A Dutchman who came to Switzerland via Hong Kong
His great-grandfather was already making dials. His great-grandson Peter Stas, previously successful in Hong Kong as a business expert, founded a manufacture in 1988 in a fiercely contested watch market, with bold courage and international business experience and together with his wife Aletta, a manufacture that stands apart from others in many of its features. His attachment to the company is reflected in the composition of the company name from the first names of her great-grandmother and his great-grandfather. Today the brand has long played on equal terms in the company of Vacheron Constantin, Parmigiani and Piaget. More than 150,000 pieces a year leave Plan-les-Ouates - in the immediate neighbourhood of Rolex and Patek Philippe - for every corner of the world, and the company itself speaks of annual growth of more than 20 per cent. Mon Dieu, where is all this going to lead?
Everybody’s Darling? Here it almost holds true
What actually is luxury? Every era had its own reading of it. The ancient Romans of the late period, with their decadent inclinations, brought pleasure and savoir-vivre into considerable disrepute, for instance when they tucked brilliants behind the gills of their favourite carp in the ponds of their summer residences on the Gulf of Sorrento. Later centuries postulated austerity; luxurious living nevertheless never went entirely out of fashion, though it was also always a question of ethics. A watch brand as soigné and as thoroughly considered down to the last detail as Frederique Constant does not serve a mass audience. But just as little does it court the elitist, attainable only to the few. Company founder Peter Stas deliberately chose to breathe new life into the term “luxury watch”. His brand occupies the “attainable luxury” segment and sets itself apart from those brands that genuinely carry the celebrity factor on their nameplate - which of course has every justification of its own. Devotees of the attainable understand luxury as the pursuit of the best possible, the opposite of “ordinariness” (as the grande dame Coco Chanel once put it), as an insistence on traditional handcraft, on the uncompromising preservation of an unadulterated character and on continual perfection.
The brand of elegant understatement
The fact that the handmade luxury watches from the house of Frederique Constant also stand agreeably apart from competitors in price secures the house a particular clientele: here one finds personalities with a pronounced feeling for style, distinguished elegance, an unspectacular bearing and a far-reaching absence of status thinking. Frederique Constant watches are collected, sought after, revered and quite simply worn on the wrist. Not something one locks away in a safe, but something enjoyed daily and without fuss, with appreciation. And still with the heady feeling of calling a treasure one's own. When the company itself speaks of wanting to “democratise luxury”, it has a younger and more stylish group of buyers in mind. They put their outfits together deliberately and selectively, but at a “normal” level, and furnish them intelligently with chosen pieces and fine accessories. The triad “my chalet, my yacht, my Jaguar” tends not to apply to them.
A small watchmaking marvel – classically timeless, perfected and yet practical
In 2001, with its Heart Beat movement developed jointly with watchmaking schools, Frederique Constant set its sights on the inner circle of Swiss watch manufactures that create and produce their products themselves. From then on the still young company continuously proved its reputation as a creative forge of innovative movements. At the headquarters near Geneva, all the threads now came together across 3,200 square metres of operating space: design atelier, production of calibre components, assembly, state-of-the-art quality control. In 2008 the company presented the Tourbillon manufacture movement with an escape wheel made of silicon, which weighed only 1/5 as much as conventional stainless steel and required no oil lubrication. In 2009 the Maxime Manufacture Automatic FC-700 calibre caused a stir throughout the industry. At the same time the manufacture presented a novel case in which straight lines combine harmoniously with rounded surfaces, matt and polished parts, silver elements and the finest leather straps. In 2009 there followed the new development of a base calibre that cut production costs by 35 per cent and made Frederique Constant luxury watches obtainable at retail for under 2,000 euros. At BASELWORLD 2015 the industry marvelled at the Slimline Manufacture, which convinced with more delicate forms at the customary high technical level. Not every wrist can carry the XXL dimensions of a U-BOAT watch. With its 38 mm case, the Slimline Moonphase Manufacture is popular with gents and ladies alike, even if only the ladies' models gleam with more than 60 astounding diamonds.
Frederique Constant at HORANDO – Luxury watches online and in the showroom
As an authorised dealer with close ties to the Swiss company, HORANDO has the ambition to bring them all together in its range: the Classic Heart Beat Date, the Rally Healey, the Runabout Chronograph, the Horological Smart Watch, the Classics Moon Phase and the Business Timer. And of course the Maxime Manufacture Slim Line in a steel case with a red gold coating. The dial shines with silver hands and diamond indices; hours, minutes, date and moon phase can all be set via a single crown. Despite its spectacular appearance, the Slimline Moonphase is also water-resistant. Anyone with a particularly close relationship to their Frederique Constant will now and then glance through the sapphire crystal case back at the busily working Swiss movement from the company's own workshop. The immense success of the Moonphase with both sexes creates a sense of anticipation as to which new development the manufacture already has in the pipeline as its next innovation. HORANDO will learn of it early and let its regular clientele share in it. That the purchase of luxury watches online has risen so far in buyers' favour is hardly surprising any more, given convenient and secure ordering procedures. In parallel, prospective buyers are returning to a purchasing behaviour associated with a comfortable retro feeling. With the physical showroom at the Bamberg location, HORANDO has fulfilled a long-cherished wish of its own. Foremost was the experience that prospective buyers will travel long distances to form their own impression on site. Is it not almost akin to courtship to approach a material object of desire with care? Appetite comes (also) with looking and touching.
Frederique Constant models at Horando:
Classics, Constant Classics Automatic, Highlife, Ladies Automatic, Limited Edition, Manufacture, Monolithic, Rose Gold, Runabout, Slimline, Vintage Rally, Ladies, Moon Phase, Flyback, Worldtimer
