Frederique Constant x Watch Angels Collaborate on Worldtimer Manufacture 40mm

While it’s always fun to see watch brands collaborate with celebrity artists and designers, the resulting watches are often highly exclusive and more expensive than normal, cutting out a huge swathe of the watch collecting community from the chance of owning onw. For their latest collaboration Frederique Constant wanted to achieve the opposite, making sure the watch can get into the hands of genuine enthusiasts and dedicated collectors at fair prices. In order to accomplish this, they’ve teamed up with the Watch Angels collectors community to create the Frederique Constant x Watch Angels Worldtimer Manufacture.

Collector communities that produce collaboration watches with major brands are more common than you might think. Collective Horology over in California stands out as prime example with their IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph from a few years ago. It’s quite simple really, become a member, get access to exclusive watches. Watch Angels operates in a largely similar way with a few notable differences. You can sign up to various tiers of membership, known as Enthusiast, Angel and Super Angel, which get you a variety of benefits that range from priority access to the watches, discounts and at the higher tiers even design input on the watches.

On top of that, Watch Angels aren’t content to simply let the watch brands they work with do all the heavy lifting themselves. They operate their own manufacture employing over 200 watchmakers, engineers, technicians, CNC operators, polishers, after sales experts and more. Which means the watches are often truly collaborative right down to their structural DNA. Their involvement is far greater than simply making a suggestion to a designer and having their name printed on the dial.

Focussing in on the Frederique Constant x Watch Angels Worldtimer Manufacture, it’s a stunner. A 40mm version of Frederique Constant’s 42mm Classic Worldtimer with an updated display. The reduced size works brilliantly, increasing the wearability of the piece for a lot of people while also making it more practical for daily use. 2mm might not sound like a huge difference but as someone who spends their days typing away on a keyboard, I can wear 40mm all day but often find myself taking off 42mm before lunch just because it impedes the wrist a fraction more.

Of course, with a reduced case size there also have to be adjustments to the dial. Especially when it comes to a worldtimer display which has to cram in the additional 24-hour and global cities indicators. The first decision that was made was to remove the date complication that’s normally found on the 42mm Classic Worldtimer completely. Then, rather than having the cities scale be flat, they’ve placed it on an incline towards the centre of the dial. That means it can retain a good width for legibility while taking up a smaller portion of the dial space. It’s a smart choice for maximising display economy.

The other major change to the dial is they’ve done away with the atlas style globe in favours of a simple crosshair motif. Given the reduced size, the atlas would look incredibly cramped so I’m glad it’s gone. The new design is much cleaner, allowing you to appreciate the rich blue of the dial and the delicate sunray brushed finishing. Though it’s not totally without ornamentation because instead of the standard 12 and 24 numerals on the 24-hour disk they’ve placed a sun and moon to mark day and night.

Inside the Frederique Constant Watch Angels WorldTimer Manufacture is the FC-718 manufacture calibre, an automatic in-house movement with 42-hour power reserve. It’s visible through the exhibition caseback revealing its Côtes de Genève and perlage finishing. It’s this calibre that inspired the collaboration and is why the model is a limited edition of 718 pieces. If you want to get your hands on one, they’re available to reserve exclusively through the Watch Angels platform at CHF 4,490 (approx. £3,960) until March 13^th.

More details at Watch Angels.

​Oracle Time 

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