Pre-Baselworld 2017 – Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture Brown Dial

We told you several times, the Word-Time complication is certainly the best answer to the issues of current business habits. Many of us are frequent travelers or work in an international environment, switching timezones (virtually or literally) more often than we change shirt. The need for a watch that displays multiple time-zones has never been so high. However, as we’ve seen, World-Time watches can go from quite accessible to insanely expensive. For that, Frederique Constant has a nice offer, affordable for sure, but also full of technical content (in-house movement and module, interesting way to adjust…); the Classic Worldtimer Manufacture. For Baselworld 2017, this watch will be introduced in a pink gold plated / brown dial combination.

In their press release, Frederique Constant states that “the man of today has become a true Citizen of the World and travelling has become as natural as running or reading” and on that part, we have to agree. Never before we have been travelling that much and never before, we have been working hand-in-hand with so many people on other continents. However, the downside of this is that we have to manage several time-zones at the same time, just to be sure to know what time it is for the people that stayed home or that we work with. Now, you understand the true interest of a world-time watch, meaning a timepiece that display on a single dial all the 24 main time-zones of the world, with the related main cities (of even more on some watches). Such a dial allows to know in a single look the time on all the planet (and the night-and-day indication at the same time).

More and more brands do have such watches in their catalogue but few can argue in terms of accessibility. To the exception of a few ETA-based watches, most of those with manufacture-modules and enhanced functionality are priced far over the 5K – 10K barrier. Far below this point, in their usual way to do things, is Frederique Constant, which, with a 3.5K price tag, is able to offer a watch with in-house movement and world-timer module, great legibility and functions, as well a classical and elegant look. This watch is the Classic Worldtimer Manufacture and as of Baselworld 2017, it will be available with a pink gold plated case and a warm and distinctive brown dial.

Technically, the Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture is based on the in-house movement of the brand, the Calibre FC-7xx. This automatic movement, with 42 hours power reserve and 4Hz frequency, has been developed to be reliable and precise enough to power several functions and adapt to heavy modules, such as this world-timer complications. Attached on top of it is an also in-house module, which displays the hours/minutes/seconds on the central axis, the date in a sub-dial at 6 and finally, the world-time function itself, with 24h disc with day-night indication and city disc with 24 cities on the outer edge of the dial. A nice and well-though feature of this movement is that the Worldtimer function is completely controlled by the crown. Thus, no additional push buttons or correctors were added which is esthetically more pleasant and simpler to use.

The case of this new version of the Classic Worldtimer Manufacture is 42mm and is pink gold plated stainless steel. The new dial plays on warm tones of gold and brown and features in the central part a 3D map of the world. The hands and indexes are also pink gold plated, to match the case. It is secured to the wrist by a brown leather strap with white stitches. The Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture Brown Dial will be priced at 3,550 Euro. frederiqueconstant.com.

Specifications of the Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture Brown Dial

• Case: 42mm diameter – Polished stainless steel, pink gold plated – sapphire crystal on both sides – 50m water resistant
• Movement: Calibre FC-718 – In-house produces – automatic – 42H power reserve – 4Hz frequency – hours, minutes, seconds, date, world-time
• Strap: brown leather strap