In just a few years time, Frederique Constant made it from a small brand that was known only to watch aficionados, to a world-renowned brand of mechanical timepieces.
Owner of the Frederique Constant brand is Peter Stas, who is also CEO of two other brands: Alpina and Ateliers DeMonaco. While Alpina aims at sports and Atelier DeMonaco at haute horlogerie, Frederique Constant targets 30-45 year old businessmen with prices that start at $600 USD and extend into the few thousand dollar range.
Frederique Constant’s watches are classical, refined, and offer great value for the money. Some years ago, they started with their Heart Beat collection which displayed the movement through the dial of the watch. In the past year or two, Frederique Constant has also been using their own in-house movements in their timepieces.
During BaselWorld 2011 (which will be taking place in just a few weeks from now) Frederique Constant is planning to introduce their tribute to the legendary automobiles from a bygone era with The Vintage Racing Collection.
Having been the official timekeeper of numerous events with classic Austin Healey cars, Frederique Constant will now become the sponsor of the famous Peking – Paris Motor Challenge. Over 100 crews will participate in this competition to cross 9,000 miles in extraordinary cars from Peking to Paris.
“Live Your Passion” is the slogan that this watch brand from Geneva uses to bring their refined watches to the attention of watch aficionados and collectors. The Vintage Racing Collection is certainly worth trying when you are into classic-looking chronographs, and truth to be told, they will fit a classic rally car for sure!
The timepieces feature a hand polished 43mm in diameter case made out of 316L stainless steel with three buttons on the right side to operate the time and chronograph. The automatic chronograph movement used is the new calibre FC-396 that beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and is visible through the transparent case on the back of the watch. The winding rotor has been engraved with the official Peking to Paris logo, to stress the relationship with this rally and vintage rally cars. The power reserve is up to 42 hours.
The new Vintage Racing Collection will be limited to only 1888 pieces. Each timepiece will be delivered with a special gift box featuring a commemorative plate, showing the route driven by the participants of this race. The watch will be available with three different dial types, all silver, but with different applied hour markers (either silver, gold, or silver with black sub registers). The watch is also water resistant to 100 meters.
Frederique Constant Vintage Racing Collection
What vintage car would you chose to drive while wearing this timepiece? Leave a comment and let us know!
