It would be an understatement to say that Franck Muller took the watchmaking world by storm and was certainly one of the most sought after watchmakers in the 1980s. With the launch of his eponymous brand in the early 1990s he gained cult like status and rock star fame.

Considered a genius watchmaker with golden hands, Franck Muller graduated from watchmaking school in Geneva in the late 1970s and worked on restoring antique pieces. He rapidly established his own workshop in 1983, where he began crafting bespoke watches for private clients.

At a time where major historical brands had come limping out of the quartz crisis and were still trying to figure the direction to take, Muller – who at the time signed his watches under his first name only, Franck Genève – was creating masterpiece after masterpiece, world premiere after world premiere at a mind boggling frequency having collectors lining at his door begging for one of his bespoke masterpieces.

Below is just a very small indication of his world premiere creations that highlight his true horological – almost alien like – genius.

1984: first tourbillon wristwatch
1986 : tourbillon wristwatch with jumping hours, and regulator dial.
1987 : minute repeating tourbillon wristwatch.
1989 : minute repeating wristwatch with perpetual calendar and tourbillon.
1990 : tourbillon split-seconds chronograph wristwatch
1990: minute repeater worldtime wristwatch
1991: double faced worldtime with single button chronograph (the present watch and the last piece he made before using Franck Muller)
1992 : tourbillon split-second chronograph wristwatch with perpetual calendar.
1992 : double-face chronograph wristwatch.

The present double faced world time with single button chronograph was presented in 1991. It is believed that only 11 pieces were made in either yellow gold or platinum. Highly influenced by the Patek Philippe ref 1415HU worldtime chronograph of the 1940s, the movements were based on early 20th century calibers that Muller had found and to which he not only added a worldtime function based on the Cottier system but also a second chronograph counter on the back.

The front side of the dial features the worldtime and chronograph indications and is signed Franck Genève, whereas the back features a large central chronograph hand with pulsometer scale and a 30 minutes counter and is signed Franck Muller- a sign of the future birth of his eponymous brand. The present watch's desirability hits new heights thanks to the fact that the case was made by J.P. Hagmann (who stamped his initials inside the lugs). J.P. Hagmann is widely considered one of the (if not the) best case maker in the entire history of horology, having collaborated with virtually all the most important brands. To give an example, when in 1989 Patek Philippe created the most complicated watch in the world (the Calibre 89), Hagmann was their case maker of choice for the pieces.

The watch was named Janus, the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings. This obviously refers to the fact that the watch has two sides but also maybe because it represents the end of his career as an independent artisanal maker and the beginning of what would become one of the hottest and most influential brands of the 90s.