Ulee's Gold, Time Transfigured: Franck Muller's Double Mystery Collection

The season for high opulence is upon us!  One of my November indulgences is to savor the sumptuous holiday wristwatch advertisements in Town & Country. 

This year, my favorite is Franck Muller's Double Mystery Collection wristwatch with white and yellow diamonds.  It goes beyond glamorous to golden glorious!

Image Courtesy of Franck Muller, Geneve

The mechanical craftsmanship of the hands-free hour and minute diamond chevrons, each in their own distinct, circular diamond disks give the dial pure, curvaceous lines and at the same time enable an unimpeded reading of the time.

As Franck Muller explains, "This complication features an ingenious mechanism under the dial. In the past, only a few watchmakers have attempted anything resembling this watch, the results however were often merely visual and not mechanical. The glimmer of the diamonds on the dial and case is fabulous. Nothing interrupts the harmony and elegance of the restraint of the rounded case which conceals the mystery of the complication."

So how is this time piece and Ulee's Gold, the 1997 award winning film starring Peter Fonda conjoined?  My fanciful answer: The hive-like massing of Muller's diamonds on the  dial face with its rectangular yellow diamond hour marks resemble resting honey bee bodies.  In its entirety, it is as visually delicious as is the taste of Tupelo honey, the real star of the Ulee's Gold.

Also, consider the similarities between the watch's assured provenance as a luxury accessory and time piece extraordinaire and the honey bees' prodigious productivity resulting in a single 16 ounce jar of Tupelo honey.

According to Stephen Buchmann in his delightful book, Honey Bees:  Letters from the Hive (2010), a jar this size represents the efforts of thousands of bees flying a total of 112,000 miles to forage nectar from 4.5 million flowers. The Muller watch and the bees’ honey, are each a result of tremendous, focused industry and masterful indulgence!

So this year, forget the traditional yuletide tree, replace it with a domed basket bee skep — and at its center, surprise me with Franck Muller's honeyed delight.