In Conversation With: Niels Eggerding, Managing Director At Frederique Constant On The Brand Debut & 35th Anniversary
5 min read
Frederique Constant has stayed true to its motto “Live your Passion”. It's fitting that this year, as the Maison celebrates its 35th anniversary, it should make its debut at the world-famous watchmaking exhibition - Watches And Wonders 2023!
We at The Hour Markers, caught up with Niels Eggerding, Managing Director At Frederique Constant to discuss the new launches, the brand’s debut experience at Watches And Wonders 2023, and more. Let’s get into the details.
THM: First-time ever at the show and the 35th anniversary! How has the experience been so far?
Niels: It’s been super exciting. It’s been only a year since we set up the Manufacture here but we’ve seen some great traction for our timepieces. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Worldtimer last year and sold around 4000 timepieces in the whole year and saw an increase in the average price of the brand. If you look at the analysis, the premium segment is continuing to grow. However, for our segment to reach the 1000-3000-year-old retail mark is huge. We took a decision in early 2022 and continue selling at the price point that we are at currently. To join the premium segment and get to know the others, we decided to be at Watches And Wonders 2023. With 900 appointments, the response has been great.
THM: We’ve seen the brand this year catering to a more premium range. With qualitative watches at an affordable price point, is the brand repositioning itself with the new launches?
Niels: We are not repositioning the brand; we will continue to be at the same price point that we are at today. The base collection starts at 750 euros and the core collection stands at about 1000-3000 euros. Many brands tend to move out of their price range because that’s where the growth takes place. But, we want to stay there. For the past 30 years, we have had 30 in-house calibers. So we have the legitimacy to position these calibers in the more premium segment.
THM: We’ve seen several newly introduced complications. Will there be any more additions - moonphases or retrogrades?
Niels: We already have a base for movements like the date with three hands, moonphase three hands date, worldtimers, flyback chronographs to name a few. We’ve now introduced the tourbillon. As a sneak peek into the future, you will also see an Haute Horologerie caliber. The tourbillon introduced has a platinum finishing and great workings but we hope to introduce a caliber with a better power reserve. Currently, we have a 38-42 hour reserve and we hope to take it to 72 hours.
While other watches have done well for Frederique Constant in India, there aren’t any in the pipeline for the time being. The conversation ended with Niels sharing his thoughts on the dial size trends. “Men are more attracted by smaller dials and women are opting for bigger dial sizes”
Are you one of them too?
