The Frederique Constant Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture watch hands-on

Introduction

With the Highlife collection, Frederique Constant hit the nail on the head and brilliantly joined the super-competitive luxury sports watch segment. The initial flagship model, the Highlife Perpetual Calendar, has been replaced by the new top-of-the-range Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon, with the much appreciated worldtimer-manufacture-green-watch-hands-on/">WorldTimer complication extending from the Classic collection to this one. Despite Frederique Constant offering a three-hander Highlife, the WorldTimer Manufacture best sums up the brand’s mission of crafting in-house watchmaking at a fair benchmark price point, even more so within the new luxury sports design.

From Classic WorldTimer Manufacture to Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture

Two years ago, I spent much quality time on the Classic collection, and I was surprised at how much the now-discontinued green option looked and felt. Moving forward, the Swiss brand has stepped up, and this latest release brings the product offering to its full potential so far. Whether you opt for a Frederique Constant WorldTimer Manufacture for its ingenuity or are used to travel across multiple time zones (something we all could hardly do in the last two years), the Frederique Constant Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture is a brand’s statement of pairing accessible luxury without doubling down on quality.

Design is subjective, yet I reckon designers did a great job, and the overall package looks attractive, sleek and clean inside and out. Build quality is virtually flawless, and the bracelet is carefully engineered to the smallest detail, including the quick bracelet swap mechanism with no gap and play against the case’s lugs. Here are the base specs: it is 41 mm wide (crown excluded), lug-to-lug wingspan measures 43 mm, while the case’s thickness is the “pain point” at 12.90 mm.

It looks smaller than expected, thanks to integrated lugs and an extended first bracelet’s link; in contrast, overall weight might be a deal-breaker unless you immediately opt for the replacement strap available as standard. Therefore, you are allowed to swap the steel bracelet on a Frederique Constant Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture and opt for leather or rubber, the latter being the primary choice during the summer break. It’s a pity you won’t swim any easily, given the 50-meter maximum water resistance.

In the benchmark, the Frederique Constant Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture has no direct competitors and overall performs like timepieces costing twice as much in product refinement. Nonetheless, I hope the brand’s engineers will reduce the case’s thickness as they move to the next generation. The WorldTime complication takes on the Highlife; hence the signature globe has replaced the map and makes for a far more intuitive and less fancy dial when compared to its Classic sibling.

The WorldTimer complication

It is a valuable complication that gracefully blends into the overall design and gets a modern twist. The mid-centre globe is raised, thus giving depth and enhancing the three-layer displacement. Despite offering the wearer plenty of information, every piece of information is intuitive and first-hand, while performing all the adjustments solely requires the winding crown.

Once secured, it allows the wearer to manually wind the watch. By pulling it out to position one, you can either update the date by turning it clockwise or adjust the city ring the other way round and choose the reference city’s time zone at twelve. Funnily enough, your GMT+1 time zone is Geneva and not Paris. The outermost crown’s position allows to fully adjust the hours and minutes hands and set the day and night indications accordingly; once the reference time zone and time are set, you can access multiple time zones at a glance.

In this position, the second’s hand hacks for you to precisely set the time by using a reference time. My suggestions are the following: the crown deserves better grooves; with the polished mirror finish, you’ll end up quickly and repeatedly slipping your fingers. The in-house calibre is refined enough, looks sturdy and pleasantly finished, offering circular Côtes de Genève on a perlage base and a skeletonized rotor; yet 38 hours of power reserve are less than enough on a watch whose aim is kind of “wear it, forget it”.

Final thoughts

The Frederique Constant Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture is the new bread and butter of the Highlife Collection, and such complication has been widely appreciated by the watch community since it came out; the 3.850 euros sticker price is the cherry on the cake. My only concern is this is not 100-meter water-resistant, and I thought it has to do with the brand looking for a fair price to specs combination and to keep retail under the four thousand threshold. It is my guess, and I hope it won’t affect its success since water tightness is a top priority when buying a luxury sports watch in steel. With that said, and whatever option you’re going for, the Frederique Constant Highlife WorldTimer Manufacture is a terrific watch.

(Photo credit: Marco Antinori for Horbiter®)

Gaetano C @Horbiter®

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