Dialed In
HOROLOGICAL NEWS
FREDERIQUE CONSTANT EXPANDS HEADQUARTERS
IN GENEVA
REDERIQUE CONSTANT OPENED A
NEW 3,000 SQUARE-METER ADDITION
to it manufacturing facilities at its head-
quarters at Plan-les-Ouates in Geneva. The now
thirty-year-old company (which includes Frede-
rique Constant, Alpina Watches and Ateliers
deMonaco) previously enlarged its production
facilities at the locale in 2006 in the same space.
The addition brings the company’s entire manu-
facturing space up to 6,200 square meters (about
67,000 square feet).
On the ground floor, visitors can go through a
‘Manufacture Experience’ to learn more about
each brand. Among the displays, visitors will find
out more about vintage watches, the movement
manufacturing process of in-house calibers,
specific watchmaking functions, connected
watches and more. The remainder of the ground
floor includes a new staff cafeteria, after-sales
service workshops, design conception and indus-
trialization, quality control and the company’s
connected watch lab.
One floor above, all the company’s production
workshops, from T1 to T4, have been regrouped,
optimizing watchmaking workflow and logistics.
Just above these are the company’s offices,
including management, sales and administration.
Look for an increase in overall production
capacity (from 160,000 to 250,000 watches per
year) during the next five years, according to
the brand.
To commemorate the facility’s expansion,
Frederique Constant launched two new limited
editions of its Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon
Manufacture in stainless steel or rose gold. Both
new models feature a navy-blue skeleton dial and,
like the initial models in this collection, each
42mm watch is powered with in-house automatic
FC-975 movement with a silicium escapement
wheel and anchor.
F
20 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2019