Frederique Constant — dreamt up in the Netherlands, born in Switzerland 35 years’ ago and owned by Japan’s Citizen Watch Company —joined the elite of the world’s watchmakers with the creation of a perpetual calendar watch with tourbillon housing a manufacture movement.
The in house FC-975 caliber has been used before, but Frederique Constant is particularly pleased with its mounting in two limited edition Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Manufacture watches in 18ct rose gold or steel that launch this month.
Most notable for watches of this sophistication and finish are the prices: £20,995 for the steel piece, limited to 88, and £36,495 for each of the 30 gold watches Frederique Constant is making.
The watches are not just complicated, they are made more accurate, reliable and durable thanks to the use of silicone for both the escape wheel and the lever of the escapement.
Both 41mm watches use the same dial configuration displaying hours, minutes, seconds, date, day, month and leap year.
They are skeletonised to show some of the movement but are dominated by the tourbillon at 6 o’clock and three sub dials.
The gold watch comes on a navy blue alligator leather strap and is supplied with an additional blue rubber strap.
The steel piece has an brushed and polished steel bracelet that can also be swapped for a blue rubber strap.