Photos by Ed Rhee & Ariel Adams
Not counting any oddly tuned cars you might have that spit out enough unburned gasoline through the exhaust pipes to create fire, this S.T. Dupont lighter made in collaboration with Franck Muller might be the most expensive flame emitter I can think of. Actually, I don’t know how much a flame thrower costs, but I suspect most models cost less than these lighters, which have a price tag of a rather decent automobile. These high-end fire makers are known as the Master Complication Lighter (aka Master Lighter), and in essence, they are a Franck Muller mechanical timepiece movement inside of an S.T. Dupont flame lighter. S.T. Dupont currently produces a few cosmetic versions of it, and for smokers and pyromaniacs, this is a very interesting way of sharing your love of horology on a desk. At nearly 300 grams, though, the Master Lighter would be a bit weighty for most pockets.
French S.T. Dupont was in the timepiece-making game for a while, and it is likely that they will return to making wristwatches in the near future. However, I don’t think they will be nearly as high-end as these collaboration timepiece lighters made in conjunction with Geneva-based Franck Muller. S.T. Dupont is among the few remaining companies that make luxury lighters. I am not sure if Cartier is also still in that game, but it was once a competitor. One of the key distinguishing factors of most S.T. Dupont lighters is a particular “ding” sound (which really sounds like a chime and which they call the “cling”) that occurs when you open the lid. It is a nice noise that makes it fun to open and close the light idly. As you can see, these Master Lighters have the iconic lid system so they do make a fine noise when opened. The gas-powered lighter boasts two flames intended mainly to light cigars. S.T. Dupont makes a galaxy of flame options for a variety of uses and purposes. I found the variety to be very interesting, and I had no idea lighters came in so many variations.
The Franck Muller x S.T. Dupont Master Complication Lighter has a mainly steel case that is given a palladium plating which allows for the particular chrome-like finishing. As you can see, there is also a PVD black version available. The Master Lighter body is 66mm tall, 39.2mm wide, and about 22mm thick. S.T. Dupont makes it clear that the case is hand-finished as well. Some versions, such as the Master Lighter Color Dreams, include further decoration. In addition to a multi-colored time for the time, the movement bridges are also various colors and apparently painted by hand. The time dials are clearly inspired by certain Franck Muller timepieces, including the signature font and style of hands. What I found interesting was that the seconds hand is not actually on the dial side of the Master Lighter case, but rather on the movement side.
Speaking of movement, inside of the Franck Muller x S.T. Dupont Master Lighter is a Franck Muller in-house-made caliber MVT FM 1740-LI-STD manually wound mechanical movement. It operates at 18,000 bph with three days of power reserve. The crown to operate the movement is placed on the side of the case – similar to where it would be if this was a wristwatch. I actually think it would be really amusing to somehow put this lighter on a strap and wear it around as a timepiece. It won’t be the first wristwatch around to sport a built-in lighter.
In a world of amazingly impractical and expensive table-top gifts, this is really up there on my list of options. I don’t smoke cigars, but that wouldn’t stop me from wanting to carry one of these around to both fidget with (opening and closing the top as well as lighting it) and also to secretly hope it was 1960 and that there were all these people around who “need a light” and perhaps also need to know the time. Wouldn’t this be a slick option to satisfy both needs? The inclusion of the mechanical timepiece into the lighter case is really what makes the price so high, but can you really go back to lighting your cigars with a device that doesn’t tell the time? I don’t think so. Depending on the cosmetic version, price for the Franck Muller x S.T. Dupont Master Complication Lighter is between $66,000 and $76,000 USD. Learn more at the S.T. Dupont website.
