The second version features a blue dial with silver hands and index hour markers and comes with a blue rubber strap and a steel pin buckle . The third version comes with a white dial , silver index hour markers , a black leather strap and a black rubber strap . Prices start at $ 9,095 .
OPEN HEART The new Highlife Heart Beat collection revisits this brand ’ s initial ‘ iconic ’ design .
When it debuted in 1994 , the Heart Beat was the only serially produced non-skeleton Swiss-made collection that boasted an open dial , displaying the automatic caliber ’ s escape wheel at the 12 o ’ clock position . Frederique Constant kicked off a design trend with that original Heartbeat collection , and today regrets the fact that it never protected the initial design , an error the brand says was “ rooted in the brand ’ s youthful inexperience .”
The new versions retain that open window into the movement at the top of the dial , which here appears at the pole position on the globe dial design . Portions of the automatic Sellita-based FC-310 caliber are visible from both front and back through the sapphire crystal .
The new Highlife Heart Beat is now available in three different steel versions . The first offers a white dial and rose gold-plated case with only a brown leather strap and a brown rubber strap . The second features a blue dial with a steel bracelet , complemented by a blue rubber strap . The third features a black dial with a steel case and bracelet and arrives with a black rubber strap . Prices start at $ 1,995 .
NEW AND CERTIFIED As the first COSC-certified watch from Frederique Constant , the new Highlife Automatic COSC ( Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute ) echoes the original Highlife collection from 1999 . The simplest design of the new globedial Highlife collection , this time-only series combines the hands seen on the Heart Beat and the date from the Perpetual Calendar Manufacture , but powers them both with its automatic Sellita-based Caliber FC-310 .
Look for four models : one with a two-tone steel bracelet and a white dial , one with a steel bracelet and a blue dial , and a model with a black leather strap and a white dial . The fourth design offers a variation with a rose goldplated case and a white dial , all set with a brown leather strap and shipped with a rubber strap in the same shade . Prices start at $ 1,895 .
78 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2021