Get to Know the Watchmaker Behind John Mayer’s Latest Pick-Up

When looking for the next big thing in the watch world, there are few better places to check than John Mayer’s wrist. The super collector can make his own Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks, skyrocket the value of a previously underappreciated Rolex Daytona, and help establish new indies. This week, Mayer is co-signing a hyper-limited-edition piece from FVF Genève, a watchmaker you should get to know.FVF Genève is the brainchild of Spanish-born, Geneva-based watchmaker Franc Vila. Mayer is wearing his latest release: FVF2 Time & Day “Happy Monday,” made in partnership with American watch and jewelry retailer Material Good. On his Instagram, Mayer referred to the collaborators as a “Trifecta of Greatness.” There’s more to this piece than its mesmerizing mother-of-pearl, though. The watch’s design celebrates the idea that, if you love what you do, Monday mornings are actually something to look forward to.ScreenshotThe “Happy Monday” is a limited edition of seven pieces, each of which is engraved with a different day of the week on its rotor. The design is a reminder, as the brand says, that “each day is an opportunity to embrace our calling.” It helps, of course, that this message is delivered by a truly beautiful movement with black-polished surfaces, plenty of beveling and polishing, and great typography. Then there’s the rad day-of-the-week indicator on the dial. Situated between 6 and 9 o’clock, it takes the shape of a subtle gold track with a letter for each day of the week in French. To go with the “Happy Monday” theme, “Lundi” (Monday in French) is the only day represented by a standout green letter.The dial is the showstopping element on this piece. It’s executed in a sparkly deep-blue mother-of-pearl and accented with thick gold-tone printing in the form of an outer minute track, a sub-seconds display between 4 and 5 o’clock, and bisecting lines that create a classically inspired “sector” design. The interplay of the sector when combined with mother-of-pearl is unusual enough, but add in the retrograde day-of-the-week indicator, and you’ve got a truly compelling combo.The watch’s 39.5mm case is made out of Grade 5 titanium and features a Titalyt treatment—an electrochemical surface treatment that creates a ceramic-like layer and increases durability and hardness. F.P. Journe is a big fan of this treatment, and FVF uses it to great effect here. The finishing gives the Happy Monday a dark, industrial aesthetic that plays off the mother-of-pearl and gold tones on the dial for a distinctive feel. The watch comes on a matching beads-of-rice bracelet with straight endlinks, further adding to the interplay between vintage and modern inspiration. Finally, the crown and date corrector are located on the left side of the case rather than the right, where they typically sit.Limited to just seven pieces—not including a unique piece that went to Material Good’s Yoni Ben-Yehuda—the $125,000 Happy Monday is the latest independent watch to receive a co-sign from super-collector John Mayer. Despite his role as Audemars Piguet's “Creative Conduit," Mayer has been known to support high-end independent makers such as F.P. Journe, and famously helped propel Vanguart onto the horological stage over the past year.Vila, who established his eponymous luxury watch brand in the early 2000s, is a prime candidate to receive his flowers from the modern collecting community: marrying avant-garde case and dial designs with high complications. Vila sold his initial brand in the late 2000s, but he’s now having another go at creating modern classics with FVF. He’s come at the right time. It’s boom times for independent watchmakers as collectors try to identify the next big thing, and a co-sign from Mayer makes FVF a strong candidate to catch fire.