Perpetual Calendars are regarded as one of the most prestigious complications in watchmaking, second only to minute repeaters. It’s therefore understandable that the vast majority of them, especially those produced in Switzerland, have price tags that make them prohibitively exclusive for many collectors. But what if there was a Swiss perpetual calendar for less than £9,000? Equivalent to an Omega or entry level Rolex that, while not cheap, most people could afford with smart budgeting. Enter Frederique Constant with the Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture.
I won’t tease you with the price, it’s £8,695. For a watch that, if kept wound, won’t need adjustment for periods of 100 years at a time, that’s pretty bonkers. The movement at the heart of the watch is a new one, the in-house FC-776. It’s based on the FC-775 and integrates some of the manufacture’s developments from their 2024 launches, including an extended 76-hour power reserve compared to their first perpetual calendar from 2016.
This is also the first time that Frederique Constant have housed a perpetual calendar movement in their Classics collection. Meaning it features a 40mm case in steel with gentle curves, relatively slim lugs and a polished finish. It’s a very classic design, a fact that’s mirrored by the equally classic dial in sunray brushed salmon. As a calendar watch, at 3 o’clock you have the date subdial, a 6 is the moonphase, at 9 is days of the week and at 12 is month and leap year indication.
Adding to the refinement is a railway minute track around the perimeter of the display, a style popularised by Art Deco watches but now a staple of vintage dress watches of multiple styles. That’s paired with faceted, wedge-shaped hour markers and spear-head hands, rounding the elegant display.
Equally elegant is the view through the exhibition caseback, revealing the FC-776 movement. It has a skeleton rotor in gold with a vertically brushed finish, which sits above the central plate with a sort of spiral brushing. Around that is then perlage finishing, which is the technical term for the overlapping patterns of small, brushed circles.
Between the high level of finishing, precise details across the dial and of course the perpetual calendar movement capable of accounting for the different number of days in each month year after year, that £8,695 is looking pretty sweet.
Price and Specs:
Model:
Frederique
Constant Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture
Ref:
FC-776SAL3H6
Case:
40mm
diameter x 12.10mm thickness, stainless steel
Dial:
Salmon
with sunray finishing
Water resistance:
50m
(5 bar)
Movement:
Frederique
Constant calibre FC-776, in-house, automatic, 26 jewels
Frequency:
28,800
vph (4 Hz)
Power reserve:
72h
Functions:
Hours,
minutes, moonphase, perpetual calendar
Strap:
Dark
brown alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching, folding buckle
Price:
£8,695
More details at Frederique Constant.
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