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Frederique Constant’s Blue Moon

Frederique Constant refreshes its Classics Heart Beat Moonphase Date with a new model that boasts a rich blue dial emphasizing the watch’s mostly contemporary design.

The Frederique Constant Classics Heart Beat Moonphase Date, now with a rich blue dial.

In this handsome update, the light blue classic moonphase display nicely balances the very modern open Heart Beat aperture exposing a portion of the movement – a long-time Frederique Constant signature.

This pleasing symmetry is just one of many pleasures Frederique Constant reliably (and affordably) delivers with this refreshed design, which the Geneva-based manufacturer first debuted with lighter dials eight years ago.

The 40mm steel watch allows the wearer to read the current moonphase, the time and the date while also gazing at a portion of the balance wheel within the Heart Beat aperture beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour. On display is the watch’s Sellita-based automatic FC-335 movement, which is also visible through the sapphire back.

The watch’s Sellita-based automatic FC-335 movement is visible through the clear sapphire back.

To maintain its visual balance, the watch features no third aperture to display the date. Instead, a fourth hand with its own arrow tip points towards the date, shown in a circle on the flange.

The watch’s winding, hours, minutes, date and moon phases are all adjusted with the single crown. Its four positions allow for full control of the displays. The first position winds the movement, while the fourth adjusts the time. In an unsurprisingly display of technical fluency, the wearer can change the date in the second position and the moon phases in the third, as long as the hands are first positioned at 10:10. This protects the mechanism from being damaged.

As is often the case with Frederique Constant’s Classic models, the dial here is decorated with Clou de Paris guilloche.

Price: $2,095

  

Specifications: Frederique Constant Classics Heart Beat Moonphase Date

(Ref. FC-335MCNW4P26)

Movement: Automatic FC-335 caliber (Sellita-based), 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph.

Case: 40mm by 10mm polished stainless steel, two-part, scratch-resistant convex sapphire crystal, see-through case back. Water-resistant to 60 meters.

Dial: Navy blue with clous de Paris guilloché in the center. Printed white Roman numerals
, date graduation on outer ring, white hour, minute, second and date hands. Heart Beat opening at 12 o’clock, moonphase display.

Strap: Navy blue calf leather with off-white stitching, steel pin buckle.

Price: $2,095

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The Watches

Commoditization Versus Collecting

By Gary Girdvainis

I think it was just after the 2008 crash that the calls started coming in.

Complete strangers were calling our offices and inquiring about watches as potential instruments for investment. From their perspective it seemed to make sense. Fine timepieces have perpetual and intrinsic value, are liquid and easy to convert to cash and small enough to secret away in a bank deposit box or home safe. Some will even appreciate over time.

Bernhard Lederer’s stunning Central Impulse Chronometer.

To these speculators and investors, the watch was simply a widget and could be anything (think NFTs), a device in which to insert capital and to be added to the other elements of a portfolio.

This cold, calculating valuation of wristwatches has gained momentum over the last decade-plus and is fueling rampant and runaway pricing on several preferred models. Some of which have seen values soar to ten, fifteen or even twenty times the original retail price.

The Jacob & Co. Jean Bugatti in a rose gold case.

This explosive surge has been brought on by a kind of perfect storm. First-off it could not happen without the internet. In the pre-internet era values would still climb on preferred pieces, but the forces pushing the growth were operating at a statelier pace. Watches would see price growth at auction, or via secondary sales at retail shops. The growth was not as immediately visible and volatile as the current state of viral information pathways.

The RGM Model 222-RR is a modern wristwatch with a vintage heart, featuring a Hamilton pocket watch movement and a ‘grand feu’ enamel dial.

Another factor is the fear of missing out. Buyers (note I did not say collectors) want to hop on board before the train leaves the station and are fueling the fires of desire and driving costs through the roof.

Forgive me if I feel that buying a watch purely as an investment is a sterile event without any real enthusiasm for the product, or any chance that the “investment” watches will ever see the light of day. Chances are the commoditized timepieces will sit in the dark until the next transaction, never to be enjoyed, shared, or shown-off except to confirm authenticity.

The Chopard Alpine Eagle Cadence 8 HF.

I’m a watch guy and have been for a long time. I appreciate the look, feel, sounds, and even smells (that vanilla scent on a nice rubber strap) that evoke pride of ownership and real enjoyment. Whether an affordable field watch with great lume, or a repeater softly chiming the time, watches are meant to be worn just like cars are meant to be driven.

I have a friend that has had amazing financial success in life. He recently invited me to his home and knowing I’m a car enthusiast was happy to show me some of the exceptional cars he had acquired over the years. One of which was the famous 1955 Jaguar D-Type. Designed for racing at LeMans and other venues, the D Type also happens to be street legal.

The Arnold & Son Ultrathin Tourbillon, now in two new designs, feature a new type of dial with tinted gold and aluminum sparkles to match either a platinum or gold case.

So as my friend sees me gaping at his exquisite machine, he tells me to look under the wheel well. I bend over, careful not to touch the coachworks, and look underneath. What I see is a spattering of mud on the wheel well liner. Not only does he drive this seven-million-dollar car, he drives it around town and even drives it to the track on vintage race days!

This post first appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of iW Magazine.

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Celebrates a Worldtimer

Frederique Constant celebrates the tenth anniversary of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture with a pair of attractive blue-and-grey-dialed limited edition references.

Frederique Constant releases limited edition versions of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in steel and in pink gold.

In keeping with this Geneva brand’s ‘affordable luxury’ tenet, the Classics Worldtimer has been among the highest-value Swiss-made examples of it type, particularly as it’s supplied with an in-house worldtimer caliber (visible through the sapphire caseback).

We’ve seen Frederique Constant release the Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in a variety of hues and metals during the past decade. This new offering, in a choice of a pink gold or steel case, combines the most classic combination that represents the earth’s blue oceans surrounded by white clouds.

The worldtimer dial allows the time to be read in twenty-four time zones with clear daytime or nighttime indication. Frederique Constant applies luminescent indexes (and on the hands in the steel model) to the fairly traditional globe décor world time display. This all frames a handsome sunray guilloché date hand display at the 6 o’clock position.

Frederique Constant will make the 42mm pink gold model as a limited edition of eighty-eight while the second, in steel, will be limited to 1,888 pieces. Both pieces arrive on a matching navy blue alligator strap with a folding buckle, decorated with the Frederique Constant logo.

Prices: $4,495 today and $4,695 as of April 15 (steel) and $18,995 today, $21,995 as of April 15 (pink gold).

 

 

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Adds New Dials to Classic Heart Beat

Frederique Constant returns to its roots and adds two watches sporting guilloché dials to its long-running Classics Heart Beat Automatic collection.

One of two new Frederique Constant Classics Heart Beat Automatic watches.

While the pair may be new to the Geneva watchmaker’s Classics Automatic collection, their ‘Heart Beat’ design, which exposes a portion of the automatic movement, is a characteristic Frederique Constant pioneered. In fact, when Frederique Constant first debuted the open balance wheel design in 1994, the young brand neglected to protect what was at the time a novel design. As it was never patented, the concept continues to be copied by numerous watch brands.

These latest additions to the collection each measure 40mm diameter in a steel case with so-called ‘apple’ hands on a choice of a silver dial and a dark khaki dial. The highlighted guilloché dial center is framed by a nice satin-finished hour circle with twelve very classic Roman numerals.

Frederique Constant fits its Sellita-based automatic FC-310 caliber inside these two newest Classics Heart Beat Automatic watches, with just a bit exposed on the front of the dial, offering a power reserve of 38 hours.

Price: $1,495.

 

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Expands Perpetual Calendar Options

Frederique Constant adds a new blue-grey dial to its Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture collection, adding a stylish air to the Geneva manufacturer’s classical perpetual calendar dial layout.

A new blue-grey dial graces the Frederique Constant Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture.

The new deep blue-grey dial almost guarantees perfect legibility to the perpetual calendar’s myriad displays. These include: days and the phases of the moon, date, month and leap year – all in addition to the time of day.

Frederique Constant has carefully considered its chromatic choices with this fourth dial option within the nicely priced Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture collection.

Thus, we see an eye-pleasing contrast of white typography and mirror-polished and luminescent hour-markers and hands. At the center of the dial Frederique Constant places the Highlife collection’s signature guilloché Earth motif.

Here we have a nicely integrated three-link bracelet, alternating polished and satin-finished surfaces. If you’d prefer a strap, Frederique Constant has you covered: the entire Highlife collection offers bracelet-to-strap interchangeability.

The Frederique Constant Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture comes with a navy blue textured and stitched rubber extra strap that can be changed as desired without the need for tools.

The back of the watch allows a clear view of the automatic Manufacture FC-775 caliber, which Frederique Constant has embellished with circular graining and Côtes de Genève decoration.

Price: $9,950. Available in June.

Specifications: Frederique Constant Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture

(Ref. FC-775BL4NH6B)

Displays: Hours, minutes, moonphase, date, day, month, leap year.

Movement: Automatic FC-775 in-house caliber, perpetual calendar, Perlage & circular Côtes de Genève decorations, 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph.

Case: 41mm by 12.65mm brushed and polished stainless steel three-part, convex sapphire crystal with anti-glare coating on both sides, see-through caseback, water-resistant to 50 meters.

Dial: Blue grey, globe decoration, silver color applied indexes filled with white luminous treatment, hand-polished silver color hour and minute hands filled with white luminous treatment, date counter at 3 o’clock with silver color hand, moonphase at 6 o’clock, day counter at 9 o’clock with silver color hand,
month and (leap) year counter at 12 o’clock with silver color hands.

Bracelet: Three-link brushed and polished stainless steel bracelet, includes an additional navy blue rubber strap.

Price: $9,950.

 

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