2022: The Year of Chronograph and High Frequency

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Focus on The Highlife chronograph Automatic and The Slimline Monolithic Manufacture

Created in 1999 and relaunched in 2020, the Highlife collection embodies the values that governed the birth of Frederique Constant: classic design, meticulous finishing and a carefully calculated quality/price ratio designed to give as many people as possible access to fine Swiss watchmaking. The main features of this collection are its dial engraved with a globe, a symbol of cosmopolitanism, along with its integrated, easily interchangeable bracelet. In 2022, it is enriched by a long-awaited chronograph.

Visible through a sapphire crystal caseback, Caliber FC-391 developed in collaboration with La Joux-Perret, is a self-winding movement equipped with a column-wheel chronograph module as well as a dedicated oscillating weight adormed with a Côtes de Genève striped pattern and plated with rose gold. On the dial, the compax-type counters – small seconds at 9 o’clock, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock – have a sleek edge and the outer flange displays the chronograph seconds enabling a fifth-of-a-second display, while the pushers on the caseband are slightly inclined to match the curve of the case.

Chic, Urban or Sporty

For its launch, the Highlife Chronograph Automatic is available in three versions. The chic iteration is two-tone, in steel with a rose goldplated bezel, pushers, hands and hour-markers, teamed with a matching metal bracelet and a brown rubber strap. In the urban version, the steel watch has a black dial and the interchangeable wristbands are in steel and black rubber respectively. As for the sporty version, issued in a numbered limited run of 1,888, it is characterized primarily by a white dial rimmed by a contrasting blue flange and counters. It is also the only one to be delivered with three wristbands: a three-link steel bracelet, a calfskin strap with a navy blue nubuck finish and a navy blue rubber strap.

Precision is Based On The Quest For the Most Perfect Possible Note, the Most Perfect Possible Rythm

Since mid-June 2022, the Highlife collection has had a very special ambassador in the person of French musician and producer The Avener. This association is based on a common approach: in addition to producing his own compositions, The Avener revisits classics in an electro-pop style punctuated by notes of blues, jazz, folk or soul, just as Frederique Constant expresses its creativity through watchmaking. Watchmaker and musician are looking for the ideal combination, the components or notes that will perfectly harmonize to create emotions. The musician emphasizes the point by saying that, for him, “precision is based on the quest for the most perfect possible note, the most perfect possible rhythm.”

Precision is Based On The Quest For the Most Perfect Possible Note, the Most Perfect Possible Rythm

A frequency multiplied by 10 for the Slimline

Frederique Constant has chosen the Slimline collection to present a revolutionary oscillator that has a frequency of 288,800 vibrations per hour (40Hz), 10 times higher than most mechanical watches. Developed with Flexous Mechanisms, a Dutch company specializing in flexible mechanisms, this monobloc oscillator, combined with two regulating weights, replaces the 26 components of a standard regulator. In short, it avoids a number of friction points, is smaller than a traditional balance wheel, integrates the escapement’s pallet-lever, is easy for a watchmaker to adjust and benefits from the exceptional qualities of silicon which is non-magnetic, resistant to temperature variations, not particularly sensitive to gravity, remarkably ight and operates without lubrication. As a result, the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture achieves extraordinary precision without much impact on the power reserve, which remains substantial (at 80 hours). According to the brand’s Managing Director CEO Niels Eggerding, “the new Slimline Monolithic Manufacture perfectly embodies Frederique Constant’s visionary spirit, determination and passion for watchmaking expertise.”

Like the Heart Beat, this Slimline reveals its regulating organ through an opening in the dial. It is available in three limited editions: 810 in stainless steel with a blue dial, 810 in stainless steel with a silver-toned dial and 81 in rose gold with a silver-toned dial

 
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