Another week, another watch, and for this edition, we’re taking the Watch of the Week series to a rather unlikely destination more further afield than the familiar horological home of Geneva, Glashütte, or Le Brassus; to Damascus, the Syrian capital and one of the world’s great ancient cities.
For thousands of years, Damascus occupied an unusual place at the crossroads of civilisation; the centre of trade and culture between the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian Peninsula, and still shows the old vestiges of ancient empires to this day.
Its name would later become known for something more specific, however: the steel blades that were both produced and traded here, renowned for their distinctive watered patterns, strength, and extraordinary sharpness – it’s here that Franck Muller has since taken a shine to the proprietary material, joining the esteemed ranks of Swiss luxury watchmakers to introduce Damascus Steel to one of its most celebrated collections.
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Now, when you hear that a luxury watch in 2026 is made from the same steel as ancient swords, you need to allow yourself time to recover from the dizzying effects of the peak masculine head nod of approval that inevitably, albeit involuntarily, arises.
Drawing as much on the samurai swords of feudal Japan as on the blades first forged in the city that lends the steel its name, the Franck Muller Vanguard Damascus collection lands in two 42.5mm references.
The core Vanguard Damascus (ref. V 43SC DT DAMAS) is a three-hand model with the case, dial, and buckle rendered completely in Damascus steel, running on Franck Muller's self-winding MVT FM 800-DT calibre. It’s priced at $23,700.
Then there's the Vanguard Damascus Racing (ref. V 43SC DTRCG SQTDAMAS), which pairs the material with the openworked architecture of the Vanguard Racing Skeleton. Its skeletonised dial strips the design down to bold, angular hour numerals individually cut from Damascus steel, with a similarly pared-back date disc and a 60-second counter sub-dial at the heart of the piece.
Under the hood, the movement is the slimmer MVT FM 2800-SQ01, built specifically for the open-worked case and finished to the same standard as its three-hand sibling. This sits at $45,100.
Every case and dial is immersed in an acid bath – ten minutes for the case, five for the dial – to give each reference its own individual layered pattern, meaning no two dials or cases emerge alike. Each Vanguard Damascus is, by nature of its own material, one of one. It’s a true feat of ancient metallurgy and modern Swiss engineering, and a worthy edition to our Watch of the Week.