Frederique Constant have one of the most diverse ranges of watches in the entire industry. Not in terms of style necessarily, as they tend to primarily occupy the luxury sports watch and traditional dress watch niches, but in terms of their haute horological prowess. They run the full gamut from relatively accessible Sellita-based watches like the Runabout all the way up to manufacture, GPHG nominated masterpieces like the Slimline Perpetual Calendar. Their latest timepiece, the Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture Limited Edition falls towards the latter end of that spectrum.
Immediately, let me say that I really like the visual design of this watch. It has a 40mm 18k white gold case with a classic round design. It has a pronounced crown with a round, fluted design, which is known as an onion crown because… well, that should be obvious. The slightly curved lugs lead into a dark green alligator strap, which pairs with the green malachite dial.
Malachite was a very popular dial material a few years ago and it’s easy to understand why. The delicate striations look amazing and also mean that every watch is unique as no two dials are identical. Here it also makes the watch stand out from Frederique Constant’s traditional dress watch displays. It’s also the first time FC have used the material on any of their watches and is only the second mineral they’ve used on their dials following a handful of meteorite models (and also depending how you classify synthetic sapphire but maybe that’s too pedantic).
Focussing in on the display, the layout has been totally redesigned compared to previous editions of the Classic Moonphase Date. The two titular complications have been superimposed on top of each other on the subdial at 6 o’clock, providing more clean dial space with which to admire the malachite. The hour markers have been updated too so that they are more refined and the central hands are now alpha shaped.
However, the most significant update to the Classic Moonphase Date is the addition of a brand-new movement, the FC-716. It has a 72-hour power reserve, which is an upgrade of 89% compared to the 38-hour FC-335 that their previous Moonphase Date models used. It’s a huge increase in practicality and quality of life for the wearer. While we’re talking here about the limited-edition gold case and malachite reference, this new movement has immediately found its way to the core collection too.
Speaking of being a limited edition, there are only 36 Frederique Constant Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture watches being produced, making them very exclusive. On top of that, the malachite dial and gold case mean it has a price of £25,995. To give that some context, the updated core collection in steel with the same movement is £3,495.
Price and Specs:
More details at Frederique Constant.
