Watches And Wonders 2024: A Frederique Constant’s Moonphase Date Manufacture

2024 is undoubtedly the year of the moonphase. Just earlier this year, Frederique Constant collaborated with French Artist seconde/seconde/ to introduce his quirky take on the slimline Moonphase Date. The result was a one of a kind timepiece which had whimsical stamped all over it. Being the brand’s flagship model, a new moonphase manufacture with updated features is set to launch at Watches And Wonders 2024. The new 40 mm variant featuring a new classic steel case and a silver dial, this timepiece translates into a unique and coherent design language. True to its traditional DNA, the watch beautifully captures the moon’s luminous beauty in all its various phases. 

Offered in a steel case measuring 40mm, the model is now available, not only with a new look, but also with new technical features, thanks to the new FC-716 Manufacture calibre. The latter is equipped with a new barrel that now offers a power reserve of three days.. Despite this, its original proportions have been preserved, enabling it in future to serve as the basis for the Manufacture movements in the FC-700 series, in existing cases, offering them an increased autonomy of almost 90%. New decorations have also been added, such as the fan-shaped côtes de Genève, replacing the previous circular motifs. They are visible through the open caseback, which is water-resistant to 50 metres. This Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture trio also comes with a 5-year warranty.

Celestial Connections
As the saying goes, "watchmaking is the daughter of astronomy". This creation illustrates this very point. These two watchmaking foundations stand out on a refined dial. First, the watchmaking side, with three silver-coloured central hands, redesigned and now diamond-cut (only the hour and minute hands), as are the applied hour-markers. Hand-polished, they hover over a finely modern midnight blue sun-rayed dial. The minute track is railway-style, and the crown at three o'clock is onion-shaped. This creation is worn on a navy blue overstitched alligator strap.

Then there's the astronomical side. At 6 o'clock, a single window brings together two complications in a single counter: the moonphase and the date. They are closely correlated, with the moon passing through a starry window at the precise rate of 29.5 days. The date is indicated by a central hand running along a peripheral scale graduated from 1 to 31. In this starry space, the short time of the date and the long time of the moon coexist in a gentle, poetic astral symbiosis.