Innovation, Smart Marketing, or Both" A Closer Look at the Frederique Constant Slimline Monolithic Manufacture
Right before the start of the madness that was Watches & Wonders, a few brave brands braced the tides and unveiled their own novelties separate from the event. Some rode the waves, others were swept away, and still others, like Frederique Constant, have been steadily coming into shore, riding in on the strength of their releases, separate from the tumult.
Last month, Frederique Constant introduced its most technically ambitious timepiece in several years, the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture. Similar in aesthetics to previous formal, classically designed watches by the Geneva-based brand, the watch caught attention not for its looks, but for its mechanics.
The innovation debuting in the new collection is a device the brand dubs a ?Monolithic oscillator,? which essentially replaces the 20-plus-piece, traditional, balance-spring-based regulation system in favor of a ?flexure pivot oscillator.? In simpler terms, the new system is a one-piece silicon component fitted with two regulation weights, integrating the escapement directly into its flexible structure, and in effect updating the three-century-old balance spring technology with something novel and useful. The technology was developed in partnership with Flexous Mechanisms, an independent, Dutch horology-tech company specializing in the design and development of flexible watch parts with a focus on mechanical watches.
The watches incorporating the new oscillators are offered as two editions in stainless...
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