The 1970s and 1980s were an unusual time for the watch industry. On Christmas Day in 1969, Seiko presented the world’s first quartz wristwatch boasting 100 times more accuracy than any mechanical wristwatch. Watchmaking as we knew it was forever changed. Over the next two decades, the mechanical watch industry would fight to keep tradition alive while competing with a product that was by most measures superior. Quartz watches were not only more accurate but also more durable, easier to operate and maintain, and more accessibly priced. The mechanical watch industry had no choice but to make some major strategic changes to remain relevant.
A New Mechanical Watch Brand Enters the Market Amid the Quartz Crisis
With this in mind, the 1980s might seem like a strange time for a new mechanical watchmaker to enter the market. But a young entrepreneurial couple saw this moment of evolution and change as an opportunity. Their mission was to create in-house Swiss mechanical watches at more accessible prices that were competitive with quartz. However, like any good idea, it would take time for them to fully realize their vision.
Peter and Aletta Stas officially founded Frederique Constant in 1988, taking the names from each of their great-grandparents to form the company’s name. It would be another four years before they debuted their first watches, which were originally made with outsourced Swiss movements. A big moment came just shy of a decade after the brand’s founding. In 1997, Frederique Constant first presented its watches at the prestigious Baselworld fair, and the response was overwhelming—they knew they were onto something.
Setting a New Standard: In-House, Swiss-Made Movements at an Accessible Price
By the turn of the century, Frederique Constant would take a pivotal step toward reaching its ultimate goal of producing its own movements. In 2001, the brand hired a watchmaker named Pim Koeslag to head up the company’s movement development division. Koeslag not only brought his own breadth of knowledge to the Maison but also brought connections at two key resources: Switzerland’s Ecole d’Horlogerie de Genève and Holland’s Horloge Vakschool Zadkine. Together with these elite watchmaking schools, Frederique Constant finally had the team to make its vision a reality.
Still, it would be another three years before the brand would finally notch its original mission to produce its highly accessible watches with in-house calibers. In 2004, Frederique Constant unveiled the FC-910. The manually-wound caliber debuted several patents including the unconventional placement of the balance wheel bridge at six o’clock. This particular feature of the FC-910 was put on full display thanks to the brand’s now signature Heart Beat design featuring a distinct aperture on the dial to reveal the “heartbeat” of the watch: the mechanical movement.
From this moment forward, Frederique Constant’s momentum only continued to pick up speed. Three years later, the brand introduced its first automatic caliber, the FC-935, which utilized one of the most revolutionary materials to hit modern watchmaking—silicon—for its escapement wheel. The application of silicon in watchmaking is a game changer. Thanks to its anti-magnetic nature, lightweight composition, and resistance to friction and temperature fluctuations, it significantly improves the accuracy and stability of a watch movement. Silicon also generally requires no lubrication, further enhancing reliability.
A Rite of Passage: The In-House Tourbillon Complication
After mastering its two base calibers (manual and automatic), the Maison could move on to developing its complications. In 2008, just a year after releasing its first automatic caliber, Frederique Constant did just that and launched its first in-house complication. The brand didn’t start with something simple like a chronograph but instead went full force to one of the most complex complications in watchmaking: the tourbillon. The FC-980 was crucial to Frederique Constant’s original mission to create high quality watches with in-house calibers that compete with the top luxury watchmakers in the industry (Patek Philippe or Rolex) but at a more accessible price.
In luxury watchmaking, the in-house tourbillon is a rite of passage—a definitive marker of status and skill. To really be taken seriously among collectors and its peers, Frederique Constant knew it was essential to produce its own tourbillon. The original Tourbillon Manufacture Limited Edition built on the design of the FC-935 with a silicon escapement, and the complication prominently featured in the Heart Beat window on the dial. Although the tourbillon came at a higher price than Frederique Constant’s previous models, it was still roughly half the cost of other in-house tourbillons on the market.
Building Its Catalog: Worldtimer, Perpetual Calendar, and Flyback Chronograph
The tourbillon was just the beginning of the brand’s expansion into high horology complications. By 2012, the Maison had introduced its first Worldtimer, which not only maintained an accessible price point but also boasted an accessible design with all of the standard timing and world-time functions operated singularly through the crown as opposed to additional pushers.
“The Worldtimer continues to be the most iconic movement we have in the collection today,” confirms Niels Eggerding, CEO of Frederique Constant.
“It’s super sophisticated and super efficient. It’s an unbeatable movement how it’s industrialized and prepared with everything operated through the crown. This system is both reliable and user friendly—and it’s proven to be successful for over a decade now.”
In 2016, Frederique Constant debuted its most complex watch to date, its first Perpetual Calendar, and a year after that, it launched the unsuspectingly involved Flyback Chronograph, which took five years of research and development to create at the brand’s standards to maintain an accessible price point. This period also marked another important moment in the history of Frederique Constant. In 2016, the brand was acquired by Citizen Watch Group.
Frederique Constant Levels Up: Acquisition by Citizen Watch Group
It’s crucial to contextualize the significance of this moment. Citizen is among the top three most prominent watch companies in Japan alongside Seiko and Casio, and like its counterparts, is largely known for its quartz watches.
“In 2016, Citizen was a leader in the watch industry for its quartz watches and the sub-$1000 price point,” explains Jeffrey Cohen, President of Citizen Watch America. “However, Citizen’s clients had been indicating interest in higher price point models and mechanical models, which presented an opportunity for our business to enter the accessible luxury space. In looking to expand in this way, we were impressed by the growth of Frederique Constant’s manufacture and their philosophy of wanting more people to enjoy luxury. When Citizen approached Frederique Constant, it quickly became clear it would be a natural fit as Frederique Constant was looking for a way to scale the production of its in-house calibers.”
Expansion in Two Key Markets: Women and the U.S.
Their intuition was spot-on, and the unlikely pairing has turned out to be a massive success. Now, in just 36 years since its founding, Frederique Constant has produced a whopping 33 in-house calibers. “Many of Frederique Constant’s Manufacture calibers were developed prior to the acquisition,” clarifies Cohen, “so the know-how was already there, but the Citizen Group was able to provide the ability to scale and reach new markets quickly, including the United States, which today is the number one market for the brand.”
The data around market segmentation and various demographics is one of the many benefits a large company like Citizen has been able to bring to Frederique Constant. In analyzing the brand’s potential, Citizen has been able to identify the unique demands and opportunities in key markets like the U.S. “For Frederique Constant, the U.S. has overall a 50/50 men to ladies’ business ratio, which is incredibly unique,” shares Cohen. “This leads us to have some exclusive ladies’ timepieces to fulfill market demand, and our competitive pricing allows us to meet consumers across age demographics including millennials and Gen Z, who are now the largest client base in the U.S.”
This perfectly illustrates how Citizen has been able to bring out the best in Frederique Constant and enhance its existing strengths. An emphasis on creating watches for both men and women has been at the core of the brand since its early days when Aletta Stas designed its first ladies’ model, the Moonphase Star. Today, Eggerding continues to encourage his team to draw on this original vision.
“For me, driving the company is about two key elements,” details Eggerding. “The first is the consumers—we are always asking, what do our clients want? To do this, we gather feedback—I travel a lot to our retailers, to various client events, and I listen. The second, is having the right people around me on my team at every level and specifically our watchmakers.”
More Than a Watchmaking Business—A Watchmaking Team
At Frederique Constant, the vision of the founders has no doubt been a beacon driving the brand, but it has been the collective effort of the team at large to keep bringing that vision to fruition year over year for three decades. For example, the brand’s base calibers (manual and automatic) create the perfect structure and foundation for its movement makers to get playful and creative with the development of new calibers and designs.
“It’s quite an open and collaborative structure here at Frederique Constant,” shares Roland Pel, a Complications Expert in the Movement Development Division at Frederique Constant. “If you have ideas, you are always encouraged to share them.”
Pel and his colleague Romain Vallette are responsible for the creation of one of the brand’s latest and most interesting watches: the Classic Tourbillon Meteorite. The model debuted last year in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the brand and 15th anniversary of its inaugural tourbillon that solidified Frederique Constant’s place among luxury watchmakers. With the Classic Tourbillon Meteorite, the showpiece is not just the one-of-a-kind dial, made from a thin slice of the Gibeon meteorite. Flip the watch over, and the tourbillon caliber has been decorated entirely by hand to mimic the texture of the meteorite—marking another first for the brand.
For Frederique Constant, the Past and Present Will Always Inform the Future
It’s no small task for a modest, family-owned brand to maintain its DNA after an acquisition by a major player. The founders entrusted Eggerding to facilitate this transition eight years ago. Today, his leadership continues to be crucial in keeping the brand grounded and steadfast in pursuing that original vision of “democratizing Swiss watchmaking luxury” amid the expectations of a larger parent company and an increasingly demanding and discerning audience of collectors.
According to Morgan Stanley estimates, Frederique Constant currently makes around 130,000 watches per year, which generates sales of roughly CHF 125 million (approximately $145 million). This is notably higher than a number of other industry veterans, including Zenith (CHF 121 million), Girard Perregaux (CHF 78 million), Ulysse Nardin (CHF 75 million), and Oris (CHF 72 million). However, the brand still has its sights set on keeping the momentum going. For the past several years, Frederique Constant has been in the process of doubling the size of its facilities, with the aim of increasing production to 250,000 watches per year. The brand is undoubtedly growing but without losing sight of its ethos.
