Frederique Constant Turns Its Perpetual Calendar A Fantastic Shade Of Burgundy

Frederique Constant has a new limited edition of its Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, and the only change is a burgundy dial. But what a fantastic change that is. This is already one of the best perpetual calendars on the market, offered at a pretty incredible price, and now it looks better than ever.

The steel case is 40mm wide and 12.1mm thick, carried over from last year’s update. That is a sensible thickness for an automatic QP, and the rounded bezel, soft lugs and fluted onion crown keep it firmly in dress-watch territory. On top is a domed sapphire crystal with AR coating on top and a screwed sapphire display back, numbered for the edition. Water resistance is 50 meters, which is what you’d expect here.

The dial is so good. Sunray brushing gives the burgundy some movement under light, and the applied diamond-cut indices and polished nickel hands stay crisp against it. The layout is unchanged and easy to read: day at nine, date at three, month and leap year at 12, moonphase at six. Each subdial gets its own circular texture.

Inside is the calibre FC-776, Frederique Constant’s in-house automatic with a perpetual calendar module, running at 28,800 vph. The 72-hour power reserve, the result of last year’s new barrel and mainspring alloy, is an important update for a perpetual calendar. The movement is decorated with perlage, a fan of Côtes de Genève on the winding bridge and a gold-plated rotor. It comes on a black alligator strap with tone-on-tone stitching and a folding clasp.

The burgundy edition is limited to 100 watches, priced at CHF 10,295. See more on the Frederique Constant website.