It’s easy to forget that Frederique Constant’s “affordable luxury” mission statement has made price a selling point again over the past decade. Before Peter and Aletta Stas’s brand began pricing its mechanical watches below its more established rivals, few “new” brands trying to gain a foothold in the market were (officially) prepared to sacrifice a large portion of the accepted market price, but that’s where Frederique Constant came in.
The couple’s years of sharp business acumen have seen the company grow into a full-fledged manufacturer (acquired by Japanese watch giant Citizen in 2012), produce nearly 30 in-house movements including tourbillons, perpetual calendars and flyback chronographs, and today it produces a range of watches bearing the name, made entirely by the brand. Not bad considering Frederique Constant wasn’t founded until 1988.
We first saw the Frederique Constant Manufacture Worldtimer in 2012, and it has been produced in a range of different dial colours, and although Frederique Constant offers a couple of models with a gold-plated 42mm case, it has always been a stainless steel watch until now.
Now that the Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer is being produced in a limited edition of 88 pieces in 18-karat rose gold for the first time, we imagine Frederique Constant will be marketing it to Chinese customers.
The contrasting daylight blue and matte anthracite finishes for the relief map of the world on the dial may have been used before, but the red highlights used to depict the daytime hours on the 24-hour wheel have not. The applied lume pot hour markers and hands are tone-matched gold-plated, which we assume is a consideration given their weight. The dial layout still owes a debt to the 1930s design of Louis Cottier, the inventor of the complication, and this is not a criticism, as it is the case with nearly every worldtimer in production today.
The 28,800vph automatic FC-718 movement allows all adjustments to be made using the oversized onion crown and has a 38-hour power reserve.
With three intense colours vying for attention (not to mention the rich sheen of the precious metals), the aesthetic won’t be for everyone, but I can’t help but admire its boldness.
Price and Specs:
Model Name: Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture Limited Edition Model Number
: FC-718NRWM4H9
Case/Dial: 42mm diameter x 12.1mm thickness, 18k rose gold
Water Resistance: 30m (3 bar)
Movement: Calibre FC-718, automatic
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, world time
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Power Reserve: 38 hours
Strap: Navy blue alligator with off-white stitching
Price: £13,995, limited to 88 pieces
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