Frederique Constant’s Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture
Frederique Constant’s flagship Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture is restrained, elegant and contemporary, staying true to its traditional DNA even as the collection expands to include three new 40-millimetre variations endowed with the new Classic steel case, accompanied by a silver, blue or green dial.
Designed for everyday wear and for all lovers of Geneva’s watchmaking heritage, the timepiece features a new, uncluttered sunburst dial, sporting delicate hands powered by a new FC-716 movement. Developed in-house, the latter boasts a 72-hour power reserve. The Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture is so reliable that its performance is now guaranteed for five years. This rare, refined, sophisticated and accurate piece is highly reliable, based on a 4hz movement originally developed by Frederique Constant almost ten years ago now.
All watches have both a heart and a spirit; the art is to translate both into a single, coherent style language, an in-depth undertaking to which Frederique Constant has been tirelessly committed for over 35 years now. At the heart of its approach lies the timeless beauty of perfectly finished Swiss Made timepieces, made available at fair prices – and the new Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture is no exception to the rule.
The three new models come with both a style makeover and more significantly, new technical features made possible by the new FC-716 Manufacture calibre. This has been fitted with a brand-new barrel providing a three-day power reserve – 72 hours in all. The high-precision movement beats at a rate of 4Hz.
The watch sports new decorations, including a fan-shaped Cotes de Genève finish that replaces the previous circular motif. The finishings can be admired through the see-through caseback of the piece, which is water resistant to 50 metres. Another new feature is that this trio of Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture watches all come with a five-year warranty.
It’s been said that ‘watchmaking is the daughter of astronomy’, and these three pieces, all housed in a 40-millimetre case, are perfect illustrations of that assertion: both those foundations of horology are evident on their minimalistic dials. The watchmaking aspect is embodied by the three redesigned steel-coloured central hands; the hours and minutes hands are now diamond-cut, as are the hour markers.
The hand-polished hands glide above a fine sunburst dial, available in three different colours reflecting three quite different personalities: bright, radiant silver grey; deep, contemporary midnight blue; and a bold and unusual British racing green.
The pieces feature a ‘railtrack’ minute circle and an onion-shaped crown at three o’clock. The first two come on an alligator strap with navy blue overstitching, while the third has a green alligator strap to match the dial.
As to astronomy, a single window at six o’clock brings together two complications in one display, the moonphase and the date. The two are closely interrelated: the moon completes one cycle of phases across its star-studded background in precisely 29.5 days.
The date is indicated by a central hand that travels around a peripheral scale graduated from 1 to 31. Amid this starry firmament, the shorter time marked out for each passing day and the longer moon phases thus dwell side by side in sweet and poetic astral harmony.
