Twenty years ago, Frederique Constant introduced its original Highlife collection, which featured an integrated strap built into a distinctive case. Now the Geneva-based brand introduces a modern update to the collection, applying the concept to three new models: the Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, Highlife Heart Beat, and Highlife Automatic COSC. Each model features a strap-and-bracelet system that allows the wearer to alternate between steel, leather, crococalf suede, and rubber, allowing the wearer to change from a sporty daytime to a classic evening look in, dare we say, a heartbeat.

The Frederique Constant Highlife Heart Beat reference with heartbeat aperture at 12 o’clock.

The original Highlife collection began with Frederique Constant’s Triple Time series and was eventually supplemented with a tourbillon model and the first models with the brand’s now-emblematic “heartbeat” dial aperture displaying the balance. Eventually it expanded to include a reference with a perpetual calendar, a chronograph, a manufacture movement, and a series of timepieces for women.
The original Highlife timepiece with heartbeat aperture from 1999

In the new Highlife collection, all three models measure 41 mm in diameter and, staying true to the brand’s DNA, employ the original, integrated, interchangeable bracelet (as pictured above). For the 2020 collection, however, Frederique Constant has removed the lugs that were on the origina...