Franck Muller Gothique: Got it?

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The Franck Muller Gothique features clever design elements. Photo: © TANG Portfolio. Geneva 2013

The Franck Muller Gothique features clever design elements. Photo: © TANG Portfolio. Geneva 2013

Does the Franck Muller Gothique look familiar? Perhaps, especially if you had liked the one-of-a-kind Franck Muller PSY watch seen in an earlier article: “싸이 Psy keeping watch “Gangnam Style”.

The stretched Roman numeral elements are there and the skull is replaced by the caricature of Psy. Another difference is the date display which is found on the Gothique but not on the PSY watch.

The Franck Muller Gothique is not a limited edition timepiece and is therefore for those who appreciate the style and design similar to the PSY watch. Besides the versions set with diamonds and in white gold, there is also a black PVD-treated stainless steel model.

Franck Muller’s Gothique is highly intriguing; why did the brand use Roman numerals rather than the characteristic stretched Arabic numerals?

Perhaps the answer is design-related, especially with the clever use of the Roman numeral “IX”. The skull symbol will be obvious to many but do take note of how the crossbones are represented by “X”. That is its X factor. Now that is cool.

Fortis B-42 Black Mars 500: Superluminova orange or red?

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The Fortis B-42 Black Mars 500, introduced in 2010, is the same model issued to the crew of six “cosmonauts” who participated in the 520-day experiment simulating a long-haul flight to Mars. Photo: © Fortis

The Fortis B-42 Black Mars 500, introduced in 2010, is the same model issued to the crew of six “cosmonauts” who participated in the 520-day experiment simulating a long-haul flight to Mars. Photo: © Fortis

The B-42 Black Mars 500 from Fortis, introduced in 2010, features what the brand describes as “SuperLuminova orange” on the Arabic numerals and rectangular hour indices. (Do note however, that in darkness, the afterglow is the typical green.)

Even the accompanying leather strap with orange stitching complements the watch.

The Fortis B-42 Black Mars 500 marked the brand’s participation in the 520-day Mars 500 flight simulation, a project undertaken by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency (ROSCOSMOS) to study the effects of long-haul human space travel.

Each of the six “cosmonauts” who were voluntarily “locked up”, spending almost 18 months in windowless modules were not only issued with the Fortis B-42 Black Mars 500, it was also reported that the majority, if not all, of these “cosmonauts” or crew members also received US$100,000 as a reward for their participation after they emerged from their “confinement” in November 2011.

The question is, why is orange used in the Fortis B-42 Black Mars 500 and not red? After all, Mars is also known as the ‘red planet’ because of the iron oxide or “rust” on its surface.

Well, if you consider the images of Mars, the planet can be seen in either red or orange. In fact, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) describes the planet as having regular seasonal orange dust storms.

Moreover, orange does go well with the black PVD titanium case, offering a nice contrast of colours to this sporty and “space-worthy” timepiece.

Another Fortis article from timewerke.com which may be of interest: Fortis Colors