Classics Manchette

The Geneva-based manufacture presents a bold and sensual interpretation of the “wristwatch” in the literal sense: a delicate cuff adorned with a Clou de Paris motif.

Do you ever get the feeling watchmaking seems to be a load of same-old, same-old? Frederique Constant definitely knows how to freshen things up in style. The Geneva manufactory’s Manchette, absent from the collection for over twenty years, is now back with a sexy, glam-rock take on what must surely count as a definitive cuff watch: a graceful bracelet embossed with a square Clou de Paris pattern that’s echoed on the dial (also square), available in four different versions to suit your every whim: one jewel-set piece, two mineral alternatives in malachite and onyx, and a fourth version in matte steel.

An iconic watch from an era that allowed itself to be daring, it embodies a watchmaking style that is uninhibited and free. We’re not talking about complication or exclusivity here. On the contrary, we’re talking about lightness and impertinence. Not about essentials, but about accessories. Not tradition, but rebellion. It’s a zeitgeist and a vision of life and fashion that Frederique Constant revived with a flourish in the early 2000s.

The Manchette is now back in the collection under the name Classics Manchette. Above all, it is a bracelet that tells the time. Supple and loose, it is made up of seven links. Firmly fastened to the wrist to withstand the tumult of the dancefloor, it has an integrated, invisible folding clasp.