Three new versions of the Classics Carrée Automatic take the collection back to its original era, the roaring 1920s, which unveiled a stylistic audacity whose influence is still perceptible today. Extremely refined, these rose gold-plated or stainless steel timepieces exhibit a minimalist style with baton indexes, dauphine hands, and date. The dial with its subtle guilloché motif lends the Classics Carrée Automatic a rare elegance for collectors with a discerning eye for aesthetics.
Fashion comes and goes … something that Frédérique Constant always remembers. Just a century ago, in the early 1920s, watches escaped the jacket pocket and slipped onto the wrist. More than just evolution, it was a revolution. A diverse array of hitherto unimagined shapes, straps, clasps and sizes were invented.
Those who were not yet called designers pursued new areas of graphical expression. The pocket watch, round and deliberately oversized, belonged to a bygone era. The break was complete: a necessary release from the form as well as the format. A new shape appeared: the rectangle.
This form lasted an entire century — and not the quietest one at that — until it reached the shores of modernity. Because watchmaking loves simple designs like circles, including the rectangle and the square. It is this truly timeless design that Frédérique Constant has revisited today.
Progressive Evolution
The Classics Carrée line, launched in 2003, thus seized the potential of its unique format, bringing the shape to life as the line evolved: with the introduction of an XL model and the celebrated ‘Heart Beat’ escapement aperture for which Frédérique Constant is renowned.
Today the Classics Carrée Automatic has been further refined, and significantly so. The first major change: the Heart Beat aperture has now been closed, once again concealing the well-kept secret of the timepiece’s Swiss Made mechanism. The face of a new sleeker dial is revealed. The large Roman numerals give way to applied indexes, with a double index at 12 o’clock. This timeless style is much closer to the aesthetic canons of the 1920s.
Yet at 6 o’clock, a discreet additional complication recalls the necessities of everyday life. This new date aperture echoes the rectangular line of the case. It is surrounded with a frame in the same finish as the case, which is also echoed by the indexes.
Playing with Nuances
The centre of the dial concentrates the most refined finishes. This rectangle, mirroring the proportions of the 30.4 mm x 33.3 mm case, is surrounded by a ‘railroad’ type dial-train typical of the 1920s and the Art Deco movement that flourished during that period. It is decorated with very fine grooves, visible only to the eye of its owner.
This subtlety provides a better contrast to the interplay of the three hands. The hour and minute hands are fashioned in the dauphine style, a silhouette also characteristic of the last century. This simple, refined shape allows time to be read accurately in all situations due to two facets oriented at two different angles, such that one of them always catches the light. Everything is regulated at 3 o‘clock via an onion crown, as was found on almost all watches up to the middle of the last century.
Three Variations, Three Styles
The new Classics Carrée Automatic comes in three versions, all driven by the FC-303 calibre movement visible through the sapphire back, offering a power reserve of 38 hours. The most understated and classic variant comes with a steel case, silver-coloured dial, and black leather strap. The most modern has an identical case and a blue dial along with a matching coloured strap, topstitched in blue. The most chic and valuable is designed with a rose gold-plated case, matching index and hands, and a brown strap.
