The New Furlan Marri Disco Volante

Co-founded by Swiss industrial designer Andrea Furlan and watch collector Hamad Al Marri, Furlan Marri launched on Kickstarter in 2021 with a beautifully designed vintage chronograph powered by a hybrid mecha-quartz engine. The next act, in 2022, was an equally handsome vintage black sector dial equipped with a mechanical movement that won over the MONOCHROME team. Today, Furlan Marri sticks to its vintage designs and mechanical guns and releases a trilogy of Disco Volante models in 38mm cases with manual-winding Peseux movements.

The Disco Volante or Flying Saucer watch design has been kicking around since the late 1930s, an Art Deco meets futuristic space-age watch featured in the catalogues of many top-tier brands. The classic traits of the Disco Volante – manifested in models from Omega, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Universal Genève, all the way down the decades to Gerald Genta’s 1953 design (ref. 5093) for Audemars Piguet – are round cases, an absence of lugs, a broad often stepped bezel and a recessed crown. According to Marcus Siem’s excellent article on his vintage watch blog, goldammer.me, some of Omega’s CK2013 references of the late 1930s featured two-tone sector dials.

Furlan Marri captures the aesthetics of vintage Disco Volante models to perfection with a couple of contemporary twists. The case, for starters, flaunts a 38mm diameter that might be slightly larger than the original vintage models but is considered a compact, classic size for today’s audiences. With a slim height of 8.95mm (8.1mm without the crystal), the case is made of stainless steel and amplifies its rounded profile with a curved, brightly polished double-stepped bezel.

The crown is recessed, and the lugs are hidden by the wide bezel and tucked away on the caseback – as it should be on a Disco Volante watch. This produces the sensation of an integrated strap that enhances its streamlined, flying saucer look. While the top surfaces are polished, a narrow brushed ring circles the case middle.

The layout of the indications also heightens the rotundity of the case with a peripheral ring for the minutes, a thicker chapter ring for the hours with applied markers at 12, 3 and 9 o’clock and a round small seconds counter at 6 o’clock. The Disco Volante models come with two-tone sector dials and a fun contemporary touch of Super-LumiNova circling the indented area around the chapter ring and the small seconds counter. The hour and minute hands are also treated with SLN. The Havana Disco model plays with salmon and brown tones and Old Radium SLN;  the Disco Celeste pairs blue and white colours on the dial and is illuminated by sky blue SLN; and the Disco Verde that you can see illustrating this hands-on article opts for a green and cream dial with Old Radium SLN.

Visible beneath the sapphire caseback is a manual-winding Peseux 7001 calibre, an ultra-thin 2.5mm movement in production since 1971. Peseux, which was acquired by ETA in 1985, still produces this calibre today. It has a frequency of 21,600vph and a power reserve of 42 hours. The bridges have been redesigned by Furlan Marri with Côtes de Genève and hand-finished, diamond-polished bevels, while the crown wheel and screws are mirror-polished and chamfered, elevating the appeal of this otherwise rather mundane base movement.

Availability & Price

Each watch is supplied with two vegetable-tanned Italian leather straps matching the dial colours (details in the specs below), and equipped with quick-release spring bars. The three new references are part of the permanent Disco Volante collection and retail for CHF 2,500 or USD 2,780 (prices excluding tax).

For more information, please consult furlanmarri.com.