Frédérique Constant

Last night in New York City, Frederique Constant unveiled a timepiece that they dubbed as a “revolution” in the Swiss watch industry. Personally, I think “unprecedented” is a more apt description. Basically, the Swiss-based company has taken one of their signature 42 mm steel cases, with a traditional analog watch dial, and one of their in-house automatic mechanical calibers, and merged it with an electronic assortment that consists of an electronic step motor, printed circuit board, Bluetooth antenna, accelerometer, analytics module, and a 3V rechargeable battery. The result is a mechanical timepiece that has smartwatch type functions such as activity and sleep tracking, which are viewable via a smartphone using the custom-built app. Interestingly, in addition to past traditional watches with smart functions that the company has launched, thanks to the analytics module, the watch can also measure the beat

The Speedmaster Moonwatch has a hand wound chronograph movement originally derived from a Lemania base. While it lacks automatic winding or Omega’s famous Co-Axial escapement it’s 42 mm case is one of the most iconic, plus it’s rugged, good-looking, and you might enjoy actually winding it. $5,150 Tudor took a unique approach to creating the Black Bay Chronograph; it’s actually based on a Breitling caliber B01 with some basic Tudor changes packaged in a Black Bay case. For the money, there is not much better out there. $4,725 This is a modern TAG Heuer re-issue of a Heuer Autavia with a premium chronograph a column-wheel and vertical clutch chronograph configuration. Looks great with a leather strap and is also available with a beads-of-rice bracelet for $150 extra or the limited edition with a panda dial (pictured top) for $750

Frederique Constant has finally debuted a watch that we’ve been expecting ever since their sister company, Alpina, launched an in-house flyback chronograph at Baselworld 2015. Alpina, Frederique Constant, and Ateliers de Monaco are all part of the Frederique Constant Group, which is now owned by Citizen. It is worth noting, that the manufacture flyback chronograph design actually originated at Ateliers de Monaco in 2011. Fast forward to Baselworld 2017, and Frederique Constant unveiled their version of the Chronograph Flyback. And it’s a good one. Presented in a 42 mm diameter case, crafted from stainless steel or rose-gold plated stainless steel, the Frederique Constant Flyback Chronograph Manufacture comes in five different variations. All versions have a fully polished case, a glass box sapphire crystal, sapphire caseback, and flat chronograph pushers. The new Flyback collection comes in two primary versions: one that

Frédérique Constant manufactured their first in-house movement (caliber FC-910) in 2004. The automatic movement features the company’s signature “heartbeat” aperture in the mainplate, offering a view the balance wheel and spring, via a dial opening at 6 o’clock, as they oscillate to and fro. The second base caliber, FC-700, was introduced in 2008. Following that caliber, FC-710 was introduced within the Classic Manufacture collection. And now, Frederique Constant has revealed two new dial versions of the Classic Manufacture. The new dials are black and silver, with watch the company called “A more vintage, art déco look…” Other noticeable changes are the omission of guilloche-work on the dial and slimmer printed Roman indices. Everything from the movement to the 42 mm steel case and ridged onion-shaped crown to the exhibition caseback has remained the same. Moreover, the price has remained highly

Last month, Frederique Constant celebrated its continued partnership with the Riva Historical Society (which started in 2009), with the unveiling of two new limited edition Runabout watches, at the North Cove Marina, at Brookfield Place in Manhattan. The Riva Historical Society is a non-profit organization that was founded by architect Piero Maria Gibellini along with the engineer Carlo Riva and a group of friends with the goal of preserving Riva boats (which date back to as early at the 1920s). As part of this annual partnership, Frederique Constant annually promotes and commemorates the runabout boats with a nautical-inspired limited edition watch. The Runabout collection of watches, according to the manufacture, “fuse the best of classic Italian style with the latest technical innovation.” Both versions of the Runabout watches come in a 43 mm diameter case made of either stainless steel

Today, in Tokyo, Japan, Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Frederique Constant Holding SA. The Frederique Constant Group consists of Frederique Constant, Alpina, and DeMonaco – which maybe most importantly has over a dozen manufacture calibers available to use at these three brands, and now, presumably to use within the Citizen group of brands, which includes Swiss brands La Joux-Perret (manufacture), Arnold & Son, and Angelus. Although we had not heard anything about this in advance, it is not that much of a surprise, as it has become common practice for acquisitions to occur during the industry down times (and right now the industry as a whole is down in terms of sales). And so, we expect more acquisitions to follow. Moreover, the Frederique Constant group, with a large Swiss-based production infrastructure

Earlier this year, at Baselworld 2016, Frederique Constant unveiled a new in-house manufactured perpetual calendar timepiece, created by Manuel Da Silva Matos (R&D director) and Pim Koeslag (Technical director). Coming from a brand known for accessibility, it should be no surprise that this is one of the most affordable mechanical perpetual calendar timepieces on the market. The Slimline Manufacture Perpetual Calendar is powered by the new 4Hz (28,800 kph) automatic movement (caliber FC-775), which drives hours, minutes, moonphase, and perpetual calendar functions. The movement measures just 6.7 mm thick, and the components are rhodium plated, with chamfered edges. The main bridge features circular Geneva stripes, and the mainplate has a perlage decoration. Furthermore, the rotor is gold plated, with a straight grained finish, and a relief engraving. In total, the movement consists of 191 components, 78 of which are for

Frederique Constant debuts a pocket watch powered by a new in-house movement (caliber FC-700) available in a 45 mm diameter stainless steel or rose gold-plated steel case. An 18 jewel hand wound caliber powers the watch and has an autonomy of 42-hours. The movement is visible through the caseback, where you can see the blued screws and circular graining on the bridges and mainplate. In addition to the sapphire glass, the rear is also protected by a hinged officer-style dust cover (which can be personalized with an engraving). The dial of the watch is in the traditional Frederique style with hand-applied roman numerals and black indexes. Further, the silvered surface of the dial is finished with distinguished guilloche patterns. Each Frederique Constant Manufacture pocket watch is delivered in an elegant wooden gift box.

For Only Watch 2015, Frederique Constant has produced a special one-off 18K gold version of their horological smartwatch, which we originally showed you HERE. According to Frederique Constant, “The ‘Only Watch 2015’ model, created in unique piece, is a Horological Smartwatch with an elegant 18 carat rose gold case, combined to a unique dark green dial and with a delicate hand-engraved reminder of the reason of the watch on its caseback. The watch is delivered into a unique luxury gift box, together with an Apple iPhone 6 for you to enjoy right away the connected functions.”

This is a hands-on look of the Frederique Constant Worldtimer Manufacture with the new anthracite grey world map and blue dial that we previewed in January. Same 42 mm by 12.1 mm highly polished 3-piece case, and same in-house movement as the Worldtimer Manufacture timepiece we reviewed in December 2013 – now with a new dial and hands. Comes with a blue alligator leather strap. (Ref. FC-718NWM4H6)