Frederique Constant Tourbillon
Quite unnoticed on the Watches and Wonders due to the hype of Rolex/Cartier etc. releases was Frederique Constant.
It was their first participation on this event as part of their 35th anniversary.
They celebrated it with revealing an inhouse manufactured tourbillon watch, based on their classic line.
The case is made of 18K Rosé Gold and limited on 150 pieces.
But it's actually not their first tourbillon. The movement is based on the caliber FC-980 which was allready invented by Frederique Constant in 2008.
What's interesting:
In 2012 they revealed a classic line tourbillon watch. Only the bezel was made of 18K rosé gold. The price was 28,500 Euro.
Despide the case of their latest 2023 release on watches and wonders is full 18K rosé gold, the price is "only" 26K.
To be fair, their 2012 tourbillion had also an day/night indicator.
But anyway...is good to see that 11 years of inflation didn't had any impact on Frederique Constant :-) .
Chairman of Quarz Rights Watch Association, fighting for equal rights of Quarz Watches and reporting crimes against quarz watches by Mecascists (mecanical fascists) and abuses and missuses of Quarz-Or...
I love the tourbillon- technique, but the real deal is not affordable for me, sadly
Super underrated brand. I have had hands on with one of their world timers but never uploaded the video to my YouTube the footage is actually still on an old iPad lol. They are in readable quality in person so I could imagine imagine how this top of the shelf stuff is from them
I love the tourbillon- technique, but the real deal is not affordable for me, sadly
Me either brother but they have a lot of great stuff that can be found at pretty fair prices for us peasant folk
Me either brother but they have a lot of great stuff that can be found at pretty fair prices for us peasant folk
Yes. FC is a pure watch enthusiasts company. Their watch finishings are usually to be find on watch brands tripple of their prices. And they put every penny if their revenues into the development.
FC offers more and more inhouse manufactured calibers and have interesting colaborations.
The one which I constantly promot is tge Monolithic which beats in 40Hz / 288,000 beats per hour. A glyding second hand and all powered just by mechanical parts.
And that "only" for 4K.
Ii's not small money but imagine what other brands would ask for if they put their logo on it.
If I'm looking for a new watch I always look first on FC.
Beautiful work, thanks for the pics, it’s a stunning watch .
I like many of their watches but I am extremely polarized about FCs prices. Personally, I don't see why in the world you should pay 26k for FC when you can get Breguet, Chopard, Blancpain, Lange, Vacheron on secondary market in new condition for same or even less.
I like many of their watches but I am extremely polarized about FCs prices. Personally, I don't see why in the world you should pay 26k for FC when you can get Breguet, Chopard, Blancpain, Lange, Vacheron on secondary market in new condition for same or even less.
I understand your point.
Honestly, paying so much money for a complication which is useless today doesn'tmake much sense. Tourbillons were inveted for poket watches at that time which are staying all the time on same position in the poket.
But on wristwatches, which are moved on the wrist the whole day up and down and sidways....the tourbillon makes no sense.
It is a time intense additional crafting process which efforts special skills.
Working hours are with skilled craftmans are quite expensive in Switzerland, so you can't get lower than in a certain price level.
And for fair comparing, we should check not the secondary market. A new tourbillon by a established swiss or german brand will cost at least around 60K.
Most are going upwards.
There are rew exceptions of course as like TagHeuer.
Or we compare a used FC Tourbillon price. But the last tourbillon series of FC was also short limited to 120 pieces I guess.
But the pricing policy is not allways clear at FC.
I've spotted a FC Highlife Worldtimer for around 5,000.
Same watch in a 18K Gold case (like the Tourbillon) costs 25,000 (allmost same like the tourbillon. So they calculated around 20,000 Euro/CHF for the 18K case?
Which would mean, the Tourbillon without 18K Gold would cost actually 7,000 Euro?
Of course pricings are not such simple to do, but me as a customer seeing this strange pricing could lead me to the same questionig: "why this price?"
But I can understand in some way FC decission. They offer their watches allready half or a third of the prices of their competitors retail prices and don't want to be seen as a "cheap watchmaker"
Fc is so underrated. The highlife is solid, their dress watches are class. They are a great value in their space but get ignored. I love my fc moonphase, and the monolithic is amazing. Should be a solid brand for folks in that price range.
Yes. FC is a pure watch enthusiasts company. Their watch finishings are usually to be find on watch brands tripple of their prices. And they put every penny if their revenues into the development.
FC offers more and more inhouse manufactured calibers and have interesting colaborations.
The one which I constantly promot is tge Monolithic which beats in 40Hz / 288,000 beats per hour. A glyding second hand and all powered just by mechanical parts.
And that "only" for 4K.
Ii's not small money but imagine what other brands would ask for if they put their logo on it.
If I'm looking for a new watch I always look first on FC.
I just researched the Monolithic - How has nobody been talking about this?!?!? It’s a Grand Seiko Killer, at half the price!