INTERVIEW: NIELS EGGERDING, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT FREDERIQUE CONSTANT

“Frederique Constant will keep focusing on mechanical movements and develop new manufacture calibres,” says Eggerding

- Aishwarya Sati

Swiss watchmaking is increasingly converging around mechanical movements. What is Frederique Constant’s strategy?

About 60 per cent of Frederique Constant watches are equipped with mechanical movements. Hand-wound movements were used at the beginning but now the focus is on mechanical self-winding movements only. The story of Frederique Constant started with automatic movements that were bought from suppliers. However, 2004 onwards till date, the brand has been able to develop 31 in-house mechanical movements such as the FC-718 worldtimer), FC-760 flyback chronograph), FC-705 moonphase) or the FC-775 perpetual calendar), which is worth 8,000 euros—making it the most accessible on the market. The high-selling volumes of automatic movements allow us to develop these movements and allocate a budget to buy the equipment required to build them. The brand will keep on focusing on mechanical movements and even develop new manufacture calibres in the future.

What keywords would you associate with each of the Frederique Constant collections?