Haute Time Presents Drs. Peter C. Stas, CEO of Frederique Constant At Basel World

On the sixth day of Basel World,  Haute Time had the opportunity to sit down with Drs. Peter C. Stas, CEO and co-owner of Frederique Constant. 

Frederique Constant had a very successful Basel World 2012, the company was up 27% in sales compared to last year, even higher than the predicted budget. The company works on a philosophy to target younger buyers (30-45 year old men and women professionals). While these consumers may not have $10,000 to spend on a timepiece, they are still interested in quality mechanical watches from Switzerland. Frederique Constant has many automatic movements and timepieces in steel to achieve their desired price point while still producing high quality watches.

One of the timepieces we discussed was the La Carrera Panamericana, a limited edition of 1,888 pieces in partnership with the La Carrera Panamericana car race and part of the Vintage Rally collection. It has a folding buckle and hand-wind movement that can be seen from the back and is assembled in-house in Geneva. The price point of this piece is $1,500 USD. An amazing value for such a sophisticated piece.

We also took a look at the Moon Timer featuring a moon phase complication at 6 o’clock and date pointer around the circle of the dial. This too is a mechanical caliber but with an automatic wind. The Moon Timer will retail at $1,995 USD.

Seven years ago, the brand decided to start creating mechanical timepieces for women. Based on its key signature of a heart beat, they created a gorgeous timepiece named The Double Heart Beat. It is available in a number of colors and variations and just this year, a model was created with a black dial around mother-of-pearl in black on the back known as The Black Beauty.

While Drs. Stas, wasn’t expecting to show it off, we couldn’t help but notice the special timepiece he was wearing during our meeting. It is a prototype in-house produced tourbillon watch that will be introduced later in the year for around $36,000 USD. It was incredible for Haute Time to get this exclusive sneak peek.

Check out the video above to see all the impressive Frederique Constant timepieces and get an inside look at my meeting with the brand’s CEO Drs. Peter C. Stas.

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