Frederique Constant brand?

[Judah]

Anyone with any experience with the Frederique Constant brand?

[jjnd08]

Okay bang for the buck. I'd rather save my money though and put it towards something I really want.

[BlueHeron]

Great brand, I've got the WorldTimer in rose gold plated and the dial is more beautiful than most you'll find (I've looked at dozens and prefer the FC dial).

The movement is beautiful, and "in house", so you're getting something original, not just an ETA with a skin. It's not COSC certified, and the time keeping could be better.

The biggest issue is that it's not a solid gold case, and this makes it affordable (<$5k) but also makes it less a watch than others that are full precious metals.

Bottom line is that the brand is a very high value -- a lot of watch for the money. I'd stick with stainless Steel cases and buy one you love to look at. I never get tired of my WorldTimer, just beautiful and looks far more expensive than it is.

[Judah]

Originally Posted by BlueHeron

Great brand, I've got the WorldTimer in rose gold plated and the dial is more beautiful than most you'll find (I've looked at dozens and prefer the FC dial).

The movement is beautiful, and "in house", so you're getting something original, not just an ETA with a skin. It's not COSC certified, and the time keeping could be better.

The biggest issue is that it's not a solid gold case, and this makes it affordable (<$5k) but also makes it less a watch than others that are full precious metals.

Bottom line is that the brand is a very high value -- a lot of watch for the money. I'd stick with stainless Steel cases and buy one you love to look at. I never get tired of my WorldTimer, just beautiful and looks far more expensive than it is.

Thank you for that insightful explaination of the brand.

[Flintstone]

Great value for the price considering many come with in-house movement. Very prevalent for purchase in the Caribbean. I just bought a rose gold (plated) moon phase slimline blue dial. It is stunning and stealing a lot of wrist time from my rolexes and other timepieces.

[BlueHeron]

Originally Posted by Judah

Thank you for that insightful explaination of the brand.

My pleasure, and here is my beauty. Check out the reflection of the city names. I get compliments on this watch regularly.

[Jack T]

I'm glad this question was posted. I work with someone who owns, wears his FC to the office every day. On a strap, probably 40mm with a very interesting dial, nice detail. All in all an attractive watch.

[lapince]

It's one of the best "bang for your buck" brands, they have interesting models, for example this one which is tourbillon for less than 20K,

https://www.chrono24.com/en/frederiq...facturerIds=99

But the prices are so low I don't really know about quality, on chrono 24 the prices even for new are in the category "too good to be true", so apart the fact that they have a few nice designs and great prices I can't say much, would need to see them in real, if when you see them you have the impression that it's good quality and you like the design and also do some research to see what owners think about them, and if all that checks out ok then why not, I am more into sport watches so not really a brand for me but if I wanted a very cool dress watch this tourbillon could interest me, has a see through case back, and looks nice, the world timer also is quite nice, from the little I've seen these are the 2 models that I like, the others are way too dressy for me, oh they have some nice chronos also...

[Judah]

Originally Posted by BlueHeron

My pleasure, and here is my beauty. Check out the reflection of the city names. I get compliments on this watch regularly.

That's a beautiful watch. What ref is it? I definitely like the cities on the dial.

[BlueHeron]

Originally Posted by judah

that's a beautiful watch. What ref is it? I definitely like the cities on the dial.

fc 718 wm4h4

[watchucallit]

I think a very underrated brand.

[daytonaTBR]

I agree it is an underrated brand and I believe it happens to give a good value at the price points they sell at.

[BlueHeron]

One other nice part of the movement to note (on the World Timer) is that the time/date/worldtime city position can all be adjusted via the crown -- no pushers needed.

[tavv160]

Even though I agree with jjnd08 that I would personally save a bit more and buy something else I really like this brand. They have been able to make nice looking watches with in-house movements at very fair prices. Not too big of a fan of gold-plated watches though, but I guess it fits their business model.

Nevertheless, for me personally, if I would go for affordable in-house, I would opt for NOMOS.

[lapince]

About the gold plating I would either opt for SS or full gold, plated turns me off personally

[SearChart]

I'm not a fan of most of their watches, their slogan 'affordable luxury' isn't particularly catchy either.
NOMOS, Cartier and JLC are hard to beat in that price range.
Their cheaper models can be interesting if you want a classy watch, but as soon as you go to 2.5 - 4k their just not 'it', IMO.

[thomaspp]

I like some of them, but nothing has really caught my eye for a diversity of reasons.

[jctrolex]

I have the World Timer in SS and I think it is beautifully executed. I do not think you can find a similar quality watch with a manufacture movement and a similar complication for anywhere close to what FC is asking for. Who produces a Swiss watch with a world time complication manufacture movement for 4K? Having said that the majority of their product don't sing to me. The brand seems to lack cohesiveness in their product and styling direction but you can say that about brands that costs 2 to 4 times as much. I think it is great value for the money. Sure there are a lot of things you can criticize about the watch but one has to keep in mind that one is not spending 40K for a watch, it is actually one tenth of that. What you spend on that watch doesn't even cover the sales tax of some of the watches I was looking at.
I like Nomos and even considered buying one a few times but the styling is just not my style.
I think both of these manufacturers offer a great entry point for someone starting in this addiction..... ur I mean hobby.

[VicLeChic]

I think they make an interesting affordable dress watch proposition.

I personally like their fc-710 (in-house) and fc-303 (ETA based) which are kind of Breguet homages, I love the classic guilloché dial.

Contrary to what some people think, FC is not trying to be what it's not IMHO. It's a young company offering affordable classic looking and well finished time pieces. A good entry point in the dress watch world.

Now, is it better to save up for a Patrimony or a Calatrava for example, and just skip affordable luxury altogether, one could debate? That would be like saying "all or nothing", like I want the " RollsRoyce" and nothing else. Personally, I don't mind an affordable dress watch while saving for that special one you're thinking about acquiring one day.

One or two most probably, but I just wouldn't start a collection of affordable dress watches.

[Notastranger]

I've had one of their smart watches for about a year and a half now. Although it's not really a "smart watch," it's more like a dressy watch with the functions of a Fitbit. The watch has been great, very comfortable to wear and it's a great size at 42mm.

[vladamir15]

Originally Posted by BlueHeron

My pleasure, and here is my beauty. Check out the reflection of the city names. I get compliments on this watch regularly.

Looks great! It's a shame they dont use solid gold