The Vanguard "Ram Lalla" is a 108-piece rose-gold watch made for India alone, with a dial every Indian retailer had to sign off. It also shows where the brand is placing its bets.
The hardest part of the new Franck Muller Ram Lalla watch was a cheek, or possibly an arm, or maybe a finger. According to CEO Erol Baliyan, the team spent two years deciding how to render the face and form of Lord Ram in his childhood guise on a dial just a few centimetres across, and they got there through “multiple trials and errors.”
The result is the Vanguard “Ram Lalla” Limited Edition, made only for India and limited to 108 individually numbered pieces. It was unveiled at Hours & Icons, the first programme of its kind from Kapoor Watch Co., Franck Muller’s partner in the country since 1995.
Why 108
The number is not an arbitrary one. In Hindu tradition, 108 carries deep spiritual weight, and the watch itself honours Ram Lalla, the child form of Lord Ram worshipped as the presiding deity of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. A small edition with a devotional subject and a sacred number is a deliberate pairing. It also happens to be a very good way to keep a watch scarce.
What’s on the wrist
The case is dual-curved and three-dimensional, cut from a solid block of 18-carat rose gold, and measures 41mm. The curvature carries onto the dial and its appliqués, so the face is sculpted rather than printed.
The Ram Lalla figure itself is an appliqué that took around 30 hours of laser processing, electroplating and finishing, with relief engraving to add depth. The numerals are applied and painted by hand. Franck Muller has long sold itself on colour and shape, and this is a case of both being put to a devotional brief.
The strap is integrated and made from rubber and grape-based vegan leather. It is fixed with two concealed screws instead of the usual spring bars, and two side inserts are colour-matched to it. A Swiss automatic mechanical movement sits inside.
A dial by committee, on purpose
The most unusual detail is how the watch got approved. Baliyan says every retailer in the country signed off on the piece, making it “a collectively decided timepiece.” Brands usually keep a design in-house until it’s ready to ship. Here the network was brought into the room, and Baliyan names that consensus as the real challenge. His reasoning is simple: the piece is “very spiritual, and emotional,” and “you cannot just release what first comes to your mind.”
It is also a form of insurance. A religious subject leaves little room for a misjudged expression or a clumsy proportion. Having every retailer weigh in means the people who will actually sell the watch have already stood behind it.
India as a strategy, not a side project
Baliyan describes the brand’s Indian approach as resting on three pillars: culture, tradition and religion. Earlier limited editions, including the Men in Blue collection and an Independence Day watch, followed those lines. The Ram Lalla is meant to raise the bar, in his words, “to the next level,” with a bigger impact.
He backs the ambition with a number. In the first three quarters of the year, he says, India climbed six places to 14th among the 30 countries in the watchmaking business, which he calls an “exponential increase” and a reason India counts as one of the brand’s primary markets. The plan from here, he says, is “limited additions with meaning.”
That phrase matters because of who he thinks is buying. Collectors, Baliyan says, want fewer, more selected pieces, with a story and plenty of thought and time behind them. He expects the Ram Lalla to be a collector’s item “passed from generation to generation,” and he describes a growing appetite for exclusivity.
Beyond the one watch
The brand’s wider Indian plans are less about a single launch and more about presence. Baliyan calls events and interactions “the key going forward,” pointing to influencers, watchmakers, brands and activations as the way to build the industry locally. Collectors, he says, should expect more interaction, more education, more gatherings and, especially, more complications.
Servicing is on the list too. Baliyan calls Kapoor Watch Co. one of the most advanced in after-sales and says the aim is to expand services and make quality and turnaround better and faster, adding that this is something the brand needs to work on. Franck Muller set up L’Atelier in 2018 for servicing, authentication, verification and valuation. As for geography, he says the brand is closely connected to the market through retailers and its own team, and “anytime we see an opportunity, we will be in that city.”
Baliyan also points to the brand’s branded residences, Aeternitas Tower, Vanguard Tower and Yachting Tower, which he says are all sold out.
For now, the 108 Ram Lalla watches are the clearest signal. They combine a sacred number, a gold case, a hand-finished dial and a design that every Indian retailer had a say in. Franck Muller seems to have decided that in India, being exclusive means being specific.
Via Outlook Luxe
