Frederique Constant Watches

Frederique Constant was founded in 1988 by a couple, Aletta Frederique Bax and Peter Constant Stas. The two names composing the brand’s name was borrowed from the couple’s great-grandparents where “Frederique” was from Aletta’s great-grandmother (Frederique Schreiner). And “Constant” was Peter’s great-grandfather (Constant Stas) who run an own company he had established in 1904 to create dials for clocks.

While it tends to be hard to come up with entrepreneurial ideas, Frederique Constant Watch Company was inspired by a mixture of beauty and desperation. Peter and Aleta encountered a Swiss mechanical watch which was truly adorable while on a skiing holiday in the Swiss Alps. At the time, the watch was too expensive for them and all they could do was discuss it, which then extended on a full discussion on wristwatches.

After the couple came across inexpensive Seiko and citizen watches on a different Arena in Asia, a solution to their unsolved conception caught with them. Leading to the birth of an independent family watches enterprise.

For its first collection, Frederique Constant designed six watch models which were created by a Geneva watchmaker with Swiss movements. The six were presented to the public in 1992. Two years later, in 1994, the watchmaker now proved its craftsmanship and ingenuity in its first Heart Beat watch. The timepiece had a clear window displaying the beauty of the throbbing heart of the installed mechanical movement.

Unfortunately, Frederique Constant forgot to patent the idea and it was quickly imitated by other watchmakers. In 2004, the company introduced its first in-house movement, caliber FC 910, which was created through the support of various experts, including from École d'Horlogerie de Genève. Despite the advancement, the brand still retained its favorable pricing. Prior to this achievement, in 2002 Aletta and Peter acquired Alpina Watches company which has been a manufacturer of Swiss sports watches since 1883. The company was one of the affected by the Quartz crisis of the 1970s and it disappeared from the market in 2000. Through its freshness and creativeness, Frederique Constant was growing rapidly and it hoped to succeed alongside the new Alpina Watches Company. In fact, in 2003 Alpina resurfaced with a complete watch lineup featuring the “spirit of Alpinism” at the renowned Basel Fair.

In spite of the stiff competition from local and global brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe, the young watchmaker has ensured continued growth. In 2005, the company introduced a manually-wound Moonphase edition whose luxury is supreme and accessible than most men’s watches brands. In the year that followed, an automatic version of the watch was introduced, topping to the great success of the company.

Through determination and commitment, 2017 was a year of the lineup of Frederique Constant Moonphase. Although it came a time the brand was part of Citizen Watch Company, the encompassed models still retain Constant’s tradition of classical design and affordability. Known as the Slimline Moonphase Manufacture, the men’s watch series feature an in-house caliber FC-705 self-winding movement and a silvered sunburst dial. From the sapphire crystal caseback, the gold rotor and the engraving on the movement are clearly visible.

Despite the success of the Moonphase collection, Frederique Constant continued aiming for greatness and in 2008 it introduced a tourbillon with a silicon escapement-wheel. Considering silicon is lighter and stronger than other metals, the blend of this tourbillon resulted in the creation of a rapid oscillating mechanism without gravity interference. This provided the encompassed models unusual precision and glory that made the brand even feature the lineup as a reference for its 30th anniversary. The four variants for the celebration were a limited edition of only 88 pieces and in ether silvered steel or rose gold-plated case. The inner casing has a silvered “Clous de Paris” guilloche dial with a Tourbillon aperture at 6 o’clock.

Although they were created when the brand was already acquired by Citizen, the new Tourbillon series have a transparent caseback- one of Frederique Constant’s tradition. This provides the wearer of the watch with a view of installed caliber FC-975 self-winding movement which has a gold rotor and Perlage & Côtes de Genève decoration.

In 2018, Frederique Constant released one of its greatest breakthroughs which were facilitated by the craftsmanship of its current Parent Company, Citizen Watch Company. The new Hybrid Manufacture watch is a blend of smartwatch superpowers, alongside a mechanical movement which the brand has developed in-house entirely. This has earned the timepiece a significant recognition amongst the staunch enthusiasts of stylish Swiss Made mechanical watches, who happen to cherish smartwatches as well.

Apart from smartwatch and mechanical features, Frederique Constant Hybrid Manufacture watch also has Caliber analytics which enhances its functionality as a 3.0 watch. Available in four different versions, the 43mm watch has polished steel or rose gold case with a sapphire crystal at the front display and caseback. For its smartwatch functions, Hybrid Manufacture can be paired with a smartphone and also provide you with ultra-modern features like activity tracking and Cloud function.

Check out our blog page to know of this hi-tech mechanical smartwatch, as well as other classical watches by Frederique Constant Wristwatch Company. You’ll truly be amazed of the tremendous achievements this Switzerland-based watchmaker has achieved in only a short while.