Hands On With The Frederique Constant Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture

The perpetual calendar is of the three classic high complications – the repeater, the perpetual calendar, and the rattrapante chronograph – the one that casts its gaze furthest afield. Perpetual calendars exist for one reason, which is that there are not a whole number of 24 hour days in a tropical year, and so any calendar will eventually drift out of sync with the seasons. The Julian calendar introduced a Leap Year once every four years; this was not a sufficient correction and so the Gregorian calendar, introduced by decree by Pope Gregory XIII in February of 1582, added rules for 100 and 400 year intervals which should be good for the foreseeable future, although by 10,000 AD or so, the residual error left by the Gregorian calendar is really going to start adding up.

Perpetual calendars add a significant degree of complexity to mechanical watches and since Thomas Mudge invented the first known perpetual calendar watch in 1762, they have been considered one of the three classic high complications. Generally speaking, perpetual calendars have been, like the repeater and the rattrapante chronograph, a small batch niche product aimed at connoisseurs, but as interest in mechanical horology began to grow post Quartz Crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, new designs for perpetual calendars began to emerge and the range of designs for perpetual calendars as well as the range of price points, began to broaden. Although the Swiss Big Three (Audemars, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin) continue to offer perpetuals, with AP just recently having introduced a complex new system allowing all the calendar indications to be set from the crown, traditional perpetual calendars continue to exert as much appeal as ever, with one of the most attractive (for a number of reasons) coming from Frederique Constant.

The latest perpetual calendar from Frederique Constant is the Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, which is a perpetual calendar of the old school in terms of overall design. This version, with a radially brushed salmon dial, is a slightly smaller version of the original FC Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, introduced in 2016.

That watch was 42mm in diameter, running the caliber FC 775, which had a power reserve of 36 hours and which measured 30mm x  6.7 mm. The new version uses an updated version, caliber FC 776, which increases the power reserve to 72 hours.

The perpetual calendar module is designed to be robust, easy to service, and reliable, but the basic mechanism is that which has been used in perpetual calendars for many decades, albeit with some modifications. A full technical analysis has been done by The Naked Watchmaker which, for the technically inclined, offers a lot of insights into both this particular movement, and perpetual calendars in general; although the analysis is of the caliber FC 775 rather than the 776, the basic operating system is the same.

The perpetual calendar’s main operating lever is the straight grained steel lever with a prominent curved beak located in the upper part of the movement and the two cams controlling switching of the date at the end of the month, are under the bronze colored wheels at 12:00 and 1:00. The stepped month cam is under the wheel at 12:00 and has 12 steps, while the cam controlling the switching of February in a Leap Year is under the wheel at 1:00. During a leap year, the rounded tip of the beak of the operating lever falls on the protruding step of the Leap Year cam at the end of February, which prevents the lever from falling all the way into the February notch on the month cam and this causes the date to switch on February 29th rather than February 28th.

In terms of daily wear, this is an exceedingly practical perpetual calendar. The increase in the power reserve from 36 to 72 hours means you’re less likely to have to use those case correctors (although I’m in what may be the minority on case correctors in perpetual calendars – I find them engrossing to use for some reason) and of course, an automatic base caliber is always a more sensible choice for a perpetual calendar as well. This is also a perpetual calendar which would be quite easy to wear as a daily driver. The reduction in case size makes it more versatile, the salmon dial gives it personality without overdoing it and the 50 meter water resistance – a pleasant surprise for a high complication – is an extra bit of reassurance as well.

I’ve left the most conspicuous part of the value proposition for last: the price. The Frederique Constant Classic Perpetual Manufacture is CHF 9,995, which is an astonishing price; this is, after all, a Swiss-made, in-house, hand-assembled full on traditional perpetual calendar, with not only an in-house base movement, but also an in house perpetual calendar module. This is the 34th in-house movement from Frederique Constant and they are one of the few remaining Swiss brands which actively pursue not only vertical integration, but also the presentation of in-house movement construction expertise and the pursuit of accessibility.

The sometimes staggering increase in prices for luxury watches makes the FC Classic Perpetual Manufacture even more attractive and while it might be possible to produce something less expensive by resorting to a Sellita base movement and Dubois-Depraz module, the in-house movement and module offer a distinctly more attractive proposal (albeit in-house, by itself, is not necessarily a signifier of better quality; as most collectors know, base calibers from reputable suppliers, like Lemania or Jaeger-LeCoultre, have been part of even the highest-end watchmaking for decades).  And the improvements to the new design over the original are a reassuring sign of attention to detail as well – the longer power reserve, especially in the context of a perpetual calendar, speaks for itself and the smaller diameter gives an overall better balance design (if the original Manufacture Perpetual had a flaw, it was that the slightly larger dial made the subdials look a bit crowded together).  A delightful watch that makes it possible for a collector interested in complications who is looking for a perpetual calendar that will give them enjoyment of the historical interest and cosmological poetry of the perpetual calendar, not worry about the price.

The Frederique Constant Classic Manufacture Perpetual Calendar: case, stainless steel, 40mm x 12.1mm, convex sapphire crystal with AR coating and sapphire caseback, 50 meter water resistance. Dial, salmon, with sunray brushing, applied diamond cut indexes and snailed subdials. Movement, caliber FC-776, in house automatic base and in house perpetual calendar module with 72 hour power reserve, running at 28,800 vph. Ref. FC-776SAL3H6; price at launch, CHF 9,995. See it at FrederiqueConstant.com.