Frederique Constant Adds a Fresh Spark to a Dazzling Glam-Rock Piece – The Classics Manchette

Do you ever get the feeling watchmaking seems to be a load of same-old, same-old? Frederique Constant definitely knows how to freshen things up in style. The Geneva manufactory’s Manchette, absent from the collection for over twenty years, is now back with a sexy, glam-rock take on what must surely count as a definitive cuff watch: a graceful bracelet embossed with a square Clou de Paris pattern that’s echoed on the dial (also square), available in four different versions to suit your every whim: one jewel-set piece, two mineral alternatives in malachite and onyx, and a fourth version in matte steel.

 The Manchette reprises one of the defining accessories of the Eighties. The cuff watch epitomised an era of ‘anything goes’, embodying a carefree, untrammelled watchmaking style. Here, complications and exclusiveness are out; a light-hearted, cheeky style is in. Forget essentials: this is an accessory through and through. This isn’t about tradition; it’s about rebellion. It’s a distinctive zeitgeist, lifestyle and fashion sense that Frederique Constant revived with brio in the early 2000s.

And now, the Manchette returns to the collection under the name Classics Manchette. It’s perhaps best seen as a bracelet (with seven flexible, flowing links) that just happens to show the time. Securely fastened around the wrist to make sure it can withstand all the antics of the dance floor, it features an integrated (and therefore invisible) deployment clasp.

One pattern, four dials

Style takes precedence here, and Frederique Constant lets nothing interfere with it. The ‘Clou de Paris’ pattern clads the entire piece in a myriad of sparkling, polished squares, with a brushed finish at the top of each link. At the centre nestles a discreet dial with just two hands gliding over it to denote hours and minutes.

In line with current trends, Frederique Constant has taken note of the comeback in mineral dials, present on half of the new Classics Manchette watches. The first sports the marbled green of malachite, traversed by a variety of different shades. The second opts for the absolute black of onyx, absorbing almost all light and giving the two graceful stick hands (hand-finished with a mirror polish) full pride of place.

The two other versions opt for a radically different monochrome register. To clad the polished steel cuff, one opts for the brilliant sheen of 158 set diamonds while the other adopts the ton-sur-ton sophistication of a matte black dial sporting Roman numerals for a more horological ethos.

Each timepiece is powered by the same quartz FC-200 calibre boasting a battery life of 60 months – five full years of glam-rock splendour on the risk. Time to be bold.