blasted dial, a pink crown and an engraved caseback carry the artist’s imagery across the watch and its controls.
• The 41 mm steel edition comprises 30 pieces, with ten each for 41 mm gold, 35 mm steel and 35 mm gold; prices remain unpublished.

Artist collaborations work best when they change how a watch tells time, even if they leave its mechanism alone. A signature on a dial is easy to recognise, but a different set of hands can make the artist's presence part of every glance. That is the detail I find most engaging in a collection announced on 21 October, bringing the visual world of a Mexican artist into the curved case of the Franck Muller Vanguard Slim Amador Montes.

A crane fly becomes the thing you read

Franck Muller says the hands take their inspiration from the crane fly motif recurring in Amador Montes' work. That gives the collaboration a functional centre rather than leaving it entirely to background illustration. The hands are still the components a wearer must find and read, so their unusual shape has a job to do within the composition. I am more interested in that integration than in the idea of a watch serving as a miniature canvas. The artist's imagery becomes part of the time display itself, which makes it harder to treat as incidental decoration.

The dial has a camel colour and a micro-blasted finish, carrying illustrations and personal references from Montes' artistic universe. Its warm background gives the darker shapes room to stand apart without relying on a bright primary colour for impact. The official photographs are the basis for that visual reading; they do not establish how clearly the finer illustrations register at wrist distance. That is a distinction worth preserving with a watch like this. The close-up rewards attention, but the experience of reading the time quickly would need to be judged on the wrist.

The pink crown refuses to become background

A pink crown supplies a separate accent outside the dial, extending the artist's colour language to the case. I find that detail persuasive because it interrupts a component we normally expect to match the surrounding metal. It also avoids making the dial carry the whole collaboration alone. The crown, the shaped hands and the illustrated face create several points of connection, while the familiar tonneau outline remains recognisably Vanguard. Whether the pink feels playful or distracting will be personal, but it makes the artist’s colour choices visible beyond the dial.

Franck Muller also engraves the caseback, carrying the artistic treatment onto the reverse. That is a useful counterweight to a face designed to attract attention, since it gives the owner something that is not constantly visible to everyone else. The brand describes the case as crafted from a solid block of stainless steel or 18-carat rose gold, with the Vanguard's flowing curves providing the surrounding architecture. The metals change the visual temperature of the same idea: steel supplies a cooler frame, while rose gold continues the warmth already established by the camel-coloured dial.

Four versions make scale a real choice

The collection is offered in four combinations, with the announcement describing sizes of 41 mm and 35 mm in each material. The 41 mm stainless-steel version is limited to 30 pieces, while the 41 mm rose-gold version is limited to ten. Each 35 mm version is also limited to ten. Those allocations are useful information because they show that the smaller size is part of the actual collection, rather than merely a variation in how the larger watch might be styled. Buyers can choose scale and metal independently, subject to the edition limits.

I would resist assuming that a smaller version simply delivers the same impression in less space. An illustrated dial depends on the relationship between empty areas, fine marks and the hands moving across them, so scale matters beyond the case's footprint. The official announcement does not give the full case dimensions, thickness or a lug-to-lug measurement for these variants. Without those figures, or an opportunity to compare them directly, the sensible conclusion is that there are two stated sizes to investigate. It is not evidence that one will necessarily wear better than the other.

The mechanism supports the picture

An in-house automatic movement powers the collection, drawing winding energy from movement of the wrist. Franck Muller's announcement does not identify the calibre or state its power reserve, so there is no reason to attach a familiar movement specification from another Vanguard to these watches. The useful fact is the winding format. It lets the display function as an everyday mechanical watch while leaving the artistic treatment in the foreground, rather than turning the collaboration into a story about a different complication. That restraint is appropriate to what the brand has actually presented.

Montes' presence is therefore carried by the parts the wearer encounters repeatedly: the dial, the hands, the crown and the engraved back. For me, that is enough to make the collaboration worth examining on its own terms, even without an elaborate technical departure. The question is whether the imagery remains engaging after its initial novelty has passed, and that depends on a buyer's relationship with the artist's work. The more convincing detail is still the crane-fly-inspired handset, because it asks that relationship to survive the ordinary act of checking the time.

Franck Muller Vanguard Slim Amador Montes pricing and availability

The collection comprises 41 mm steel, limited to 30 pieces; 41 mm 18-carat rose gold, ten pieces; 35 mm steel, ten pieces; and 35 mm rose gold, ten pieces. Prices and delivery dates are not stated in the official announcement. Franck Muller directs purchase enquiries through its boutiques and authorised retailers.