Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture

Geneva Watch Days 2025 Frederique Constant releases three new variations of its Perpetual Calendar

EMBARGO: September 4th, 2025 08H30 CET

The Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture is one of Frederique Constant’s best-known models, now in the limelight again with the release of three new watches at once: two variations with a steel case and blue or silvered dial, plus an onyx black dial with an 18k yellow gold case limited to 37 pieces only. All share the same 40-millimetre format and the same manufacture calibre: the renowned FC-776 that first enabled the Geneva-based brand to deliver the most affordable Perpetual Calendar on the market – a title the model still holds today. As such the Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture is the ultimate embodiment of the ‘affordable luxury’ philosophy championed by Frederique Constant for over thirty-five years.

The Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture is an exceptional timepiece in more ways than one. For starters, there’s the complication itself. The perpetual calendar is one of the most challenging achievements in fine watchmaking and has been a source of admiration in the profession for 150 years. The challenge resides in creating a fully mechanical memory capable of handling the irregularities of our Gregorian calendar. The latter’s formalised structure entails the need for occasional adjustments to keep it in step with the natural passage of time, replete with subtle variations that go unnoticed on a day-to-day basis; the leap years we add every four years are just one of the many such adjustments that help compensate for such vagaries. The perpetual calendar (also known as the QP) thus represents the height of mechanical engineering, and only a small number of watchmaking firms have mastered it. Frederique Constant has been one of the select few for nearly ten years now, with its first such piece released in 2016.

The Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture is also exceptional in terms of its positioning, still deliberately kept below the CHF 10,000 mark; at the same time, it has undergone relentlessly thorough development, delivering significant improvements to the movement whilst leaving the pricing unchanged. The 775 Calibre has thus been replaced by the 776, with a power reserve boosted from 38 to 72 hours. Frederique Constant is probably the only manufacture currently offering this level of movement refinement – and simultaneously absorbing the related costs to ensure the watch remains affordable.

What is more, this Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture takes the exercise still further with a QP complication that’s remarkably easy to adjust. The moonphase, date, day, month and leap year functions are all set by means of a dedicated push button, discreetly recessed in the frame. Provided the watch is wound up, in everyday use the wearer need do no more than adjust the hour and minutes hands as required, using the crown. The FC-776 manufacture calibre is housed in a case just 40 millimetres in diameter – a format much beloved of collectors.

While the Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture has recently featured a much-sought-after salmon dial, two other colour schemes favoured by collectors have been adopted here, with a blue or silvered dial. Each offers maximum readability thanks to the clear, intuitive layout of the markings: separate day, date and month displays alongside a moonphase tastefully positioned at six o’clock. Moving forward only once a year, the lesser-used leap year indicator sits at twelve o’clock with the month hand. Each dial features a graceful sunray finish to help diffuse light evenly across the applique hour markers and hand-polished hands.

Only 37 lucky collectors will be able to own the third version of the new Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture with an 18-carat yellow gold case, as used by Frederique Constant for other models in its Manufacture collections. The watch offers a striking contrast between the warm yellow gold of its case and hand-polished hands and the absolute black of an onyx dial that embodies timeless, classic elegance. Exuding prestige, the timepiece comes on an alligator strap with deployment clasp and features a sapphire caseback, revealing the inner workings of the FC-776 calibre in all their glory.

ABOUT FREDERIQUE CONSTANT

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Founded in 1988, Frederique Constant is a Swiss watchmaking manufacture based in Geneva. Having celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2023, the brand continues to showcase its ever-advancing watchmaking expertise as it pursues its aim: providing Swiss Made luxury watches at fair prices. Through the decades, Frederique Constant has been characterised by creativity and inventiveness – and even more so by mechanical ingenuity and pragmatism.

Born out of the shared passion of an independent entrepreneurial couple, Aletta and Peter Stas, Frederique Constant has written its own rules, blazing a trail into territory where none had dared venture before. Today the brand can proudly offer a range of quartz and mechanical models – and most importantly, a collection of 34 calibres designed, developed and assembled in its own Manufacture at Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. These movements include Tourbillon, Perpetual Calendar, Flyback Chronograph, Worldtimer, Power Reserve and Big Date complications as well as the Monolithic escapement, made out of a single piece of silicon and beating at a rate of 40Hz.

Frederique Constant presently has close to 3,000 points of sale in 120 countries. To pursue its international expansion and develop new synergies, since 2016 the Frederique Constant Group (Frederique Constant, Alpina Watches, Ateliers deMonaco) has been part of the Japanese group Citizen.