One of Franck Muller’s newest creations, the Vanguard Rose Skeleton boldly embraces the fall floral aesthetic through a clever interplay of technical brilliance and romantic elegance. Featuring the inimitable rose in various stages of bloom throughout its internal mechanism, the watch all but resembles a picturesque vista of a rose bush—or indeed, a Renaissance painting filled with roses in full bloom.

But don’t mistake these florals to be just about aesthetics, as each of the five roses in the Franck Muller Vanguard Rose Skeleton play a very important role. They hold all of the watch’s movement components in place. All 153 of them. Perched on skilfully open-worked movement bridges, the roses are enlivened by a combination of hand-painted enamel varnish in bright, saturated hues, as well as meticulous gem-setting, in five different colourways.

Crisp white roses are paired with scintillating white diamonds; seductive red roses find harmony in fiery rubies; lime green roses seek out lush green diamonds; pastel pink roses match naturally with pink sapphires; and finally, a sleek, all-black version that dazzles with the adamantine lustre of black diamonds.

This final model is a Franck Muller boutique exclusive, and it features the collection’s main highlight: black diamonds.

Bringing a chic, gothic edge to the collection, these timepieces are studded with 422 brilliant-cut black diamonds all over the case. They are set on PVD-treated gold, which is a rather more complex process than gem-setting on regular gold, because the artisans are required to take special care of the stones before and after setting.

But the results are also extra stunning in these timepieces, with blackened bridges and case providing a dramatic juxtaposition to those striking florals.