Two things that George Bamford can always make you do is want his latest watch and smile. Not a polite, ‘very good’ smile, but a proper Cheshire Cat grin. Be it Popeye, Sesame Street or Peanuts — his watches do what is so often missing in our industry, and they don’t take themselves too seriously. The latest watch to get Bamford’s magical touch is the Franck Muller Crazy Hours, with a Snoopy center piece and some very interesting lume…

If you aren’t aware of the Franck Muller Crazy Hours, I’ll give you a quick run-down. It does what is says on the tin, with the craziest approach to time telling you can imagine. Stripping away the accepted and conventional way of telling the time in a linear or chronological order, the hours are ordered non-sequentially on the dial, and the hour hand literally jumps around the dial to tell the time. The minutes function as you would expect but the hour hand does anything but work conventionally, thanks to a patented mechanism. Sure, it’s niche but it’s fun — and that is central to the watch’s appeal, especially in this BWD guise.

The Crazy Hours Cintree Curvex is a 39.6mm stainless case that has been given a matte black finish with a sapphire crystal. Available in a limited run of 25 pieces, the watch’s main protagonist is Snoopy, whose arms act as the hour and minute hands. There’s a double appearance from Woodstock, who sits atop the nine and ten hour markers which are not where you think they’ll be, remember! The dial is hand-painted, and then the craziness continues with wavy, concentric lume lines across the entire dial, meaning the watch is even more fun in the dark!

George Bamford says, “Working on the Franck Muller Crazy Hours watch has been so much fun. I cannot stop smiling when I look at this watch as there are so many cool elements to it. Adding Snoopy to this crazy dial, and using his arms to point to the numerals is amazing. I love using the iconic concentric circular pattern around Snoopy, and what takes this watch to the next level is the luminous effect used on the dial. I also love having Woodstock in wonderful places throughout this piece. It really is a culmination of so many things I adore.”

In a world where many of us, myself included, tend to check the time on our phones with the occasional cursory glance at the wrist-mounted time, the Crazy Hours is a new challenge to us in actually taking a minute to truly ‘tell the time’. So thank you George for making this happen!

Tech Specs

Movement: Caliber MVD FM 2800-CHR with patented ‘Crazy Hours’ jumping mechanism and 42-hourpower reserve
Case: 39.6mm steel case with matte black finish and rhodium plating
Dial: Hand-painted dial with Snoopy and full lume
Strap: Hand-stitched fabric strap with matte black buckle
Price: POA from Bamford Watch Department