Frederique Constant Watches - The Start of A Passion

While growing up in their native country of the Netherlands during the late 1960s and the 1970s, both Peter Stas and Aletta Bax had an avid interest in watches and the art of making watches or horology. This interest and passion soon manifested itself into a dream project by the now-married couple: the Frederique Constant SA.

Formed over 33 years ago in 1988, Frederique Constant was built with the simple aim of ‘Accessible Luxury’. This motto has been the cornerstone on which the company has created its strong presence in the Swiss horological world. Interestingly, the name Frederique Constant has its roots in the family history of its two founders. The first and the second part of the company name belonged to the great-grandparents of Peter Stas and Aletta Bax: Frédérique Schreiner and Constant Stas, respectively.

In a testament to their horology-obsessed minds, Peter and Aletta took almost four years to launch their first collection in 1992. This first collection comprised six models that had all been assembled under the expertise of a Geneva-based watchmaker.

With their focus on luxury at affordable prices for everyone, the company took great strides after the turn of the new century. The year 2002 saw Frederique Constant acquire the historical Alpina watch company, while in 2008, Peter Stas co-founded the luxury watch manufacturer Ateliers deMonaco as part of the Frederique Constant Group.

The great sales that the company put up throughout the first one and half decades of the 21st century, even during the worldwide economic crisis of 2008, led to the sale of the Frederique Constant Group to Japan’s Citizen Holdings in 2016. However, the Stas couple is still involved, with Peter Stas continuing as the CEO of Frederique Constant SA.

Making Luxury Affordable - A Philosophy of Frederique Constant Watches

Despite starting out in the late 1980s and being a relatively new kid on the Swiss horology block, Frederique Constant has managed to create a loyal market base around the world. As per reports, the start of the last decade saw the company reach 120,000 watches in production, with their sales coming from an estimated 100 different countries. This astonishing figure can be primarily attributed to the precise and efficient manufacturing undertaken by the company.

Even though Frederique Constant has Dutch founders, the rise of the company led to both Peter and Aletta shifting to Geneva in Switzerland. Currently, the company is headquartered in the Plan-les-Ouates region of Geneva, over a sprawling four-storied manufacturing centre. When first built in 2006, the manufacturing unit was over 3200 sq. metres with four stories. Recently, the company expanded its headquarters to house around 6200 sq. metres! This is the place where craftsmen and watchmakers toil hard to make the 15 innovative in-house movements like the Heartbeat, Tourbillon, and 700 Series, and watches, like Manufacture, Slimline, Highlife, Yacht Timer, and the Smartwatches, that Frederique Constant is known for.

The Frederique Constant Watches Future

The advent of the latest digital technologies has brought about a major change to the watchmaking world. Frederique Constant was one of the first to recognise this trend by producing smartwatches as early as 2015. The Horological Smartwatch of 2015 was the first of its kind by using a secondary analogue dial in place of the usual touch screen, giving the watch a more classic look. The company’s unique take on smartwatches continued in 2018 when it unveiled the world’s first mechanical smartwatch with the Frederique Constant Hybrid Manufacture that integrates mechanical movements with smartwatch technology.

Apart from this, major upgrades have been made to the mechanical watch collection as well, with the company recently showcasing the exclusive monolithic escapement mechanical watch: the Highlife Monolithic Manufacture.

Thus, with such an innovative and technology-based approach to watchmaking, Frederique Constant continues to make luxurious watches available to people all over the world, fulfilling the dreams of its founders.