FREDERIQUE CONSTANT

Frederique Constant is a Swiss watchmaker with headquarters in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. Frederique Constant has been making watchmaking history for almost 30 years with its high-quality, creative, and fairly priced watches.

The firm, which was founded in 1988 by Aletta and Peter Stas, is involved in all stages of watch manufacture, from basic design through final assembly and quality monitoring. Since 2004, Frederique Constant has developed, manufactured, and assembled 21 distinct versions of in-house calibers. Watches by Frederique Constant are distinguished by their excellent quality, uniqueness, and accuracy in design and manufacture.

A significant component of their success is their perceived value, which is based on the quality of their design, materials, and manufacturing. To ensure maximum quality and longevity, each watch is constructed by hand using the most up-to-date machinery and stringent standards. To provide originality and outstanding value, the organization embraces innovation. Its ultra-modern 32,000 square foot factory in Geneva provides the ideal atmosphere for its dedicated watchmakers.

The objective of Frederique Constants is to appeal to a larger range of receptive lovers who wish to experience high-quality classical watches at reasonable rates, rather than a small and exclusive group of connoisseurs.

The names Frédérique Schreiner (1881-1969) and Constant Stas were derived from the first names of Peter Stas and Aletta Bax-Stas' great-grandparents (1880-1967). Frederique Constant's current Chief Executive Officer Mr. Constant Stas began his firm in 1904, creating printed clock dials for the watch industry. Peter Stas is a 4th generation descendent of Mr. Constant Stas.

Frederique Constant is driven by the desire to create attractive, high-quality timepieces with flawless finishes. "Live your Passion" is the brand's tagline, and it shows in every facet of the workmanship, design, and innovation employed in the development of a Frederique Constant watch.

Genève became regarded as a prominent hub for the invention and manufacturing of excellent clocks as early as the early 18th century. The Geneva-based watchmakers have since ascended to unrivaled heights in the Art of Horology. Because each watch is painstakingly built by hand, watchmakers are a company's most valuable asset. The watchmakers of Frederique Constant studied at the most prestigious watchmaking institutions in Genève and La Chaux-de-Fonds. However, pure talents are only part of the equation; a watchmaker at Frederique Constant must be sincerely enthusiastic about his or her profession to be successful.

Frederique Constant created the first Heart Beat watch in 1994. The goal of the Heart Beat project was to demonstrate the timepieces' mechanical character. Heart Beat watches include an opening near the balance wheel that displays the technical characteristics that distinguish it as a mechanical wristwatch. Frederique Constant predicted the mechanical watch's return following the long-awaited quartz crisis in the 1990s.

Frederique Constant introduced the first Horological Smartwatch in 2015, which included an analog dial controlled by an entirely electronic module. Another ahead-of-its-time invention; in line with Swiss watchmaking expertise, the company combined it with an avant-garde module that records the user's activity and sleep habits.

The first Accessible Luxury grande complexity, a perpetual calendar conceived, manufactured, and assembled fully in-house, was released in 2016. Frederique Constant continues to deliver high-end watchmaking to a wider range of watch enthusiasts with this new timepiece.

The names Frederique Schreiner (1881-1969) and Constant Stas (1880-1967), the great-grandparents of Aletta Francoise Frédérique Stas-Bax and Peter Constant Stas, were combined to form the brand name Frédérique Constant. Peter Stas, the current Managing Director of Frédérique Constant SA, is Constant Stas' 4th generation descendant. Constant Stas launched his firm in 1904 and began creating printed clock dials for the watch industry. Frédérique Constant was founded in its current form in 1988.

In 1992, the initial collection of six models was released, all of which were equipped with Swiss movements and assembled by a watchmaker in Geneva. For the first time, Frédérique Constant attended the Basel World Watch and Jewellery Show in 1995. The company's headquarters were relocated to Carouge, near Geneva, in 1997. The firm relocated to Chêne-Bourg, Geneva, in search of a larger production facility. The brand is well-known in Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, as well as in the United States, where it produces over 40,000 watches every year.

In 1994, Frédérique Constant achieved a watershed moment in her career when she introduced the Heart Beat collection, which featured mechanical movements. The Heart Beat project was created to demonstrate the mechanical nature of the company's timepieces. The position of the balance wheel on Heart Beat watches has an aperture to demonstrate that the movement is mechanical.

Automatic mechanical watches began to make a comeback in the early 1990s, following the quartz crises of the 1970s and 1980s. These mechanical timepieces resembled quartz watches in appearance, with the exception that the second hand moved continually. The second hand of quartz timepieces moves at 60 steps per minute. Frédérique Constant chose to use visuals to emphasize the differences between mechanical and quartz timepieces. The balance wheel of a mechanical watch beats 28'800 times every hour.

In a huge ruby gem, the balancing wheel revolves clockwise and counter-clockwise on its axes. The hairspring, which can be seen coiling and uncoiling through the dial aperture of the Heart Beat watches, controls its spinning. The Frédérique Constant brand has become synonymous with the Heart Beat. Frédérique Constant has joined the limited and elite group of Swiss watchmakers that construct their own calibres with the launch of the Heart Beat Manufacture. In the art of horology, a Manufacture calibre is the pinnacle achievement. Frederique Constant's Heart Manufacture Calibres were granted a patent.

The initial collection, which consisted of six models, was released in 1992. The Triple-Time and Heart-Beat collections (the first time-keepers in watch history to reveal the escapement and balance wheel – the heart of the Frédérique Constant mechanical movement) were introduced in 1999 as the first models of the HighlifeTM-Line. The first Tourbillon was introduced in the year 2000. At the same time, the HighlifeTM-Line was expanded to include watches specifically made for ladies. Today, the company has 17 collections and three lines: HighlifeTM, Persuasion, and Classics. Frédérique Constant designs and develops all of her models in-house. For a certain series of models, external designers are sometimes contacted. Since the brand's inception in 1988, the standards have been purist lines and a classical modern design.

The Frédérique Constant Highlife is the brand's flagship range, with a variety of unique features like as the metallic HighlifeT bracelet and huge Arabic Highlife numbers. The Boat Timer's unusual central link was originally meant to imitate a winch on a sailing yacht. The majority of models in this range have a sapphire case back and a convex sapphire glass with antireflection treatment, and are water resistant to 100 meters. Another distinctive feature of the Highlife design is the horizontal oval multiplication of the Frédérique Constant crest in the dial's center.

The brand's crest is translucently implanted, and the dial is finished with a solid 18K gold crest. A Tourbillon, Heart Beat Perpetual, Heart Beat Day-Date, Heart Beat Retrograde, and Heart Beat Moonphase Chrono, as well as a Triple Time GMT with three time zones, are all part of the Frédérique Constant HighlifeTM collection. Mechanical movements are made with the highest-quality components and meet all of the accuracy requirements for official Swiss chronometer certification.

The dials of the Frédérique Constant PersuasionTM range have big roman indexes. This line's distinctive roman indexes add a striking design feature. The Frédérique Constant crest is multiplied in an oval form in the middle of the dial, uniting the two collections, as it is in the Highlife design. The Persuasion series is a direct result of Frédérique Constant's goal to design watches that radiate Geneva luxury while being affordable. The Frédérique Constant PersuasionTM range is an excellent choice for people who value the quality of Swiss luxury timepieces but only want to spend in the'mid-segment.' Automatic movements, as well as quartz calibers with fascinating complexities, are used in these watches. The "Business Timer," with its one-of-a-kind week calendar, is particularly noteworthy.

Frédérique Constant's "Classics" are some of the most popular timepieces. Every three to four years, these clocks are revamped to include the latest technology while preserving their popular fundamental form. Art Deco is a style that swept through the most fashionable circles in the 1920s and 1930s, and it is one of the Classics line's collections. The name comes from the title of the 1925 Paris show, 'Exposition des Arts Decoratifs.' Inside and exterior, the style was elegant and extravagant, with sweeping curves and corners based on geometric shapes like the tonneau.

The Art Deco Collection by Frédérique Constant is an homage to this exciting era. Mechanical handwinding and quartz movements are used in the tonneau-shaped variants. The Frédérique Constant Art Deco models include an ergonomically designed caseback that fits well on the wrist. Slimline, a series of ultra-flat models based on quartz movements with a thickness of of 1.90 mm, is another collection. A guilloche design created by a complicated engraving method is applied to the dials. For each pattern and dial design, the business created precise tools with tolerances as low as 1/1000 of a millimetre.

Frédérique Constant is one of the most well-known Geneva watchmakers today. Since the debut of its initial items in 1992, this private family business has grown to this prestigious position through a well-planned and implemented development strategy. Despite the fact that Peter C. Stas and his wife Aletta Bax did not train as watchmakers, their business backgrounds, combined with their design and watchmaking skills, and the marketing message behind their promotional motto, 'Live Life with a Passion,' have helped the company achieve widespread recognition in an always competitive industry.

Peter C. Stas was born on June 18, 1963, in Gouda, a Dutch town noted for its cheese. He attended local schools and afterwards studied economics. He earned a Doctorandus degree in business economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam between 1982 and 1987. This required him to write a thesis, and the topic he picked was 'Evaluation of Training,' which would, fortunately, serve him well in the years to come.

He also traveled over the world during this period, receiving a range of educational experiences. In 1984, for example, he spent three weeks on a financial course at the City of London Polytechnic. He also spent four months studying for his thesis in Denver, Colorado. Peter C. Stas spent three months at Harvard in 1985, and it was there that he experienced a random occurrence that would affect his future commercial career. He was on a show that looked at business case studies, and he went through at least 80 of them.

Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie SA, better known as SMH at the time, was one of the chosen companies (it is now known as The Swatch Group). This Swiss conglomerate, which comprised primarily of old-established but sometimes poorly advertised watch brands, was in the process of being restructured by a consultant, former Swatch Group president and CEO Mr Nicolas G. Hayek. During his investigation, Stas discovered that the European watch industry was essentially surviving in a period when the so-called quartz revolution, which began in the Far East, was wreaking havoc on the financial fortunes of most Swiss watchmakers. At the same time, the car and electronics sectors were faltering. All of these industries seemed to have just one attraction to him: pure economics. There was a lack of focus on innovation.

Peter C. Stas worked for a Loyens firm in New York between 1987 and 1989. While reorganizing back office processes and departments overseas, he relished it. His remarkable administrative aptitude was discovered at a period when computers were becoming commonplace in many productive organizations. His interest in their possibilities piqued at this moment, and he founded his own software firm in his leisure time in 1988. In his spare time, he enjoyed skiing in Switzerland, and was therefore able to actively pursue his interest in a private plan he was developing for creating inexpensive mechanical wristwatches through factory visits.

He soon had a six-model collection under his belt. In April 1989, he began working at Philips in Eindhoven, his home Holland, and his daily routine was altered. His initial assignment was to oversee audio goods for the US market. He had no desire to work in the United States, so in 1991 he embarked on a six-year tour of service in Hong Kong. He founded a consumer electronics firm for Philips at this period, and was completely involved in product development, sourcing, distribution, and marketing. He was employing nine employees, turning over SwFr 30 million, and earning a profit in less than two years.

In Peter C. Stas's life, the world of watchmaking was also taking center stage. As he secretly pursued his industrial goals, he became informally associated with Mido (the great old watch brand founded in Bienne in 1918), and met his now close colleague Philippe Bouchet, who is an expert at finding watch components. During his first year in Hong Kong, in 1991, this Philips employee hand-assembled two of each of six quartz wristwatch models, dubbed 'The 18th-Century Collection,' each with the name 'Frédérique Constant' prominently enamelled on the dial.

The following is the backstory of this now-famous brand name. Aletta Bax, who had married Peter C. Stas in 1991, was working for an insurance company in Hong Kong in 1992 when it was determined that she would create a tiny office for her husband's nascent watchmaking business. Frédérique is named after Aletta's great-grandmother, Frédérique Schreiner (1881-1969), who was born in 1881 and died in 1969. The name 'Constant' comes from Peter's great-grandfather, Constant Stas (1880-1967), who, it's worth noting, was also involved in the production of printed clock dials.

The new Frédérique Constant manufacturing facility in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, opened in 2006. The factory, which is spread out over four floors and covers 3200 square meters, provides an appealing working environment for its watchmakers in the areas of movement component production, calibre assembly, watch assembly, and rigorous quality control.

The current generation of numerically controlled machines are housed in a huge atelier in the basement, where all component manufacture takes place. The first level of the new Frédérique Constant building houses calibre and watch assembly, as well as state-of-the-art quality control.

Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. agreed to buy Geneva-based Frederique Constant Holding SA in 2016 as part of its "Citizen Global Plan 2018" multi-brand plan to round out the Tokyo-based Japanese watchmaking group's brand portfolio with Swiss names. Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. now has the Frederique Constant, Alpina, and DeMonaco brands thanks to Frederique Constant Holding SA.