Two years ago, Frederique Constant re-introduced its Highlife collection to the market. At its launch, the updated design family revived the spirit of the turn-of-the-millennium collection which shared its name, and like those retro models featured distinct tonneau-shaped cases and integrated straps to match them. The contemporary launch included the Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, Highlife Heart Beat, and Highlife Automatic COSC, and together represented one of the most stylistically adventurous ventures by the watchmaker in that year — and one expanded upon in 2021 with the travel-ready Highlife WorldTimer.
This month, Frederique Constant revisits the Highlife collection again, introducing the new blue-gray-dialed edition of the Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture.
At its core, the watch introduces a new colorway to the collection, still using the base design of the original Highlife Perpetual Calendar (below). The “mysterious” blue-gray colorway is used here for the first time by the brand, which matter-of-factly describes it as “the most fashionable color in contemporary watchmaking and a symbol of chromatic harmony inspired by the seas, skies and space.”
While the color may eventually be applied to other Highlife or Frederique Constant watches, the perpetual calendar-equipped timepiece was specially chosen for its symbolic properties. On this note, the brand romantically describes the color as representing the “fleeting moment between dusk and dawn, when the day eclipses to make way for the celestial vault,” which it argues the perpetual calendar best represents.
As for its specs, the Highlife Perpetual Calendar is familiar to the original 2020 iteration. Its tonneau case is sized at 41 mm in diameter and 12.65 mm thick, in steel, with its facets and integrated steel bracelet all decorated with an array of brushed and polished finishes; the watch also comes with an additional navy blue rubber strap.
On the blue-gray dial, the watch’s namesake calendar functions are displayed across three counters: day at 9 o’clock, month and leap year at 12, date at the 3, and moon-phase at the 6. Silver colored hands and applied indices are used for the watch’s indicating elements, while accents of luminous material add some utility. All of these details find themselves placed upon a guilloché motif of the Earth, the engraved imagine serving as another of the Highlife’s modern signatures.
Representing the higher end of Frederique Constant’s offerings, the model features the company’s in-house FC-775 caliber, which famously debuted in the brand’s first perpetual calendar in 2016. The self-winding mechanical movement beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph and holds a power-reserve of 38 hours. Through the sapphire crystal caseback, the movement, decorated in perlage and côtes de Genève, is visible.
The Frederique Constant Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture in blue-gray will be available later this year, from the brand as well its authorized retailers, on a non-limited basis. Pricing begins at $9,950.
To learn more, visit Frederique Constant, here.