Q&AFrederique Constant’s Co-Founder On The Successful Marriage Of Technology With Tradition

What is the significance of the name Frederique Constant?

Frederique and Constant are our middle names. My name is Aletta Francoise Frederique Bax and my husband’s name is Peter Constant Stas, and those names are also from our great-grandparents. Interestingly, great-grandfather Constant Stas was involved in printing, and he used to make dials for big clocks in Holland. So there’s a little link to watches also.

What’s new with Frederique Constant this year?

This year, our highlight is the Manufacture Hybrid. It’s really a world premiere because here we mix the manufacture movement with smart functions. So when you see the watch, it looks like our Manufacture watch, but the counter at 12 displays smart functions. There are features such as activity and sleep tracking, all of which can be synced on your phone. It also measures analytics of the mechanical movement, which will let you know if and when your watch needs to be serviced.

You’ve already done smartwatches before. Is this to bridge the gap between mechanical and smart?

In 2015, we decided to embrace the development of smartwatches. When Apple announced that they would launch a watch, everyone in the Swiss watch industry said that it really had nothing to do with our industry, that it was more of a tech gadget. We were actually the first in this industry to decide to make a horological smartwatch. We feel it’s not completely different. And Apple Watch has taken a share of the Swiss watch market, with Swiss quartz watch exports witnessing a drop. So we can’t ignore that anymore. That’s why we went in. And we’re also growing in the smartwatch segment. It’s not that we want to make this segment much bigger at Frederique Constant, but it’s important to show the innovative aspect of the brand. With the Manufacture Hybrid, we’ve shown that we can use smart technology with traditional mechanical watchmaking.

What are the true values of watchmaking in your opinion?

I think for me it’s really important that you keep the tradition in place. The fact that we’ve been making movements since 2001 is important because it means being involved from the development and production to assembly.

Do you have any completely in-house manufactured movements?

About 25 percent of the turnover is in-house movements. The conception happens in-house, without external partners. We also do the prototyping, and part of the production in-house, while the assembly is completely in-house. We have the equipment for it in our manufactory. For high-volume production, we work with contractors, but we are able to make the watches from A to Z. Of course, certain small components such as the screws or balance wheels are sourced from outside.

You also have Alpina. Could you talk about that brand a little?

Frederique Constant is more contemporary classical, while Alpina is more of a lifestyle-sports brand. Though both have similar values. Alpina is actually an old brand from 1883—a pioneer of the sports watch, in the ’30s, when Alpina created the Alpiner 4 watch that had anti-magnetic and anti-shock properties with water resistance. We bought the company in 2002 and breathed new life into the brand.

How do you detach from one brand while working on the other, maintaining each brand’s DNA?

That’s a good one. With Frederique Constant, since we created the brand—my husband (Peter Stas) and I—for me, it’s always easy to go into the design. Alpina is different. There I really have to step away from Frederique Constant and concentrate. I have to ensure that I don’t work on both the brands at the same time. Sometimes I have an idea, and I know it’s good, but it doesn’t fit Frederique Constant, so I’ll write it down, and I’ll bring out the notes when I’m working on Alpina.

What advice would you give to a novice who wishes to invest in high-end watches?

I would draw comparisons between watches and cars. A mechanical movement is similar to the motor of a car but small enough to carry on your wrist. I would explain that a mechanical watch is a piece of art with all these little components working together. Most people are interested in this kind of information and discovering how things work. Then I’d explain that there are companies that make movements for mass production, and there are brands that make their own movements, which makes their products really special. With that, people start to understand the difficulty and speciality of it. With Frederique Constant, you have a really good way to start your collection in manufacture watches, because, in manufacture movements, Frederique Constant is the most affordable. For someone who doesn’t know about watches, it’s a huge step to spend a lot of money. But by explaining the craftsmanship, the speciality of a movement and letting them know that they are wearing something unique, the product becomes more attractive to them. Everyone wants something unique. That’s why even limited editions are so popular.