Zoom in close enough on this image and you can start to make out identifiable features. The tonneau, or barrel-shaped, case and the goofy, loopy numbers are total giveaways. A watch like that is almost certainly the work of virtuouso Franck Muller. Paul Boutros, head of watches for the Americas at Phillips auction house, confirmed that the dial, at least, is 100% Franck Muller. Patrick Maffeo, a manager for Barmakian Jewelers, which sells Franck Muller, added, “This certainly looks to be a Franck Muller Centre Curvex.” But both Boutros and Maffeo agree that the bracelet on Affleck’s watch is unidentifiable—most likely an aftermarket addition. “The bracelet does not appear to be a Franck Muller bracelet,” Maffeo said. “I have never seen this bracelet before.”
The Curvex is a dead ringer for the watch on Affleck’s wrist down to the three lines of text that appear on the watch’s dial—two curved at the top and bottom, and one flat just above center. While modern Curvex watches have a flatter crown, older editions have a crown with a slight protrusion, as pictured above. More good confirming evidence: the box Lopez gives Affleck in “Jenny From the Block” closely resembles the boxes Franck Muller uses. When I reached out to the brand, a representative confirmed nearly all of my assumptions. “It does seem to be a Franck Muller Curvex model that has had a third-party bracelet added to the case,” they wrote in an email. “We have never offered such a bracelet as a factory option.” So there you have it.
The watch would have made a lot of sense as a gift for a hot young actor in the early 2000s, too. “Entering into the 1990s, Franck Muller was a rising star—an independent watchmaker who gained notoriety for creating highly complicated watches,” Boutros says. “By the end of the decade, Franck Muller watches were absolutely hot, with the Cintrée Curvex models, like this one spotted on Ben Affleck’s wrist, being the most sought after.” Muller’s fortunes have faded somewhat in the years since. But if Bennifer can get back together, who says they can’t bring Franck Muller back, too?
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