Over at the Frederique Constant booth at this year’s Watches & Wonders trade fair, two watch models are in the limelight: the Classic Date Manufacture and the Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture. Evidently, the Swiss watch brand is using 2024 to draw attention to its flagship and, of course, most classic collection.
Frederique Constant is updating its Classic Date Manufacture line by giving its three latest editions a rather a new look, both inside and out. This includes a wise decision to reduce the elegant watch to a 40 mm (rather than the former 42 mm) diameter. A more popular size for many with an interest in fine watchmaking, it reflects Niels Eggerding’s, aka Frederique Constant’s CEO, current ambitions to elevate the brand’s standing within the Swiss watch industry.
The new watches are ready for adjustment via a nicely balanced onion crown. The latest sized-down cases, which have a height of 12.40 mm, offer the wearer water resistance to a decent 50 m.
The dial is also home to a few changes. Surprisingly, the new dial has no numerals, but rather refined diamond-cut hour markers and a chemin de fer minute track. The manufacture opts to slightly reduce the hour markers on the lower part of the dial, allowing the black printed date display more space to breathe. Hand-polished hands elegantly indicate the time. Three dial colours are available, all with sunray finishing: silver, black, or perhaps most alluringly, salmon.
Here’s the most interesting part, though: the three new steel Classic Date Manufacture watches are home to a new movement. Replacing the former 38-hour power-reserve movements is the calibre FC-706. This reliable new movement, which uses the veteran FC-710 as its base, guarantees three days of autonomy (72 hours) and beats at a frequency of 4 Hz.
In addition, Frederique Constant’s watchmakers add a new finish to the bridges, which are now in a different formation that can accommodate the new large-capacity barrel. Decoration includes circular graining, perlage, and fan-shaped Côtes de Genève. This replaces the previously circular motifs – and once again indicates the manufacture’s ambition to make its way up in the watch world. The cherry on the cake: the Classic Date Manufacture now comes with a 5-year warranty. Owners of the watch can admire the new decorated calibre via the caseback.
The new steel Classic Date Manufacture models all come on an alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching. This secures to the wrist with the help of a steel folding buckle. The price of these new models remains fairly priced – something steadfast Dutchman Eggerding pledges to always offer – at 3,295 euros.
Likewise, the new Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture is enjoying an update, with three new versions likewise joining the collection. Despite the extra complication, they feature the same new 40 mm case with onion-shaped crown as their counterparts and also have a five-year warranty.
This time, though, the sunray dials come in a different array of atmospheric colour tones: a luminous silver-grey, a deep, modern midnight blue, or a bold, atypical English green. However, just like the aforementioned models, these dials indicate the time using applied diamond-cut hours markers and hand-polished hands.
The silver-coloured date hand and moonphase slip seamlessly into the design at 6 o’clock. The miniature moon passes through a starry window at the precise rate of 29.5 days. Meanwhile, the date is indicated by a central hand running along a peripheral scale graduated from 1 to 31.
The new FC-716 manufacture calibre integrates a new barrel that also offers a power reserve of three days. Despite this, the manufacture managed to keep its original proportions, meaning we can expect to see it serving as the basis for manufacture movements in the FC-700 series down the line. The new calibre flaunts the same decorations as the FC-710, which are visible through the open caseback.
Finally, the new Frederique Constant Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture watches for 2024 come with an alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching. The price of these three rather dashing timepieces is 3,895 euros each.
