Frederique Constant: Smartwatches with a twist

The Geneva-based affordable luxury brand has been making waves in the recent past as it introduced a Perpetual Calendar at an affordable price. The Co-founder of the brand talks exclusively to “Day & Night” magazine on the brand and its pathbreaking achievements and its shift in focus to women’s watches.

Frederique Constant has caught the attention of watch lovers world over as the brand, which has positioned itself as an accessible luxury watchmaker, introduced the Manufacture Perpetual Calendar at Baselworld 2016. “Day & Night” spoke to Aletta Stas, Member of the Executive Board and Co-founder, about the brand’s DNA and where it is headed over the next few years.

How did you manage to create an in-house movement, the Manufacture Perpetual Calendar (Perpetual), at that price point?
We started the Manufacture process in 2001 and launched the first Manufacture in 2004 at a very attractive price, which everyone said was not possible. We have been working on the Perpetual Calendar for a couple of years now and make use of the latest technologies. We use as less parts as possible so as to have a very robust and reliable Perpetual. Even our basic Manufacture movement is priced below €2,000 in the market and you cannot find another brand offering a Manufacture movement at this price. We have been able to bring out the steel version of Perpetual for €8,000 while the gold-plated version will be priced at €8,400.

How has the reception for the Perpetual been?
We have had an amazing response. They love the design because the lines are so pure and it is sized at 42mm case and has a larger dial. A Perpetual has a lot of information, so it is important to have enough space to display the functions. You can see that the counters are slightly off-centre; this is to make it more readable. In watches with smaller dials like 39-40mm, the counters are smaller and closer to each other; this makes it difficult to read them and looks less attractive.

How was the Middle East for you in 2015?
The Middle East was pretty okay, certain countries were better than others, but overall, it has been okay.

Where do you see the scope for further expansion?
We have been focusing for the past couple of years on increasing the sales at each point of sale. Right now, we are selling 2,500 watches at each point. We are working hard to ensure that every point of sale has our bestsellers. Nowadays, the world is very small; people living in the Middle East know what is available in London, Asia and the US. So, our products must be available everywhere, at least with our major partners.

Around two years ago, we started our new shop-in-a-shop concept, where we have nice furniture. In the Middle East, we already have a few shops. This has also increased the brand awareness, which is very important.

We are now focusing on three things: the Manufacture, the ladies’ segment – this year we have the new brand ambassador, Gwyneth Paltrow and our charity activities – and our Horological Smartwatch.

You have recently released the blue dial Manufacture Worldtimer. Did you expect it to be such a big hit?
 I personally liked it a lot and hoped that it would be. It is a very attractive piece. Blue is in fashion right now and has been so for the past two years, but it is a bigger hit than expected.

You have signed on Gwyneth Paltrow for the brand. How did this happen? Why did you choose her specifically?
It is difficult to choose a person who fits the brand. We are a classical brand and so we felt that we should look for a classical face, who has the same values. We support charities and so does she. We approached her through her agent. In October, we met her in LA, where we were involved in a charity that promotes gender equality and she was there as well. So, we had the opportunity to meet and exchange a few words. Later, our agents met and discussed the legalities.

Last year, you introduced your Smartwatch, which is different from those of other brands. It has a classical design and at first glance doesn’t look like a Smartwatch. How has the response been?
It has been a really big success; we have sold around 16,000 pieces in the last half year. People were initially sceptical because it did not have a black screen, but we are a traditional watchmaking company and a black screen did not fit our DNA. We wanted to make something that uses the new connected technology but is still loyal to our brand identity. The result is nice because it still looks elegant, but you can make use of your activity tracker. Also, a person from the Middle East can land in Switzerland and once he switches his phone on to the Swiss network, the watch will be set to Swiss time through the blue tooth connection. It is nice to have this futuristic technology with traditional watchmaking.

Frederique Constant is recognised more as a man’s watch though you are now making more ladies’ watches. What is the balance in terms of sales?
Around 35 percent of our sales is in ladies’ watches, while sale of men’s watches are approximately 65 percent for the past two years. In certain countries, it is more, while it is less in others. But we are also expanding our ladies’ collection. Before 2007, we did not really have a ladies’ collection. We just had smaller versions of men’s watches, so it was always around ten or 15 percent. Now, we have the Double Heart Collection and the Deligi Collection, which are designed for ladies and do not resemble our men’s watches and are much appreciated. With our charity activities and with brand ambassadors such as  Inés Sastre earlier and Gwyneth Paltrow now, we will attract even more female customers.