Introducing The Frederique Constant QP Tourbillon Manufacture (Live Pics & Pricing)

This announcement is the biggest news from the Plan-les-Ouates-based manufacture since its acquisition by Citizen in May 2016. Husband-and-wife duo Peter and Aletta Stas founded Frederique Constant in 1988, naming the brand after their respective grandparents, and they have done a remarkable job of capitalizing on the opportunity they saw to produce reasonably priced Swiss watches 30 years ago. "Believe it or not, working together as a couple has actually made our relationship better," said Mr. Stas. In many ways, the company was ahead of its time, having produced 27 in-house calibers, all in the last 14 years.

Just to give a little context to this launch, it took three years of research and development for Frederique Constant to produce its first in-house movement back in 2004, the Heart Beat Caliber (an inverted movement which one can see through a cut out on the dial). Four years later in 2008, it was a manufacture tourbillon, and then in 2016, it was a perpetual calendar. This year, you guessed it, the brand is celebrating its latest milestone by introducing a mighty perpetual calendar tourbillon. 

The new movement, the automatic FC-975, features a silicium escapement wheel and anchor (reducing the need for oil, it is also a super light material, antimagnetic, and extremely resistant to temperature change). The new movement offers 38 hours of power reserve while running at 4 Hz. You wont see any black polishing or silky beveling on the movement, but there is some perlage and delicate Côtes de Genève striping. I'd describe the decoration as modest but attentive.

Building off this caliber, there are four case and dial variations: steel with a skeletonized dial, steel with a closed dial, rose gold plated with a closed dial, and solid 18k rose gold with a skeletonized dial. The two steel references are limited to 88 pieces each and are both priced at $19,995. The rose-gold-plated version, while also limited to 88 pieces, is slightly steeper at $22,995, and, finally, the solid 18k rose gold reference is limited to 30 pieces and is priced at $32,995. In all cases, the watch itself is 42mm in diameter and the cases feature three-part construction.

I tend to be partial to time only dress watches, and I often struggle with visible tourbillon cages or open-worked dials. That said, in this instance, it would be wrong not to have the “heartbeat” visible, given the brand's history with visible oscillators. One additional little detail is that each tourbillon cage is actually numbered on the top plate, which corresponds to the limited edition number on the case. It's a small thing, but I enjoy the attention to detail.

Pim Koeslag, the company's lead watchmaker and technical director has been at Frédérique Constant for 16 years. In 2001, when he was still at watchmaking school, his class organized a trip to meet Peter and Aletta Stas at Frederique Constant. “Peter basically just asked our class if anyone would be prepared to help with the development of a movement," Koeslag recalls. "Peter had worked on the Heartbeat movement, and others in the industry had copied him, so he then wanted to create in-house calibers with the iconic Heartbeat at six o'clock. Nobody else in the class was crazy enough to say they would give it a go – so from that moment I was part of the team. This new caliber is the culmination of all our work over the last decade.” It wasn’t until 2004 that Koeslag helped developed the first manufacture Heartbeat movement, another important brand milestone.  

I spoke to Stas himself at the watch's launch too. "Building a company doesn't happen by itself," he says, reflecting on the last 30 years. "It may look like a huge success now, but the first 15 years were a constant roller coaster of cash flow management, finding customers and making sure customers were happy. At times, there were definitely uncertainties about where this would go. You need to be persistent. As a CEO, you simply cannot take no for an answer." On his proudest moment to date, he said, "it would have to be the development of our manufacture caliber. It took us three and half, four years for the first edition. We were one of very few manufactures that had one at the time. This new perpetual calendar tourbillon, sees us take another important step, combining the two movements, from 2008 and the one form 2016. What I love is that you can see our DNA in these pieces, the dials, the cases and most importantly the price of the steel version below $20,000." 

Brand: Frédérique Constant
Model: QP Tourbillon Manufacture
Reference Number: FC-975MC4H6

Diameter: 42mm
Case Material: Stainless steel, gold-plated stainless steel, and 18k rose gold
Dial Color: Silver, either skeletonized or closed
Indexes: Roman numerals
Water Resistance: 50 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Black alligator strap

Caliber: FC-975 Manufacture Caliber
Functions: Hours,  minutes,  seconds,  date,  day,  month,  leap  year, tourbillon
Power Reserve: 38 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 4 Hz (28,800 vph)
Jewels: 33
 

Price: $19,995 (steel), $22,995 (rose gold plated), $32,995 (18k rose gold)
Limited Edition: 88 pieces of each stainless steel model, 88 pieces of rose gold plated model, 30 pieces of solid 18k rose gold model
 

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