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Love and Passion and Extreme Sports

Unusual for a modern Swiss watch maker, Franc Vila was born in Valencia, in eastern Spain. He became passionately interested in art, design, and watches at a very early age. His love for high watchmaking started when his father’s automatic watch stopped. “My father explained to me that the watch only ran when in contact with humans,” Vila explained. “This magical way to show the operating of a manual mechanical watch revealed to me that there is a special relationship between men and watches by virtue of which we give them life by our movement, with our very own life, they live – thanks to us.”

A collector of watches and other art objects, Vila imagined his ideal watch and on finishing his studies embarked on the realization of his passion: to create the watch of his dreams. Educated in the field of chemistry, he has a depth of knowledge of materials, and thanks to this he was able to create his first wristwatches in a very special stainless steel with an innovative case structure of two pieces.

As a designer, he was able to create the unique shaped watchcase “esprit unique” which was to become characteristic of Franc Vila watches. Franc Vila started to design watches in 2000, which was when he committed himself to create only high-quality mechanical watches, promising himself to create some of the best timepieces ever made.

The Geneva-based brand specializes in the manufacture of high watchmaking complications in ultra-limited series – guaranteeing a high-quality exclusive production. “We are building into the future while respecting the past – reinventing timepiece forms through an understanding of the contemporary world and some of the most prestigious traditional watchmaking complications,” says Vila.

“My watches are inevitably exclusive because their production is limited by their very complexity, by the amount of handcrafting involved in their manufacture, and by my total commitment to maintaining standards of the highest quality,” Vila confirms. “In my watches, all is complex, from the concept of the solid case to the mechanisms’ manufacture. I can’t make simple watches – technical strength is always the main consideration.”

The Franc Vila Only Watch is the FV EVOS 8Ch “Cobra” Chronographe Grand Dateur Automatique, a unique piece from the Cobra Collection that introduced the first evolution of the brand’s characteristic “esprit unique” watchcase.

Its new case is dedicated to aficionados of extreme sports. Built to withstand 300 meters depth, the “Cobra” timepieces are specially conceived for hard and intense water activities. The carbon fiber inserts ensure the protection of the watch for even the most exigent sports.

A very wearable watch, the FV EVOS 8Ch Cobra is both extremely sporty looking and impeccably elegant for everyday wear. Its automatic mechanical movement boasts chronograph functions and a “big date” with a double aperture calendar displaying the date – an easily readable indication, it is both useful and popular.

“My initial intention,” says Vila, “was to create an exclusive and contemporary watch built with an excellence criteria even in the smallest details. I wanted to create something innovative and absolutely new and original, something never done before. But innovations cannot be created from scratch they must be anchored in the past in order to take root. When I started designing my watch I had one foot in the past and the other one in the future. I created it in the future but on the basis of the essential and basic shapes in traditional watchmaking.”

For Only Watch, Vila wanted to go one stage further, so taking his Cobra design as the basis he created this model around the colors black and red, which are the colors of the Only Watch logo. He wanted to create a truly black watch with a touch of red which conferred an elegant style within a sporty design case. Red is used for numbers and hands with, of course, the special double-side black crocodile leather strap with red stitches.

The more classic design, the most used for functional reasons, is derived from the seconds indicator invention, which generated dual dials: one for the hours and minutes and a smaller one for the seconds.

“My innovation,” says Vila, “was to take this design but move it outside the watch. This basic design was the basis on top of which I created a contemporary timekeeping concept with a completely integrated design in which all the elements form an inseparable whole. While being complex, it displays pure and simple lines and generates an architecturally strong design with a personality that is instantly recognizable but still in keeping with its classic spirit.”

 

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For more information contact:
Ita McCobb
Patrizzi & Co Auctioneers SA
Tel +41 22 318 28 38
e-mail i.mccobb@patrizziauction.com

Audrey Baylac
Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies / Monaco Yacht Show
Tel +377 93 10 41 70
e-mail audrey@monacoyachtshow.mc